Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent Visa: Sponsorship, Costs and the 10-Year Limit

Correcting the record: the 870 does not carry work rights

Start here because it matters and gets misreported: a parent on the Subclass 870 visa **cannot work** in Australia. This is one of the clearest differences between the 870 and a genuine long-stay visa, and it's also one of the reasons the visa is priced the way it is — it's designed for family time and support, not labour market participation. If you're planning around a parent contributing income or covering their own costs through local work while in Australia on this visa, that plan doesn't work under current settings; build your budget assuming the parent's living costs come from you as sponsor or from the parent's own savings, not local earnings.

Who can sponsor, and the sponsor approval step

You can sponsor a parent for the 870 if you're an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen aged 18 or over, ordinarily resident in Australia. If you're not an Australian citizen, you generally also need to satisfy a residence requirement of having lived in Australia for a set period (commonly cited as at least 4 years) before you can sponsor. Sponsorship is a genuinely separate application from the visa — you (the sponsor) apply first, using Form 40 (Sponsorship for migration to Australia), and the Department must approve you as a sponsor before your parent's visa can be granted; the two applications can be lodged around the same time, but approval of the visa always depends on the sponsorship being approved. As sponsor you're taking on a real financial undertaking: you're accepting responsibility for your parent's costs, including health-related costs, for the period they're in Australia on the visa.

The headline sponsor requirement most families ask about is the income test: as an individual sponsor you need to meet an annual income threshold, currently cited at $83,454.80 — you can combine your income with your partner's, or with another child of the visa applicant who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, provided your own share is at least 50% of the threshold. This figure has been stable for several years but is set by the Department, not indexed on the same schedule as the visa charges, so confirm the current amount before you rely on it. Unlike the permanent parent visas, the 870 does not require an Assurance of Support bond and does not apply the Balance of Family Test (the rule on permanent parent visas that at least half your children must live in Australia) — this is one of the practical reasons families use it even when they don't yet qualify, or don't want to commit, to a permanent parent visa application.

3-year and 5-year grants, and the 10-year lifetime cap

The 870 is granted in one of two lengths: up to 3 years, or up to 5 years. Which one you get, and which one you apply for, affects the cost (below) as well as how soon you need to plan a further application. A parent can hold successive 870 visas, but there is a hard lifetime cap of 10 cumulative years on the Subclass 870 across every grant they've ever held — once that cap is reached, no further 870 visa can be granted to that parent, regardless of how the earlier grants were split between the 3-year and 5-year options. If a parent wants to remain in Australia after reaching the 10-year limit, they need a different visa entirely — most realistically, a permanent parent visa that has been approved by that point. The visa allows multiple entries once granted, so the parent can travel in and out of Australia freely during the visa period; it does not require them to stay in Australia continuously for the whole grant.

The annual cap: 15,000 places

Places on the Subclass 870 are capped at 15,000 primary applications per financial year across the whole program. This is a program-wide cap set by the government, not a per-applicant limit, and it means that even a fully-eligible sponsor and parent can be affected by overall demand in a given year. It's worth checking current uptake against the cap if you're planning to lodge late in a program year, since a program that reaches its cap generally reopens the following financial year rather than processing further applications immediately.

What it costs, as at 1 July 2026

The 870 visa application charge is paid in two instalments and depends on which grant length you apply for. For a 3-year grant, the total charge is around $6,370 — a first instalment of roughly $1,515 paid on lodgement, and a second instalment of roughly $4,855 due before grant. For a 5-year grant, the total is around $12,440 — the same $1,515 first instalment, and a second instalment of roughly $10,925 before grant. These charges are current as at 1 July 2026 and are reviewed annually; check the Department's current Visa Pricing Estimator before you pay, since visa charges generally move every 1 July. Holders of an eligible Pacific Island or Timor-Leste passport pay a reduced first instalment of $1,245 rather than $1,515 under the Pacific Engagement concession that applies across most Schedule 1 items, the 870 included. On top of the visa application charge, budget separately for: the sponsorship application fee (paid by you as sponsor, typically around $420); health examinations and a chest X-ray for the parent; police clearances from the parent's country of residence and any country they've lived in for 12+ months over the last 10 years; and — the cost families most often underestimate — private health insurance for the parent's entire stay, since they cannot access Medicare (below).

Health insurance is mandatory, not optional

A parent on the 870 visa is not Medicare-eligible, and adequate health insurance is a strict visa condition rather than a recommendation — the visa is not granted without evidence of it, and it needs to be maintained for the whole visa period, not just at the point of grant. A Reciprocal Health Care Agreement between Australia and the parent's home country can cover some emergency treatment for short stays, but it is not a substitute for the ongoing private cover the visa condition requires over a multi-year stay, and coverage terms vary a lot by country. Because the parent is usually older and the stay is long, premiums for adequate cover are a real ongoing cost — factor several thousand dollars a year into your planning for a 5-year grant, on top of the upfront visa charge.

Processing time

Home Affairs does not publish a single combined processing-time figure for the 870 the way it does for some other subclasses, because the process runs in two separate stages with separate timeframes: your sponsorship application, then your parent's visa application once you're approved as sponsor. In practice, expect the sponsorship stage to take roughly one to a few months, and the visa stage — which includes health and character checks — a further several months once lodged. Combined, most applicants should plan for the process to take somewhere in the order of 6 to 12 months from first lodging the sponsorship to visa grant, though this varies with application volume and how complete your documents are at lodgement. Check the Department's current published processing times for the visa stage specifically before setting expectations with your family.

The 870 as part of a longer parent-visa strategy

The 870 doesn't convert into a permanent visa and isn't a step in the permanent parent visa process — it runs in parallel. Most families using it are also managing, or planning to lodge, a separate permanent application: the Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143, a substantially higher-cost pathway with a shorter queue) or the standard Parent visa (subclass 103, lower-cost with a much longer queue, currently measured in decades). A parent can hold an 870 and have a permanent application pending at the same time; when the permanent visa is eventually granted, the parent transitions to it directly rather than needing to exit and re-enter under the new visa. For a family trying to work out whether the 870 is worth the cost against a specific permanent-visa timeline, this is exactly the kind of trade-off — cost now vs. queue position, plus the parent's age and health — where a MARA-registered migration agent earns their fee. Migratio is Australia's marketplace for finding and comparing MARA-registered migration agents who handle parent and family visa cases; browse the `/agents/family-parent-visa` directory to compare agents who specialise in this area, and see `/blog/parent-visa-cost-australia` for how the 870 compares against the full set of permanent parent options on cost.

Can a parent work in Australia on the 870 visa?

No. The Subclass 870 Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa does not carry work rights — the parent cannot work in Australia while holding it. This is a firm restriction, not a condition that can be varied case by case.

How much does the 870 visa cost in 2026?

As at 1 July 2026, the visa application charge is around $6,370 for a 3-year grant or $12,440 for a 5-year grant, paid in two instalments (roughly $1,515 on lodgement, the balance before grant). Add the separate sponsorship application fee and ongoing mandatory health insurance. Charges are reviewed on 1 July each year, so confirm the current figure before lodging.

What is the maximum time a parent can stay on the 870 visa?

Each grant is for up to 3 or 5 years, and a parent can hold successive 870 visas up to a hard lifetime cap of 10 cumulative years. Once that cap is reached, no further 870 visa can be granted — the parent needs a different visa, such as an approved permanent parent visa, to remain.

What is the income requirement to sponsor a parent on the 870 visa?

As an individual sponsor you need to meet an annual income threshold currently cited at $83,454.80. You can combine your income with your partner's or with another qualifying child of the applicant, provided your own share is at least half the threshold. This figure has been stable for some years — confirm the current amount before applying.

Does the 870 visa require an Assurance of Support or the Balance of Family Test?

No. Unlike the permanent parent visas, the Subclass 870 does not require an Assurance of Support bond and does not apply the Balance of Family Test (the rule requiring at least half your children to live in Australia). This is part of why families use the 870 even when a permanent parent visa isn't yet realistic.

How long does the 870 visa take to process?

There is no single published combined processing time. The sponsorship application typically takes roughly one to a few months, and the visa application a further several months once lodged, including health and character checks. Most applicants should plan on the order of 6 to 12 months from first lodging the sponsorship to visa grant, though this varies with volume and document completeness.

Is there an annual limit on 870 visa places?

Yes. The program is capped at 15,000 primary applications per financial year across Australia. This is a program-wide cap, not a per-applicant limit, so overall demand in a given year can affect timing even for a clearly eligible sponsor and parent.