Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa

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.

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.

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)].

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.

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.