MARA Registered Migration Agents | MARN: 2518738
A two-stage path to permanent residency for your parents. Two things decide whether it's worth it for your family: the Balance of Family test and AUD 33,375 split across two payments.
Schedule your session now to take the first real step toward bringing your parents to Australia.
The 173 contributory parent visa is capped and queued. Applications lodged now face a wait measured in years. A lot changes over that kind of timeframe. Jobs. Marriages. Health. Where you live.
Tell Home Affairs when your address, phone, email, passport, or relationship status changes. Changes of circumstance are notified on Form 1022. A file the Department can't contact is a file that stalls at exactly the wrong moment.
The Home Affairs parent visa queue page is the source of truth.
At the decision stage, the Department calls for the second instalment, about AUD 29,130, plus refreshed health and character checks. The window is short.
The Assurance of Support is a real financial commitment, and it arrives at the permanent 143 stage. Not here.
The 173 does not jump the line. It sits in the same capped queue as the 143. What it buys you is time, and a way to pay in stages.
Not sure whether the 173 or the 143 fits your family? A Registered Migration Agent can confirm it before you pay anything.
A single 173 visa applicant pays roughly AUD 33,375 in government charges across two installments, before health, police, and professional costs. The charge is split between a smaller first instalment at lodgement and a larger second instalment requested shortly before the visa is granted.
From 1 July 2026, a revised fee instrument introduced a lower “Pacific-regional” visa application charge for eligible passport holders from the Pacific Islands and Timor-Leste.
You may be eligible for the concession if you hold a valid passport from:
You can withdraw at any point before the Department decides, through the Parent visa processing centre form.
Here's what follows. Your parents' visa may be refused. The Department may give them a chance to find another sponsor. If there isn't one, the application probably fails. By then, your parents have paid AUD 4,245, spent years preparing, and often thousands more on health checks, translations, and professional fees.
Withdraw after the second instalment is invoiced and the government charges alone reach AUD 33,375. Withdrawing can mean starting again from the back of a queue that has moved on without them.
That's the short answer. If you stop meeting your obligations after grant, the Department may cancel your parents' visa. Even where you're released from the sponsorship, cancellation usually follows. Two years, no exit.
| Stage | Indicative timeframe (as at 31 May 2026) |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge new application | About 4 weeks |
| Queue assessment (initial core-criteria check) | Applications lodged around November 2023 are now being assessed for a queue date |
| Queue release date | Applications with a queue date up to November 2018 released for final processing |
| Estimated total wait for a new application | Around 15 years for Contributory Parent visas |
| 173 → 143 (temporary to permanent) release | May 2026 |
Reference: Parent visas – queue release dates and processing times
The queue is where this visa is won or lost. Two things go wrong most often. Families let their contact details go stale, so the Department can't reach them at exactly the wrong moment. And families treat the second instalment as a someday problem, then scramble when the request lands.
Our breakdown of contributory parent visa processing times puts the movement in context, and our 143 visa processing time guide covers the permanent stage.
While the queue moves, a visitor visa for parents is usually how families get time together.
This is about your family, your future. These are not just documents to us, and we understand what is at stake.
You can verify that registration on the OMARA register. We see clients at our Harris Park.
What we can do is prepare your application to meet the Department's requirements and stay with it for as long as it takes.
Parents who have a settled child in Australia to sponsor them. They also have to pass the Balance of Family Test and clear health, character, and debt checks. There's no age requirement and no points test. Send us your profile if you want it confirmed before you spend anything.
Roughly AUD 33,375 in government charges for one applicant: about AUD 4,245 at lodgement and about AUD 29,130 before grant. Additional applicants are charged separately. Confirm current figures on the Home Affairs fees page.
Yes. That's the design. Before the 173 expires, your parents lodge the permanent Subclass 143 from inside Australia, and the work already done carries across.
The 173 is temporary: a 2-year stay, a lower upfront payment, and the first step. The 143 is permanent, costs more in total, and lets your parents settle indefinitely. If you can fund the whole charge now, going direct to the 143 saves you a second application.
Generally yes. This route moves a lot faster than the non-contributory Subclass 103, where waits can run around 30 years. It is not fast in absolute terms.
Yes. Holders of the 173, 143, 884 and 864 are covered by a Ministerial Order and can enrol in Medicare. Centrelink payments are not available.
Yes. Your parents can work and study in Australia. They just can't rely on government support while they do it.
No. The Assurance of Support applies at the permanent 143 stage, not at the temporary 173 stage.
Your parents lose their lawful status in Australia. The 173 is a bridge to the 143, and the application has to be in before the two years run out. Diarise it for the day the visa is granted.
One failed Balance of Family count can cost you the whole application. In 30 minutes, a MARA-registered migration agent maps your parents' eligibility, your real cost across both installments, and a realistic timeline.
