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Contributor Aged Parent - Subclass 864 Visa

The purpose of the subclass 864 - Contributory Aged Parent visa is to allow the older parents of Australian citizens, permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens to reside permanently in Australia. Subclass 864 - Contributory Aged Parent visa applicants pay an additional charge to the Australian Government, in exchange for faster visa processing.

CONTRIBUTORY AGED PARENT VISA REQUIREMENTS

Applicant

As the visa applicant, you must:

  • have a child who is an eligible Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen (see below)

  • meet the ‘balance of family’ test. This requires that at least half of your children reside in Australia, or that more of your children reside in Australia than in any other single country

Note: You are not required to meet this test if you hold an eligible subclass 884 Temporary Contributory Aged Parent visa

  • be old enough to qualify for the Australian age pension, meaning 66-67 years old (depending upon your date of birth)

  • pay an additional (‘contributory’) charge to the Australian Government immediately prior to the grant of your visa

Australian Child

Your Australian child must:

  • be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen

  • be settled in Australia (generally this means that your child must have resided in Australia for at least two years)

  • be at least 18 years old, and willing to sponsor your application

Note: You may instead be sponsored by your child’s spouse or de facto partner, provided that this person meets the above requirements. Alternatively, if your child is under 18, you may in some circumstances be sponsored by a relative or guardian of your child, or by a community organisation.

  • undertake to provide you with any necessary financial and accommodation support for the first two years after your arrival in Australia

APPLICATION PROCESS >

Your  Contributory Aged Parent visa application is lodged with the Department of Home Affairs (the DOHA) on your behalf. The main criterion is that you and your Australian child meet the requirements referred to above, including the balance of family test. In addition, you must meet the standard health and character checks.

We estimate that it may take several weeks to prepare and lodge your application, with the time taken largely dependent on how promptly you (and your sponsor, if applicable) provide us with the necessary supporting information and documents.

Please note that you must be outside Australia at the time your visa is granted.

Assurance of Support

Prior to the grant of your visa, your Australian child (or another eligible party) must provide an Assurance of Support (AoS). This is a legal commitment to repay any recoverable social security payments that you receive from the Australian Government during the first four years that you live in Australia.

To be eligible to provide an AoS, your assurer must meet certain requirements, which include an income test for individual assurers (as opposed to organisations).

In addition, your assurer must pay a bond for each adult included in your visa application. This bond will be refunded four years after your visa is granted (less any social security payments received).

Currently, the required bond is $5,000 for the main visa applicant, and $2,000 for each additional applicant aged 18 or older. These amounts may be higher if your assurer is an organisation.

The AoS scheme is managed by the Department of Human Services (the DHS), which is responsible for providing AoS application forms, assessing your assurer’s eligibility, and providing advice about bond lodgement and release. Please refer to the DHS website for further details: https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/assurance-support

Processing Times

Parent visa applications have a lower processing priority than applications lodged by other family members, such as partners and children, or applications lodged by parents who make an additional ‘contributory’ payment to the Australian Government.

All Parent visa applications are assessed in order of lodgement, assigned a queue date (which is the date that the application is assessed as meeting initial criteria) and then placed in the queue for processing. Applications are considered for grant in order of their queue date, as places become available. The DOHA has indicated that based on current planning levels, the waiting time for the grant of a Parent visa is approximately 30 years.

The exact time that the DOHA takes to process your application is dependent upon its processing time service standards, and may also vary due to a number of other factors, including the complexity of your case, perceived risk factors and processing priorities.

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