Benefits of the 870 Visa

The 870 visa currently only takes around 6 to 23 months to be processed, while other parent visas may require much longer, such as the Contributory Parent (subclass 143) visa (‘143 visa’) which currently takes around 5 to 6 years to be processed. Also, some parent visas do not grant applicants bridging visas to remain in Australia while waiting for the application to be assessed, such as the 143 visa, the Contributory Parent (Temporary) (subclass 173) visa (‘173 visa’) and the Parent (subclass 103) visa (‘103 visa’). The 870 visa is useful for other parent visas’ applicants to remain in Australia for a longer period before being granted permanent residence.

Also, there is no ‘Balance of Family Test’ requirement for the 870 visa, meaning an applicant is not required to have more than half of their children residing in Australia to be eligible. This is a requirement under other parent visas, such as the 143 visa and the Aged Parent (subclass 804) visa (‘804 visa’), the 870 visa is useful for parents who do not meet the ‘Balance of Family Test’ requirement.

Overview of the 870 Visa

The 870 visa is for Australian citizen or permanent resident to sponsor their parents to live with them on a temporary basis. The purpose of the 870 visa is to allow parents to live in Australia with their children and/or grandchildren for up to 5 years at a time. If granted, an applicant does not have to leave Australia during the validity of the 870 visa. Please note this is only a temporary visa and does not provide permanent residence. If an applicant wishes to obtain permanent residence, he/she must still apply for other parent visas that provide permanent residence upon a grant.

The 870 visa is a 2-step application process, a sponsorship application must first be lodged and approved by the Immigration Department, before a visa application is submitted. An applicant must be outside Australia when applying for this visa, unless the applicant is granted permission to apply in Australia, in which the sponsor may put in a request to the Immigration Department in the sponsorship application form. The 870 visa can be extended by reapplication for a second time. However, applicant must depart Australia for at least 90 days before he/she is permitted to apply for a second 870 visa. The maximum number of years an applicant can live in Australia on the 870 visa is 10 years.

Sponsor Eligibility Requirements

A sponsor of the 870 visa must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident and has been usually resident in Australia for at least 4 years. Also, the sponsor’s combined household annual taxable income must be at least $83,454.80 (please kindly note this is the current figure at the time of this article, please refer to the most up-to-date figure) for the most recent income year.

Under the 870 visa, a parent must be the biological, adoptive, or step-parent of the sponsor. This means that daughter-in-law/son-in-law of the applicant cannot be the applicant’s sponsor.