Seven parent visas. One that fits your family.

The 173 sits in the same contributory queue as the 143 and is released on the same dates. What it changes is the money: about two thirds of the contributory charge is paid at the 173 stage and the rest at the 143 stage, and the parent gets two years in Australia with work rights and Medicare in between. Across both stages it costs a little more than a direct 143.

No bridging visa is granted with a 143 or 173 application. The parent must leave when their current visa expires and wait overseas, and must be outside Australia when the visa is granted unless they hold a 173 at the time. Onshore lodgement is mainly a convenience, not a way to stay.

If the parent’s visitor visa carries condition 8503, an 804, 864 or 884 application lodged in Australia is not valid at all. A waiver exists but only for compelling and compassionate circumstances that arose after the visa was granted and were outside the parent’s control. We check the condition before anything else.

Home Affairs states that a parent who has already applied for or holds a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa cannot apply for the 103, 143, 173, 804, 864 or 884. If residence is the long term goal, the 870 needs careful thought before it is lodged, not after.

For a 143 or 864 the $43,600 second instalment is requested when the application is released from the queue and about to be granted, which on current estimates is around fifteen years after lodgement. Families should plan for it, but they do not need it in the bank today. The same is true of the Assurance of Support bond.

A parent waiting in Australia on an 804 or 864 application can usually live and work here, but is not eligible for Medicare unless they come from a reciprocal health care country or previously held an 884. Over a fifteen or thirty year wait, private cover is a real cost and we build it into the plan.

Yes. One parent is the main applicant and the other is included as a partner. The second parent pays a lower first instalment (about half) but the full second instalment, and both must meet health and character. If one parent has passed away or the parents are separated, the balance of family test is applied to the applicant’s own children.

At least half of the parent’s children must be Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens usually resident in Australia, or more of the children must live in Australia than in any other single country. All children of the parent and their current partner are counted, including step and adopted children, with narrow exceptions. It is failed more often than families expect, usually on a step child nobody thought to mention.

Usually yes, on a visitor visa, and many parents spend months each year here during the wait. The risk is a visitor visa granted with condition 8503, or a pattern of long stays that looks like de facto residence. We plan the visits so they do not damage the application.

Usually the sponsoring child, sometimes with a partner or another relative. The assurer must pass an income test with Services Australia and lodge a bank guarantee: $10,000 for a contributory visa held for ten years, or $5,000 for a non contributory visa held for two years, with extra amounts for adult dependants. It is only requested at the final stage.

There has been public reporting during 2026 of a proposal to stop family visa applications being lodged from a visitor visa, which would in practice close the 804, 864 and 884 route. As at September 2026 nothing has been legislated. If a parent is already in Australia and eligible, our advice is to get the application lodged properly rather than wait to see.

Then the parent visa is usually a timing question. We map the date the sponsor becomes “settled” and prepare the application so it is lodged the week it becomes possible. An 870 in the meantime is rarely the answer, because of the bar on later permanent applications.