New FAQ · current visa
Frequently asked questions
New learner-facing FAQs scoped to this visa, with the relevant legal anchors retained.
What is the Subclass 870, and what is it not?
A long-stay temporary visa
The Subclass 870 (Sponsored Parent (Temporary)) lets a parent live in Australia temporarily, for up to five years at a time [cl 870.511]. It suits a parent who wants a long stretch of time with family in Australia but is not taking a permanent parent visa, because the permanent queue is too long to wait out, or because the family does not want to commit to permanent migration. It does not require the applicant to be an aged parent, and there is no balance of family test.
Not a permanent pathway
The 870 does not lead to permanent residence, and time spent on it counts toward nothing permanent. One of its core criteria is that the applicant genuinely intends to stay only temporarily [cl 870.226], so it cannot be used as a back-door migration route: a parent who is really planning to settle for good does not meet it. A parent who wants permanent residence still has to use a 103 or 143 (offshore) or an 804 or 864 (onshore aged-parent) visa. The 870 is a lawful way to be in Australia; it is not a way into those visas.
Two steps to get one
Getting an 870 takes two steps: first the sponsoring child, or the child's spouse, is approved as a parent sponsor, then the parent lodges the visa naming that approved sponsor [cl 870.221]. The money test sits with the sponsor and is applied at the sponsorship-approval step, as an income test on the sponsor's taxable income [reg 2.60W]. The permanent parent visas gate money differently: their grant criterion is an assurance of support accepted in relation to the parent [cl 103.226] [cl 143.228] [cl 804.224] [cl 864.226], and that assurance is given not by the parent but by an assurer, an eligible individual or body and often the sponsoring child. So neither scheme tests the parent's own money; the difference is an income test on the sponsor before the 870 is lodged versus a third party's accepted assurance before the permanent visa is granted.
Who can sponsor, and what does the sponsor have to satisfy?
The sponsor-approval step
The 870 works in two steps, and the sponsor's step comes first. Before the parent can lodge, the sponsoring child has to be approved as a parent sponsor [Sch 1 item 1239(3)(d)] [reg 1.03 def parent sponsor]. The approval criteria are in reg 2.60U, and the sponsor makes a separate application under reg 2.61A [reg 2.60U] [reg 2.61A]. At grant, the parent must be sponsored by that approved parent sponsor [cl 870.221]. The 870 has no secondary or family-unit applicants, so each parent applies in their own right, but one sponsor can be approved to cover up to two people [reg 2.60U], so both parents can be sponsored, each on their own 870. The sponsor approval ceases if the parent does not apply within the applicable six-month period starting on the sponsorship start day or, where the approval was varied to cover that parent, the variation day [reg 2.64B(2)(d)]. That cessation clock is separate from the visa application's manner and validity rules: a parent with Ministerial permission to apply in Australia must lodge within 60 days from the permission day, whereas the ordinary offshore route uses the applicable six-month window from the sponsor-approval or variation day [Sch 1 item 1239(3)(a)] [LIN 19/185 s 6(b)–(c)].
Who the sponsor can be
The sponsor is either the parent's child, or the spouse or de facto partner of the parent's child. Where a child-in-law is the sponsor, the parent's own child (the sponsor's spouse) must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. A third route preserves the sponsorship after a death: where the child who was sponsoring the parent dies, that child's surviving spouse or de facto partner can be approved as the replacement sponsor, provided they apply within 90 days of the death and the parent already holds a Subclass 870 visa [reg 2.57 def permitted sponsored person]. The sponsor themselves must be at least 18 and one of the following [reg 2.60V]: - an Australian citizen; or - a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who has lived in Australia for at least the four years right before applying, with no time in those years as an unlawful non-citizen or on a bridging visa other than a BVA, BVB or BVC.
That four-year rule is tighter than the "settled" test used for the permanent parent sponsors.
The income test and the sponsor's obligations
The sponsor must also pass an income test: their taxable income must reach an amount set by legislative instrument, and the current figure needs checking each time. The sponsor can count their income alone, or combine it with a partner's income, or with the income of another child of the sponsored parent who is a citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, provided the sponsor's own income is at least half the required amount [reg 2.60W]. Among other requirements, approval also depends on conduct [reg 2.60X], outstanding debt [reg 2.60Y], partner requirements [reg 2.60Z], and the not-ineligible-sponsor bar [reg 2.60U(2)]. And approval is not a one-off: while the visa runs, the sponsor must clear any public health debt the parent incurs [reg 2.87CE] and support the parent with money and accommodation [reg 2.87CF]. On the 870 these sponsor duties replace the assurance-of-support bond used on the permanent side.
This entry contains an amount, date or policy detail that may change. Check the current source before use.
How long can a parent stay, and how often can the visa be used?
How long each grant lasts
The Minister sets the length of each 870, up to a maximum of five years from the day it is granted [cl 870.511]. Five years is the ceiling, not an entitlement: a shorter grant is possible.
The ten-year lifetime cap
The 870 can be renewed, but not without end. Under the ordinary calculation, all the 870s a person has held cannot add up to more than ten years [cl 870.511]. The COVID concession operates through clauses 870.511(2)(b) and (2A): where a qualifying Subclass 870 visa ceased under subclause (2A), the period for which that visa was in effect is excluded from the aggregate calculation. The exclusion is not limited to 18 months. [cl 870.511(2)(b)] [cl 870.511(2A)] The visa therefore supports a series of long stays, not indefinite residence by renewal, but the concession must be applied to the correct qualifying visa when calculating an affected holder's total.
A break between visas
Renewing is also paced. If a parent applies for another 870 from outside Australia, has held one before, and there are no exceptional circumstances, they must already have spent at least 90 consecutive days outside Australia since their last relevant departure [cl 870.223]. This ordinarily, absent exceptional circumstances and when applying from offshore, prevents a parent from rolling straight from an expiring visa into a fresh one. It is a separate control from the ten-year cap: one paces each renewal, the other limits the lifetime total.
Ending early
A grant can also finish before its date if the sponsorship behind it falls away [cl 870.511]: - the sponsor's approval is cancelled → 35 days later; - the sponsor withdraws, and no replacement sponsorship is lodged within 35 days → then; - the sponsor dies, and no replacement sponsorship is lodged within 90 days → then.
The list is not exhaustive: a timely replacement-sponsorship application that is later refused can also end the visa 35 days after the refusal is finally determined [cl 870.511(3) items 3, 5].
The visa does not require a living, approved sponsor at every moment. Clause 870.511(3) preserves it during the specified grace periods and while a timely replacement-sponsorship application, review or post-refusal period is still running; it ends only when the relevant cessation event in that clause occurs [cl 870.511(3)].
What does the 870 cost, and how is that different from the permanent visas?
The two instalments
Like the other parent visas, the 870 charge is paid in two parts: a first instalment when the application is lodged, and a second instalment before the visa can be granted [Sch 1 item 1239] [cl 870.411]. For applications lodged from 1 July 2026, the first instalment is also tiered according to whether the applicant holds a valid passport issued by a Pacific-regional country. That country category is defined in regulation 1.03; Schedule 1 item 1239 applies the charge tiers. [reg 1.03 def Pacific-regional country] [Sch 1 item 1239(2)(a)] [F2026L00874 Sch 3 items 1, 61] The applicable tier and current amount must be checked against the law in force on the lodgement date.
Tiers by visa length
What is unusual about the 870 is that the second instalment has two tiers, set by how long the visa will run: a lower amount for a grant of up to three years, and a higher amount for a longer grant [Sch 1 item 1239]. A shorter visa costs less now but runs out sooner, and, subject to the COVID-affected-visa exclusion in cl 870.511(2)(b) and (2A), each other grant counts toward the ten-year lifetime total, so length, cost and how much lifetime is left all move together.
No support bond
The bigger difference from the permanent visas is where the financial gate sits. The four permanent parent visas ordinarily require an accepted AoS [cl 103.226] [cl 143.228] [cl 804.224] [cl 864.226], subject to the closed 405/410 retiree-pathway carve-out for Subclasses 103 and 143 [cl 103.226(2)] [cl 143.228(2)]; the contributory distinction is the large second instalment. The 870 has no bond at all. Its financial protection runs entirely through the sponsor: the income test the sponsor must pass to be approved [reg 2.60W], and the sponsor's continuing duty to cover the parent's public health debts and living costs [reg 2.87CE] [reg 2.87CF]. So on the 870 the affordability question is about the sponsoring child's income, not a refundable security held by Services Australia.
This entry contains an amount, date or policy detail that may change. Check the current source before use.
Which health criteria apply?
The health criterion
The 870's health test depends on where the parent applied from. Applying from outside Australia means PIC 4005; applying from inside Australia means PIC 4007 [cl 870.228]. The gap between them is the waiver: PIC 4005 cannot be waived, so a health condition that fails on cost sinks the application, while under PIC 4007 the Minister can waive that significant-cost ground. A parent who can validly apply onshore therefore has a safety net that an offshore applicant does not. Either way, the parent must hold adequate health insurance for the stay [cl 870.224], and a visa condition keeps that cover running [Sch 8 8501].
Public health debt
The parent must have no unpaid public health debt, unless it has been paid off or payment has been arranged [cl 870.227]. This mirrors the sponsor's own duty to clear any such debt the parent owes [reg 2.87CE].
What conditions does the 870 carry, and what do they stop the parent doing?
The mandatory conditions
Every 870 is granted subject to six conditions [cl 870.611]: - 8103: the holder must not work in Australia without written permission from the Minister for specified work or a specified time [sch 8 cl 8103]. - 8501: the holder must maintain adequate health insurance while in Australia [sch 8 cl 8501]. - 8303: the holder must not become involved in activities disruptive to, or violence threatening harm to, the Australian community [sch 8 cl 8303]. - 8531: the holder must not remain in Australia after the visa's period of stay ends [sch 8 cl 8531]. - 8564: the holder must not engage in criminal conduct [sch 8 cl 8564]. - 8609: the holder must notify Immigration of changes to name, residential address, email, phone and passport details within 14 days [sch 8 cl 8609].
The work bar
The condition that shapes daily life is 8103, and the legal rule is that an 870 parent cannot work without written Ministerial permission. It cannot be lifted: the Minister's power to waive a condition reaches only no-further-stay conditions like 8503, not work conditions [MA s 41], so 8103 stays on the visa for its whole life. The condition does, on paper, let the Minister permit specified work or work for a specified time [sch 8 cl 8103]; but under current policy the 870 carries no work rights, and that permission is not given for this visa. A parent on an 870 should plan on not working because the visa is built for family time and support, not employment. The health-insurance condition runs the whole time too, so letting cover lapse is a breach, not just a gap.
This entry contains an amount, date or policy detail that may change. Check the current source before use.
Does the parent have to be outside Australia?
Location at application
When they apply, the parent must be outside Australia, unless the Minister has permitted them to apply from inside Australia (but not in immigration clearance) [Sch 1 item 1239]. That permission, called Permission to Apply Onshore, is not routine. The Regulations set no criteria for it, so it turns on the Minister's discretion, and current policy confines it to exceptional circumstances. Once permission is given, the visa application must be lodged within 60 days after the permission is granted. The sponsor requests permission with supporting evidence, usually as part of the sponsorship application or before the 870 is lodged if circumstances change. Applying onshore is therefore the narrow exception, and it is also what moves the health criterion from PIC 4005 to PIC 4007, whose significant-cost ground can be waived.
Location at grant
The visa can be granted whether the parent is in or outside Australia, as long as they are not in immigration clearance [cl 870.411]. So a parent already in Australia on another visa, applying under an onshore permission, can be granted the 870 without leaving.
This entry contains an amount, date or policy detail that may change. Check the current source before use.
How does the 870 work with a permanent parent application?
Getting the order right
The order is not free. A parent cannot validly lodge a permanent 103, 143, 804 or 864 while they hold an 870, and if they have held one, they must have left Australia since it ceased [Sch 1 item 1124] [Sch 1 item 1130] [Sch 1 item 1124A(3)(bb)] [Sch 1 item 1130A(3)(ca)]. So the permanent application goes in first if the parent wants to keep it pending while using the 870. The permanent visa may instead be lodged later after the 870 ceases and the parent has left. With a permanent application already on foot, the parent can then apply for and be granted an 870 to visit Australia while the permanent one sits in the queue. The 870 does not shorten or feed the permanent queue, and it is not itself a pathway to permanent residence.
The temporary-intention requirement
A pending permanent application does not, on its own, defeat the 870's genuine-temporary-stay criterion [cl 870.226], but it does not excuse it either. The parent must still genuinely intend to leave when the 870 requires it, tested against their immigration history, ties to the home country and ability to return.
The departure point when the permanent visa is offshore
Sequencing bites again at the permanent grant. The offshore permanent visas, 103 and 143, must as a general rule be granted while the applicant is outside Australia [cl 103.411] [cl 143.412]. The narrow onshore-grant exceptions turn on the applicant's qualifying status or pathway when the permanent application was lodged. Later holding an 870 does not create an exception, but it does not erase one that already applied. Unless such an exception applied at lodgement, a parent who is in Australia on an 870 when their 103 or 143 is ready to grant has to leave the country to be granted it, then return on the permanent visa. The 870 keeps them lawfully present until then, and it carries no no-further-stay condition, so it does not block the grant. But where the general offshore rule applies, the timing has to be planned so the parent is offshore when the permanent decision is made.