Balance of Family Test for Parent Visas: Do Your Parents Pass?

You have probably already tried this sum at home. Your parents have three children, or five, and you are trying to work out whether enough of you live in Australia to sponsor them.

That sum is the balance of family test, and it decides whether your parents can apply for most parent visas at all. Once you know the counting rules, it is simpler than it first looks.

Families usually go wrong on who goes on the list. A brother here on a student visa (subclass 500), a half-sister overseas or a stepchild from an earlier marriage can each change the answer.

The helpful part is that the result can be known before anyone lodges anything. The Department of Home Affairs publishes the rules, and they work the same way for every family.

Below are the two ways to pass, which children count, seven worked examples and the proof you will need. If your count is close, our registered migration agents can check it with you before you commit.

What is the balance of family test?

The balance of family test checks whether your parents have enough of their children settled in Australia to qualify for a parent visa. It is a headcount of all their children, based on where each child lives and the visa or citizenship they hold.

The rules are set out in regulation 1.05 of the Migration Regulations 1994 and explained on the Department of Home Affairs balance of family test page.

How does the balance of family test work?

It compares your parents’ eligible children in Australia with their other children, including children outside Australia. Your parents pass if either of these is true:

• The half rule: at least half of their children and stepchildren are eligible children.
• The most-in-one-country rule: they have more eligible children than children living in any other single country.

Meeting one rule is enough. The second rule often helps families who think they have failed. It compares Australia with each other country one at a time, not with everyone overseas added together.

Home Affairs says it will not waive the test, even in compelling or exceptional circumstances. That sounds strict, but it also means nobody has to guess. You can work out the answer in advance.

Which of your parents’ children count?

Every child of your parents counts, including children outside Australia. That includes you as the sponsor.

Children who go into the count:

• You and your brothers and sisters, in Australia or overseas.
• Adopted children.
• Children from your parents’ earlier relationships, including any the family has lost contact with.
• Stepchildren, as Home Affairs defines them (see below).

A stepchild counts if they are the child of your parent’s current partner. A former partner’s child counts only if they are under 18. Your parent must also have guardianship, custody or a parenting order for them under the Family Law Act 1975. Stepchildren from polygamous or concurrent relationships are not counted.

Children who are left out of the count:

• Children who have died.
• Children removed from their parents’ exclusive legal custody by adoption, court order or operation of law.
• Children registered as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who live in a camp operated by the UNHCR.
• Children living in a country where they suffer persecution or human rights abuse and cannot be reunited with their parents in another country.

That is the complete list. A strained relationship does not remove a child from the count. If you do not know where a child lives, Home Affairs treats them as living in their last known country of usual residence.

Who counts as an eligible child in Australia?

Only eligible children count on the Australian side of the test. Living in Australia is not enough on its own.

Home Affairs treats a child as an eligible child if they are:

• An Australian citizen.
• An Australian permanent resident who usually lives in Australia.
• An eligible New Zealand citizen who usually lives in Australia.

Every other child is an ineligible child, and Home Affairs treats an ineligible child as living overseas. It also says it does not consider children in Australia on a temporary visa to be usually resident here.

So a brother in Melbourne on a student visa (subclass 500) does not count for Australia. Neither does a sister on a Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) or a sibling waiting on a partner visa decision. They stay in the total as ineligible children, so leaving them off the list gives you the wrong result.

“Eligible New Zealand citizen” also has a narrow meaning. It is tied to being in Australia on or around 26 February 2001 as a special category visa holder, and the Home Affairs page sets out the exact conditions.

Do your parents pass? Seven family examples

Count every child once, mark each one as eligible or ineligible, then test both rules. These examples follow the method in the Home Affairs worked table, and you can use them like a balance of family test calculator for your own family.

The word that matters in the second rule is “more”. A tie with another country does not meet it. A tie can still pass on the first rule, though: in the four-child example, two in Australia and two in India is exactly half, so your parents pass.

When you run your own count, write every child’s name down. The list is often longer than the one people give on a first call, especially once stepchildren and earlier relationships are included.

If your count lands on the line, or a sibling’s visa status is unclear, our MARA-registered agents (MARN 2619480) can work through it with you child by child. Book a parent visa consultation.

What proof do you need for the balance of family test?

You need to show two things about each child: that they exist, and where they live and with what status. Your parents list their family on Form 47PA, and the evidence has to support every line of it.

Documents families usually provide:

• Birth certificates for every child, including children outside Australia and any who have died.
• Citizenship certificates, passports or visa grant notices for each eligible child.
• Proof that permanent resident children usually live here, such as leases, payslips or tax records.
• Marriage, divorce or custody papers where stepchildren are involved.
• Death certificates, adoption orders or UNHCR papers for any child left out of the count.

Declare every child, including any the family is no longer in touch with. Case officers compare family details across your parents’ forms and the sponsor’s records. A missing child can look deliberate, even when it is an honest mistake.

Which parent visas need the balance of family test?

The balance of family test parent visa requirement applies to six visas. Four are contributory visas (subclass 143, subclass 173, subclass 864 and subclass 884), and two are non-contributory (subclasses 103 and 804):

• Parent visa (subclass 103)
• Aged Parent visa (subclass 804)
• Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143)
• Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 173)
• Contributory Aged Parent visa (subclass 864)
• Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 884)

The Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870) does not use the balance of family test. It lets parents stay for up to three or five years at a time. It does not lead to permanent residence, and the sponsoring child must meet an income test instead.

Before choosing the subclass 870 visa, weigh one trade-off. Home Affairs says a parent cannot apply for a permanent or temporary parent visa while they hold, or have applied for, a subclass 870 visa. If your family may pass the test later, that matters for the order you do things in.

What happens if the count is wrong?

If your parents do not pass, the application is refused, and the first instalment of the visa application charge is generally not refunded. Checking the count before lodging avoids that outcome entirely.

The refusal usually comes late. Home Affairs first checks each parent visa application against the core visa criteria, then gives it a queue date, and it refuses applications that do not meet those criteria. As at 31 August 2026, that initial assessment had reached these lodgement dates, according to the Home Affairs parent visa queue page:

• Contributory Parent visas (subclasses 143 and 173): April 2024.
• Contributory Aged Parent visas (subclasses 864 and 884): April 2023.
• Parent visa (subclass 103): February 2023.
• Aged Parent visa (subclass 804): January 2023.

So a family that miscounts may not hear about it for two to four years. You can check the current charge for your subclass on the Home Affairs visa pricing estimator. Our contributory parent visa processing time guide explains the full timeline.

If your family is close to passing:

• A sibling who is near a permanent visa grant can change the count, so the timing of your lodgement is worth discussing first.
• If your family circumstances change after you lodge, for example, a child is granted permanent residence or moves overseas, tell Home Affairs using Form 1022.

How The Migration helps with the balance of family test

Confirming the count is the first thing we do for any parent visa family, before costs, timelines or forms.

• We list every child of both parents, including stepchildren and children from earlier relationships, and ask the harder questions early.
• We confirm each child’s status and usual country of residence from documents, not memory.
• We test both rules, because many families pass the most-in-one-country rule after assuming they failed the half rule.
• We advise on timing where a sibling’s permanent visa is pending, and on whether the subclass 870 visa suits when the test cannot be met.
• We prepare the family evidence so that Form 47PA and the supporting documents match.

Advice is given by agents registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA). Our Migration Agent Registration Number (MARN) is 2619480, and you can check any agent on the MARA public register. No registered migration agent can guarantee a visa outcome, and no agent can waive this test.

What should you do next?

Start with a full list of your parents’ children, the country each one usually lives in, and the visa or citizenship each one holds. That list answers the balance of family test for most families.

If the count is close, a sibling is partway through a visa application, or there are children the family has not spoken about in years, bring the list to a registered agent before lodging rather than after.

Frequently Asked Questions