What is a parent 143 visa?

It is a parent visa for people who have their child

• is a settled Australian citizen, Permanent resident, or Eligible New Zealand citizen.

And it allows parents to live in Australia with their child permanently

• stay in Australia permanently (PR)
• work and study in Australia with the local tuition fee
• enroll in Australia’s public health care – Medicare
• sponsor your family members to come to Australia if depended relatives
• apply for Australian citizenship

The parent visa 143 is a contributory visa

Compare with parent visa 103, the application fee is from AUD47,755 for each applicant of visa 143, the large “Contribution” of money that is called for upon the second installment before you have your visa grant.

• the initial application fee is $4,155 for the first applicant
• the second installment for each applicant is $43,600.
• This visa takes approximately 3.5 to 4.5 years to process and is a permanent visa from approval.

The parent visa 143 eligibility

You can apply for in and outside Australia, however, you will not have granted the bridging visa if you are onshore. 

• be outside when the decision made
• meet the balance-of-family test, unless you are applying for the Retirement Pathway
• have an Assurance of Support, unless you are applying for the Retirement Pathway

You must be outside Australia when the decision made on your application unless you hold a Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 173) or substituted Visitor visa (subclass 600) before lodging your application.

How long does 143 visa take?

the processing time is not available at the moment, application for the visa 143 are subject to capping and queueing

Parent visas – queue release dates and processing times

Queue release dates

As at June 2020, we have released for final processing:

• Contributory Parent visa applications with a queue date up to May 2016
• Parent visa applications with a queue date up to August 2010
• Aged Parent visa applications with a queue date up to May 2012

The 143 visa takes approximately 3 to 4 years to process. The applicants can apply for a temporary parent visa 173 as well which is a 2-year temporary visa. Before the visa 173 expires they must pay an additional fee of AUD$19,420 and apply for the permanent visa subclass 143.

Processing and assessment for parent visa 143

Your application might take longer to process if:

• you do not fill it incorrectly
• you do not include all the documents we need or we need more information from you
• it takes us time to verify your information

As the parent visa is a paper lodgement, making sure the correct forms and pay the correct visa application charge is detrimental. However, you will be notified if this is the case and if necessary your application will be returned to re-lodge.

Assessment of applications for the parent visa 143 in 2 stages.

1. Check eligibility and either add the application to the queue or refuse it.
2. Continue assessing the application when a place becomes available and make a decision.

Meet the balance-of-family test

You must meet the balance-of-family test.

• at least half of your children and step-children are eligible children, or
• there are more eligible children living in Australia than in any other single country

See examples of how the balance-of-family test is applied.

Table 1: Examples of calculating when a parent would pass the balance-of-family test
Total number of children	Children living permanently in Australia	Children in country A	Children in country B	Children in country C	Children in country D	Passes test?
1	1	0	0	0	0	Yes
2	1	1	0	0	0	Yes
3	1	2	0	0	0	No
3	1	1	1	0	0	No
4	2	2	0	0	0	Yes
4	1	1	1	1	0	No
4	1	2	1	0	0	No
5	1	1	1	1	1	No
5	2	1	1	1	0	Yes
5	3	2	0	0	0	Yes
6	2	2	2	0	0	No

Have the assurance of support

You must be able to obtain an assurance of support.

An assurance of support assures that you will not have to rely on government assistance after you enter Australia on this visa.

How to obtain an assure

If you give an assurance of support you’re the assurer. The assuree is the visa applicant you support.

After  applies for a visa, the Department of Home Affairs either:

• decides if they’re in a visa category that needs an assurance of support
• writes to them to say if they need one

For 2 and 4 years

• $5,000 for 1 adult
• $7,000 for 2 adults

For 10 years

• $10,000 for 1 adult
• $14,000 for 2 adults.

Click here to start your assurance application

Apply for a Parent visa (subclass 143) as a retiree

If you apply for the subclass 103 visa as a retiree you don’t have to:

• meet the balance of family test, or
• have a sponsor or an assurance of support