PARENT VISA
This permanent visa lets a parent of a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen move to Australia.
With this visa you can
- stay in Australia indefinitely
- work and study in Australia
- enrol in Australia’s public health care scheme, Medicare
- sponsor your family members to come to Australia
- apply for Australian citizenship, if eligible
Travel to and from Australia for 5 years
You can travel to and from Australia as many times as you want for 5 years from the date we grant this visa. This is as long as the travel facility on this visa remains valid.
If you want to travel after the initial 5-year travel facility:
- you will need to apply for and be granted a Resident Return (RRV) so that you can re-enter Australia as a permanent resident
- you might also want to consider Australian citizenship. If you become an Australian citizen, you don’t require a visa to enter Australia. You will need to apply for an Australian passport and use it to leave and re-enter Australia. See more about eligibility requirements and current processing times for Australian citizenship
To see when your travel facility ends, use VEVO.
Apply for a Parent visa (subclass 103) 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
How long you can stay
This is a permanent visa. It lets you stay in Australia indefinitely.
For citizenship purposes, your permanent residence starts on the day we grant the visa.
Include family
You can include members of the family unit in your application when you apply.
You are required to include details of all your family members in your application form whether they are migrating or not.
Family members who apply for the visa must meet our health and character requirements. Family members who are not coming to Australia might also have to meet our health and character requirements.
If you apply for this visa as a retiree, you:
- can include your partner when you apply provided they are also retired
- can’t include your children in your application
Newborn child
Find out what to do if your child is born after you apply.
Apply from
You can be in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance, when you apply for the visa.
You must be outside Australia when we decide on your application.
If you apply in Australia, any family members who apply with you must also be in Australia, but not in immigration clearance, when you apply. If you apply outside Australia, any family members who apply for the visa with you must also be outside Australia when you apply.
If you are applying as a retiree you must be in Australia, but not in immigration clearance, when you apply. You can be in or outside Australia when we decide on your application.
Processing times
We don’t provide processing times for this visa. Applications for this visa are subject to capping and queueing.
Your application might take longer to process if:
- you do not fill it in correctly
- you do not include all the documents we need or we need more information from you
- it takes us time to verify your information
We can’t process your application if you don’t pay the correct visa application charge. We will notify you if this is the case and if necessary return your application.
Family migration visas are in high demand. It might take many years for this visa to be granted.
Assessment
We assess 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.
Don’t arrange to move to Australia until we grant the visa. We will let you know in writing if we grant you the visa.
Estimate how many applications are ahead of yours in the queue with the Parent Visa Queue Calculator.
Learn more about the Parent visa queue and processing priorities.
Consider another visa
Other parent visas might be processed more quickly:
- the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) is a permanent visa. Contributory Parent visas are processed faster, but they cost more
- the Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 173), then a permanent Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143). This 2-step visa process is faster but costs more than the subclass 103 visa. It also costs more than applying directly for the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143), but the cost is spread across the 2 visas over a longer period
Your obligations
You and your family members must meet all visa conditions and obey Australian laws.
Learn more about conditions for this visa.
Visa label
We will digitally link your visa to your passport. You will not get a label in your passport.
Visa
This permanent visa lets a parent of a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen move to Australia.
