CONTRIBUTORY PARENT (TEMPORARY) VISA173
Applying for this temporary 173 visa before the permanent subclass 143 visa lets you spread the costs.
Subclass 173 Contributory Parent Temporary Visa
The visa 173 allows parents of an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen who is settled in Australia, to live in Australia temporarily.
- live in Australia for up to 2 years
- work and study in Australia
- apply for a permanent 143 visa
- be sponsored by an eligible child who is a settled Australian citizen, Australian Permanent resident or Eligible New Zealand citizen
- meet the balance-of-family test
- meet all visa conditions and follow Australian law
Applicants for the subclass 173 Contributor Parent visa should have at least one child to be a sponsor
- who is settled in Australia, meaning they must have lived permanently in Australia for at least two years
Meet the balance-of-family test
You must meet the balance-of-family test for visa 173,
- 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
Applicants for subclass 173 visas must meet the “balance of family” test, meaning 50% or more of their children must live permanently in Australia as permanent residents or more of their children live permanently in Australia as permanent residents than in any other 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 |
Assessment of parent visa 173
Assessing applications for this visa in 2 stages
- Check eligibility and either add the application to the queue or refuse it.
- Continue assessing the application when a place becomes available and make a decision.
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
Have AOS – assurance of support
You must be able to obtain an assurance of support.
An assurance of support assures us that you will not have to rely on government assistance after you enter Australia on this visa.
- the assurance of support is for 2 years, 4 years, or 10 years.
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.