Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent Visa: The 10-Year Option Explained (2026)

The 870 visa (Sponsored Parent Temporary) lets a parent of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen live in Australia for three or five years at a time, up to ten years in total. It costs $6,370 for a three-year visa or $12,440 for five years, plus a $420 sponsorship application.

Your child in Australia must be approved as a sponsor first, and must show taxable income of at least $83,454.80. There is no balance-of-family test and no queue, but there are no work rights either, and the visa does not lead to permanent residence.

Who can be sponsored, and who can sponsor?

The parent must be the biological, legal (including adoptive) parent, step-parent or parent-in-law of the sponsor, and at least 18. Each parent needs their own application; you cannot add a second parent, or anyone else, to one application.

The sponsor is the parent’s child, or the child’s spouse or de facto partner, aged 18 or over. The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who has usually lived in Australia for at least four years.

A sponsor who was unlawful, or held a bridging visa other than an A, B or C, at any point in the last four years is not eligible.

One household can hold one sponsorship at a time, covering up to two parents: both of yours, both of your partner’s, or one of each. A new sponsorship cannot be lodged until the current one ends.

What is the sponsor income test?

The sponsor’s taxable income for the last completed financial year before lodging must be at least $83,454.80 (Home Affairs, Parent Sponsor requirements). That figure comes from the sponsor’s tax return, not a payslip, so the year that counts is the one already assessed.

If the sponsor’s income falls short, it can be combined with a spouse or de facto partner’s income, or with another child of the parent who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. When combining, the sponsor’s own taxable income must still be at least half the threshold: $41,727.40.

The sponsor also has to have paid back, or arranged to pay back, any debt to the Australian Government, meet the character requirement, and agree to the sponsorship obligations below.

How much does the 870 visa cost in 2026?

Source: Home Affairs current visa pricing, checked 28 September 2026. A lower charge applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens from 1 July 2026.

On top of the government charges, budget for health insurance for the whole stay, health checks, police certificates and biometrics. For a couple on five-year visas, the government charges alone come to $24,880 plus $420 for the sponsorship. The full family-visa fee table is on our visa fees and thresholds reference.

How long can a parent stay, and can the visa be renewed?

Each 870 visa is granted for up to three or five years. A parent can hold more than one, up to a combined maximum of ten years in Australia on this visa. After ten years there is no further 870 visa: the parent must leave or be granted a different visa.

The visa cannot be extended from inside Australia. To get a second 870 visa, the parent must apply from outside Australia and must have spent at least 90 consecutive days outside Australia since leaving on the previous visa.

Home Affairs can give permission to apply onshore, but only in exceptional cases such as a serious illness or a natural disaster that stops the parent travelling home.

What can a parent do on an 870 visa?

• Live in Australia for the visa period — and travel in and out as often as they like while the visa is valid.
• No paid work — the visa carries a no-work condition. Unpaid care of grandchildren at home, volunteering for a charity and helping at a grandchild’s school are allowed; unpaid work in a commercial setting is not.
• Health insurance for the whole stay — from an Australian insurer, at a level Home Affairs treats as adequate. There is no Medicare unless the parent’s country has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with Australia.
• No family members on the application — each parent applies separately, and no one else can be included.

The sponsor takes on obligations too: to support and house the parent, to tell Home Affairs when circumstances change, and to repay any public health debt the parent runs up in Australia.

The health-debt obligation survives the visa; it stays with the sponsor even after the parent has left. Breaching the obligations can end the sponsorship and the visa.

How long does the 870 visa take?

Half of sponsorship applications are being decided within 79 days and 9 in 10 within five months (Home Affairs processing tool, 28 September 2026). The visa application takes longer: half decided within 8 months and 9 in 10 within 9 months. Allow roughly a year from lodging the sponsorship to a visa grant.

The order matters. The sponsorship must be approved first, and the visa application must be lodged within six months of that approval, or the sponsorship lapses.

Home Affairs caps grants at 15,000 a program year (1 July to 30 June). If the cap is reached, no more 870 visas are granted until the next 1 July, and an application caught by the cap has to be lodged again.

Is the 870 visa a path to permanent residence?

No. Home Affairs states that a parent cannot apply for a permanent or temporary parent visa while they hold, or have applied for, an 870 visa. Years spent on the 870 do not count towards residence or citizenship, and the visa ends when its period runs out.

The sequence can be turned to your advantage. A parent who has already lodged a permanent parent application, such as a Contributory Parent (subclass 143) visa, can still be granted an 870 and spend the waiting years in Australia.

Home Affairs puts it this way: such a parent “may visit Australia, but not remain in Australia permanently while the application is being decided”. Lodge the permanent application first, then the 870, not the other way round.

870 visa or 143 visa: which one fits?

The 870 is the right tool for a specific job: a parent who wants years, not weeks, with grandchildren, in a family that cannot or will not pay $43,600 a parent for the 143, or whose parent is unlikely to see the end of a 18-year queue.

It is also the bridge that lets a parent live in Australia while a 143 lodged earlier works through the queue. It is the wrong tool for a parent who needs to work or who needs Medicare, and for anyone treating it as a step to residence.

For the full comparison of every parent option, including the onshore aged-parent routes and their bridging visas, see our parent visas guide.

What should you check before you start?

• The sponsor’s last tax return — taxable income of $83,454.80 or more, or at least $41,727.40 with a partner or sibling making up the rest. A pay rise this year does not help until it appears in an assessed return.
• Which visa goes first — if a 143 or other permanent parent visa is planned, lodge it before the 870.
• Where the parent will be — outside Australia when the visa is lodged. A parent in Australia on a visitor visa needs to leave first, unless permission to apply onshore is granted.
• Insurance costs for the full period — three or five years of overseas visitor health cover is a real number; get a quote before choosing the visa length.
• The calendar — with a 15,000 cap and roughly a year from sponsorship to grant, lodging early in the program year avoids being caught by a cap that closes in the following June.

Frequently asked questions

Can an 870 visa holder work in Australia?

No. The visa carries a no-work condition. Unpaid care of grandchildren, volunteering for a charity and helping at a grandchild’s school are permitted; any unpaid work in a commercial setting is not.

Can both parents come on one 870 visa?

No. Each parent lodges a separate visa application, and each pays the full charge. One sponsorship can cover up to two parents in the same household, so the sponsor only lodges the $420 sponsorship once.

Can a parent apply for the 870 visa while in Australia?

Only with written permission from Home Affairs, given in exceptional cases such as a serious illness or a natural disaster that prevents travel home. Otherwise the parent must be outside Australia when the visa application is lodged.

What happens when the ten years are up?

No further 870 visa can be granted. The parent must leave Australia or be granted another visa. Because a permanent parent visa cannot be applied for while holding an 870, families who want residence should lodge that application before the first 870, not after.