To apply as a parent you must be sponsored by your child, who must be an Australian Citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.

A parent can only be granted a visa when applying within Australia if they are aged.

An aged parent is one who is old enough to be granted an Australian age pension. For male applicants the qualifying age for the Australian age pension is 65 and for female applicants the qualifying age is gradually being increased from 60 to 65 .

Balance of family. All parent applicants must pass the “balance of family” test. To pass the test a parent applicant must have:

• At least half of their children living in Australia, or more children living in Australia than any other single country.
  
• Sponsored by one of their children in Australia who is an Australian citizen, ‘settled’ permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen;

There are significantly more places available under the Contributory Parent visa categories than for non-Contributory parent categories. This recognizes the fact that contributory parent visa applicants are willing to pay a significantly higher second Visa Application Charge as a contribution towards their ongoing health costs.

The key difference between the contributory and non contributory visa subclasses is the level of the second Visa Application Charge (payable before the visa is granted) and the level and duration of the Assurance of Support bond. The Contribution paid for this visa is NON -refundable.

There are two payment options (adjusted annually) for Contributory Parent Visa applicants:

• Permanent visa - pay $34,330 second Visa Application Charge per parent;
  
• Temporary visa: - pay $20,595 second Visa Application Charge per parent , which would entitle parents to a two-year temporary residence visa including Medicare access and work rights. During this two year period, parents may apply at any time for a permanent visa at which time the remaining payment of $13,730 is required.
  
  The contributory parent visa category also requires a 10-year $10,000 Assurance of Support bond for main applicants and $4,000 for adult secondary applicants (for temporary visa holders, this is payable during processing of the permanent visa.) The assurance of support bond earns interest and is refunded after 10 years.
  
  In the non- Contributory parent visas there is NO second Visa Application Charge. The assurance of support is $5000 for the first parent and $2000 for the second parent. The duration of the assurance of support is two years.

The benefit of the Contributory Parent visa is the quicker processing time, now estimated to be an estimated 18 month period. The processing time for non Contributory Visas is estimated now to be in 10 years. This is due to the low ceiling of places issued for non - Contributory Parent visas.