Parent Visa (Non-contributory)
The lower-cost permanent option for parents of Australian citizens, permanent residents, or eligible New Zealand citizens. The trade-off for the lower fee is a queue currently measured in decades rather than years — this is worth understanding fully, since for many families the wait will realistically outlast what makes the visa useful.
Who can apply
- Your parent is the parent of an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen aged 18 or over
- Your parent is sponsored by their child, or in some cases another eligible relative
- Your parent meets health and character requirements
- An Assurance of Support is arranged, including the associated bond
- Your parent passes the Balance of Family Test (the temporary Sponsored Parent visa, subclass 870, is the only parent visa that doesn’t require it)
Understand the queue before you lodge
We say this plainly because families deserve a straight answer: current queue estimates for the 103 run well beyond what most parents will realistically wait through. Some families still lodge to hold a place in the queue while exploring other options, such as the Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa, in the meantime — that can be a reasonable strategy, but it should be a deliberate choice, not a surprise.
What’s involved
- An Assurance of Support (AoS) application lodged with Services Australia
- A government application fee, payable at lodgement, substantially lower than the contributory equivalent
- Health examinations and police checks for your parent
- Your parent must be outside Australia at the time the visa is granted
The most common surprise we see
We’ve had families come to us having already lodged a 103 without understanding what they were committing to. If a permanent outcome within your parent’s realistic lifetime matters to your family, it’s worth a proper conversation about the contributory alternative before you lodge, not after.