143 Visa Processing Time in 2026: What Decides Your Wait, and What You Can Control

The 143 visa processing time for a new application is now around 18 years. That’s the Department of Home Affairs estimate as at 31 August 2026, up from 15 years a year earlier.

That number is hard to hear if your parents are in their sixties. It helps to know what sits behind it. The wait isn’t set by how fast a case officer works. It’s set by a yearly cap on parent visa places, and a queue that releases applications in date order.

So nobody can make the queue move faster for you. But you can still lose time, or lose your place altogether, through things that are in your hands. An incomplete application gets its queue date later. A family that fails the Balance of Family test never gets a queue date at all. An unreported change of address can stall a file at the moment it’s released.

This guide explains where the subclass 143 processing time comes from. It also covers how the Balance of Family test decides whether your parents enter the queue, and the steps that protect your place in line.

How Long Is the 143 Visa Processing Time in 2026?

Around 18 years for an application lodged today. The wait runs in three stages, and each has its own timeline.

The 18-year figure is longer than today’s release gap because more applications are queued than places come up each year. Home Affairs publishes the latest dates on its parent visa queue page. Our contributory parent visa processing time guide shows how to read them and work out where your own file sits.

Why Can’t Anyone Speed Up the Visa 143 Processing Time?

Because the limit is the number of places, not the paperwork. Three things set the pace.

• The yearly cap. The government sets a limited number of parent visa places in each year’s Migration Program. When they’re used up, the rest wait.
• Queue order. Home Affairs releases applications in queue date order. A complete file can’t jump ahead of an earlier one.
• Processing priorities. Ministerial directions set how the Department orders its parent visa work, and they can change.

That’s why there’s no priority processing for a 143. Treat any offer to speed up your place in the queue with caution. What you can influence is how quickly you reach the queue and whether you stay in it.

What Is the Balance of Family Test, and Why Does It Decide Your Queue Date?

The Balance of Family Test is the rule that decides whether your parents have enough family ties to Australia to apply for a parent visa. Home Affairs checks it at initial assessment. Pass, and the application gets a queue date. Fail, and it’s refused before it ever enters the queue, after two years or more of waiting.

The two rules, explained

• The half rule. At least half of your parents’ children are eligible children who live in Australia.
• The most-in-one-country rule. More of their children live in Australia than in any other single country. A tie doesn’t pass.

A child counts as eligible if they’re an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who usually lives in Australia. Your parents’ own location doesn’t matter.

Who goes into the count?

• Every biological and adopted child, including you and any children overseas.
• A child of your parent’s current partner, at any age.
• A former partner’s child only if they’re under 18 and your parent has custody, guardianship or a parenting order.
• Not counted: a child who has died, a child adopted out or removed by court order, or a child living in a UNHCR camp.

The Department of Home Affairs Balance of Family test page sets out the full rule for Australia’s parent visas. For stepchildren, custody orders and other harder cases, read our Balance of Family test explained guide.

How Can You Protect Your Place in the 143 Visa Queue?

By lodging a complete application, keeping it reachable, and being ready when it’s released. These are the parts of the 143 visa waiting time you control.

Before you lodge

• Run the Balance of Family count with evidence for every child, such as passports, visas or citizenship certificates.
• Check the sponsor is settled. That usually means about 2 years of lawful residence in Australia.
• Lodge every form and document the first time. Gaps slow initial assessment, which pushes back your queue date for good.
• Don’t lodge a Sponsored Parent visa 870 first. Once your parents hold or have applied for an 870, they can’t lodge a new parent visa. An 870 applied for after the 143 is fine.

While you wait

• Report every change of address, phone, email, passport or relationship status on Form 1022.
• Keep your queue date letter. It’s your only reliable 143 visa tracker, because you compare it with the release date Home Affairs publishes.
• Use a visitor visa for long family stays.

When your application is released

• Book health and police checks quickly. They need to be current at decision time.
• Have the Assurance of Support ready. Someone who passes the income test has to provide it.
• Budget for the second instalment, which is invoiced with a deadline. The visa can’t be granted until you pay it.

How Much Does the 143 Visa Cost?

AUD 49,900 for one parent, in two instalments, from 1 July 2026.

Health checks, police checks and translations are extra. Confirm current charges with the Home Affairs visa pricing estimator. Our 143 visa second instalment guide explains the invoice.

How Do You Apply for the 143 Visa?

Your parents apply, and you sponsor them. The application has two parts.

• Your parents complete Form 47PA, the parent visa application, with their identity, relationship and Balance of Family evidence.
• You complete Form 40, the sponsorship form, with proof that you’re settled in Australia.
• The first instalment is due at lodgement. Follow the lodgement instructions on the current form, as Home Affairs updates them.

If the application is refused, you can usually seek review at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), which replaced the AAT in October 2024. Time limits are strict.

How The Migration Helps With Your 143 Visa

A 143 is a file someone holds for close to two decades, so we focus on the parts that cost families time.

• We run your Balance of Family count with you before anything is lodged.
• We check the sponsor’s settled status and the Assurance of Support plan early.
• We lodge a complete application, so initial assessment isn’t held up by gaps.
• We track your queue date against each Home Affairs release and prepare you for the second instalment.

Every case is run by a MARA-registered migration agent, MARN 2619480. You can check the registration on the OMARA register. See our contributory parent visa 143 service for how we work.

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