The second instalment on a Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) is AUD43,600 per adult applicant if you applied for the 143 directly. You don’t pay it when you lodge. You pay it years later, when Home Affairs is ready to grant the visa.
That gap is the part people find hardest to plan around.
Families come to our Harris Park office with a figure they found online and a worry that the bill could land any week. Usually the figure is wrong, and the timing is years further out than they feared.
Below is what the second instalment costs at each rate, and when the request arrives. It also covers what falls due alongside it, and whether going through a subclass 173 first works out cheaper. Every figure is from the Home Affairs pricing table, checked on 14 September 2026.
Want your own numbers worked out? Book a consultation and we’ll price your family’s application end to end.
What is the second instalment on a 143 visa?
The second instalment is the larger half of the visa application charge. It falls due only once your application reaches the front of the queue. Home Affairs splits the charge in two: a first instalment when you apply, and a second instalment when they ask for it.
For a single applicant going straight for the 143, that split is AUD6,300 on lodgement and AUD43,600 at the end. Together that’s the AUD49,900 Home Affairs publishes as the starting cost of this visa.
Two things about it are worth holding onto from the start.
It is not required if your application is refused or withdrawn. Home Affairs says so plainly. And it is not requested until they are ready to grant, so it isn’t a bill that can surprise you in the early years.
How much is the 143 second instalment?
AUD43,600 per adult is the standard rate. There are five other rates, and which one applies depends on whether you came through a 173 first.
| Your situation | Second instalment (per person) |
| Applied directly for the 143 (most applicants) | AUD43,600 |
| Held a subclass 173 when you applied | AUD19,420 |
| Held a 173, plus a substituted subclass 600, when you applied | AUD19,420 |
| Held a 173 at any time in the 28 days before applying | AUD19,420 |
| Former 173 holder, compassionate and compelling circumstances | AUD17,575 |
| Dependent child under 18 at the time of application | AUD2,095 |
Some children and stepchildren of 173 applicants are charged nil. The rules there are narrow, so check your own case rather than assuming.
What this means for a couple:
- Two parents applying directly for the 143 face AUD43,600 each, so AUD87,200 in second instalments alone
- Add the first instalment (AUD6,300 plus AUD2,125 for the second adult) and the total is AUD95,625
- Two parents who came through a 173 face AUD19,420 each at the 143 stage instead
Which raises the question almost everyone asks next, because the numbers published elsewhere don’t match these.
Why do so many websites say the 143 second instalment is $29,130?
Because AUD29,130 is the second instalment for the subclass 173, not the 143. It’s a different visa, and the two figures get swapped constantly.
Look at the current search results for this topic and you’ll find several established migration firms quoting AUD29,130 as the 143 figure. At least one quotes both AUD43,600 and AUD29,130 on the same page. Another leads with AUD2,065, which isn’t a parent visa rate at all.
Here’s the clean version:
| Visa | First instalment | Second instalment |
| Contributory Parent (subclass 143), applied directly | AUD6,300 | AUD43,600 |
| Contributory Parent (Temporary) (subclass 173) | AUD4,245 | AUD29,130 |
| Contributory Parent (subclass 143), after holding a 173 | AUD555 | AUD19,420 |
If you’re budgeting off a figure you found on a blog, check it against the Home Affairs pricing table. A AUD14,470 error in either direction is a big thing to discover late.
When does Home Affairs ask for the second instalment?
The request arrives when your application is released from the queue for final processing. Not when you lodge it, and not when you’re given a queue date.
Parent visas run in two stages. First Home Affairs checks your application against the core criteria and gives it a queue date. Then, as places open up each program year, they release applications from that queue in date order for final assessment. The second instalment request comes in that second stage.
So the queue release date tells you roughly where the bill sits. As at 31 May 2026:
Where the queue has reached:
- 143 queue release for final processing: queue dates up to November 2018
- 143 queue assessment: applications lodged November 2023
- 173 to 143 transition: May 2026, which is effectively current
- New 143 applications: Home Affairs estimates around 15 years
Read those together and the picture is clearer than it first looks. A new 143 lodged today gets a queue date in a few years, then waits behind everyone queued since late 2018. The second instalment sits a long way down that road.
The exception is the 173 to 143 step, which is being processed at current dates. If you hold a 173 and apply for the 143, the request can follow within months.
How long do you get to pay the second instalment?
Home Affairs sets the deadline in the request letter itself, and doesn’t publish a single fixed window that applies to every applicant.
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Book ConsultationYou’ll be told in writing. The letter states the amount and the date, and payment goes through ImmiAccount. Treat any blog that quotes a universal number of days with caution, including ours. The letter you receive is the only deadline that counts.
What matters more in practice is that the letter is a good sign. It means your application has cleared the queue and Home Affairs is working towards a grant.
What else falls due at the same time?
The second instalment isn’t the only cost that lands at the grant stage. The Assurance of Support bond arrives in the same window, and it catches people out because it’s a separate payment to a separate organisation.
Budget for these alongside the second instalment:
- Assurance of Support bond: mandatory for the 143 and lodged with the Commonwealth Bank. For the 10-year period that applies to contributory parent visas, the bank guarantee is AUD10,000 for one adult or AUD14,000 for two
- Health examinations: for every applicant, and they expire, so timing matters
- Police certificates: from every country you’ve lived in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years
- Biometrics, where they apply to you
The bond is refundable. Services Australia releases it after the 10-year Assurance of Support period ends, less any recoverable Centrelink payments the visa holder claimed. It’s money held, not money spent, which makes it very different from the second instalment.
One point worth noting: the Assurance of Support applies at the permanent 143 stage. It is not part of the temporary 173 stage, so if you’re moving through the two-step route it won’t arise until the second application.
What if the request arrives and you can’t pay?
The honest answer is that there’s no instalment plan for the second instalment. It’s a single payment, and Home Affairs won’t grant the visa until it clears.
What families do in practice:
- Start the fund at lodgement, not at the request. With a decade or more of notice, even modest monthly savings cover it
- Keep the Assurance of Support bond separate. It’s an extra AUD10,000 to AUD14,000 that has to be available at the same time
- Watch the queue release dates. Home Affairs publishes them, so you can see the request coming years out
- Revisit the 173 route early. Once you’ve applied directly for the 143, you’ve chosen your cost structure
If a request has already arrived and the money isn’t there, get advice quickly rather than letting the date pass. There are limited options once a deadline is missed, and more while it’s still open.
Not sure which route leaves your family better off, or what your total cost looks like? Our MARA-registered agents (MARN 2619480) will price both routes against your circumstances so you can plan properly.
How The Migration helps with contributory parent visas
We’ve spent more than seven years working with parent visa families, and cost planning is most of what the early conversations are about. The application itself is rarely the hard part. The money and the timing are.
What that looks like in practice:
- A full cost model for your family across both routes, including the Assurance of Support bond and the related costs
- A realistic timeline built on the current queue release dates, not a generic estimate
- Checking the balance of family test before anything is lodged, because it decides whether any of this is possible
The Migration is an Australian migration agency based in Harris Park, Sydney. Our advice comes from MARA-registered agents under MARN 2619480, and you can check that listing on the MARA public register before you engage anyone.
Final thoughts
The second instalment on a 143 is AUD43,600 per adult if you applied directly, and AUD19,420 if you came through a 173. Those two figures drive almost every planning decision on this visa.
The reassuring part is how much notice you get. The request doesn’t arrive until your application clears the queue. With releases currently sitting at November 2018 queue dates, most families have years to prepare. It also isn’t required at all if the application is refused or withdrawn.
The useful thing is to know your number now and start putting it aside. Book a consultation with our MARA-registered team (MARN 2619480). You’ll come away with your total cost across both routes, a timeline based on where the queue sits, and a clear next step. You can also contact our Harris Park office with a question first.
