Every year, many people become permanent residents and citizens in Australia having been born elsewhere. And right after they settle here the next question is: How to bring my parents to Australia?
It may seem easy, but it’s not as simple as it seems. Of course your parents can always come here and visit you on a Visitor Visa for a short stay. But if you are looking at having your mother or father stay longer with you here, if you are having a baby or if they are retiring and wanting to spend more time with you, it’s important to know that there are a few Parent Visas options available.
Visa options to bring your parents to Australia
Longer Visitor Visas
The first option is the Tourist visa – Subclass 600. There is a stream of tourist visas that allows parents of Australian residents or citizens to stay longer in the country, for up to one year on every entry.
But then, after a while, if your parents are looking at moving here for the long term, they will need to apply for other visas and there are two options:
Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa – Subclass 870
This visa allows you to bring your parents to Australia to live here for periods of 3, 5 or 10 years. The downside is that they will not get any work rights nor have access to Medicare benefits. having to keep private health insurance at all times – unless they are from a country where there is a reciprocal agreement with Medicare, such as the UK.
The Sponsored Parent Visa 870 is not a cheap visa, but it is also not the most expensive Parent Visa option in Australia. And it is temporary, which leads us to the next option available:
Permanent Parent Visa Options
If your parents are looking at staying in Australia permanently, having access to the public health system, working if they are still young, and making sure they won’t have to leave, then you have to look at permanent Parent Visas.
The Parent Visa is a very sought-after visa, but the Department of Immigration only allocates around 1,500 to 2,000 places per year, and the processing time goes from 26 to 30 years! (yes, you read right).
So when the Department of Immigration realized the queue was getting bigger and bigger and families were not being able to be reunited here, they created a version of this visa called the Contributory Parent Visa.
Contributory Parent Visa
As the name suggests, contributory means a monetary contribution that parents can make into the social security system and speed up their visa process, which still takes around five years to be granted.
This visa is not cheap: you are looking at a contribution of AU$43,000 per person applying for the visa so if you’re bringing your mother and your father it would be around A$90,000 Australian Dollars, plus there’s a bond and an assurance of support involved.
What is the best visa option to bring parents to Australia?
It will depend on your goals and personal circumstances. We may even suggest a combination of the visas above to help with your strategy.
So if you are here as a citizen or a permanent resident and you have plans to bring your parents to live in Australia permanently, get in touch with us! We offer free assessments and a free chat with one of our Migration Agents to find out what is the best option for your case and we would be very happy to reunite your whole family.
We also have this YouTube Video explaining the process of applying for a Parent Visa in Australia:
