Who Can Sponsor a Parent Visa (Subclass 103) Application in Australia in 2026?

Who is eligible to sponsor a Parent visa subclass 103 application, what the sponsor lodges, and when no sponsor is required.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

A Parent visa (subclass 103) application needs an eligible sponsor, and in most families that sponsor is the applicant's own child. As at July 2026, the Department of Home Affairs' Parent visa (Subclass 103) page sets the rule out in three parts: an eligible sponsor is usually an eligible child who is a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen; if that child is under 18, an eligible relative or community organisation can sponsor instead; and the Department must approve the sponsorship. What follows is general information about how those published criteria fit together, not an assessment of any one family's circumstances — the Department's current page remains the reference, and anything unusual is worth checking against it before you rely on it.

Who counts as an eligible child sponsor?

The sponsoring child has to be a settled Australian citizen, a settled Australian permanent resident, or a settled eligible New Zealand citizen. All three pathways sit on equal footing: citizenship is not required, and permanent residence is enough on its own.

The visa page uses the word "settled" without defining it there, and directs readers to the separate Sponsors view of the same page for the sponsor criteria in full. In practice that means the child's status alone is not the whole test — the residence side of "settled" is assessed against criteria published in that sponsor section, which is the place to confirm the detail before lodging.

What if my sponsoring child is under 18?

Age is the one point at which the usual answer changes. If the child who would otherwise sponsor is under 18, the application can be sponsored by an eligible relative or by a community organisation.

That substitution is the reason the rule is written as "usually" rather than "always". It does not turn the sponsorship into a formality — the relative or organisation still has to be eligible, and the Department still has to approve the sponsorship.

Does the sponsor have to be my child?

Not always. The three sponsorship routes can be compared directly:

Sponsor	When it applies	What the sponsor lodges
Eligible child	The usual case — a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen child	Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia
Eligible relative or community organisation	Where the sponsoring child is under 18	Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia
No sponsor	Applicants who qualify under the Retirement visa pathway	Not applicable

The first two rows both end in the same place: a completed Form 40 and a sponsorship the Department approves.

What does the sponsor actually lodge?

The sponsor must complete Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia (Form 40). It is a sponsor document, so it sits alongside the applicant's own identity, character and relationship documents rather than inside them.

Completing the form is not the same as being approved. The eligibility criteria list sponsorship as a requirement in its own right — "We must approve the sponsorship" — which means a refused or unsupported sponsorship stops the application at that criterion, regardless of how strong the rest of the file is.

Does my sponsor have to give the Assurance of Support?

No. The sponsor, or a family member, does not need to provide an Assurance of Support. It can be given by an individual, by more than one person, or by an organisation.

The Assurance of Support is a separate guarantee that the applicant will not need to rely on government assistance after entering Australia on the visa, for the Assurance of Support period, and it covers the applicant and any family members who come to Australia on the same visa. The Department tells applicants when it is required. Applicants under the Retirement visa pathway do not need one at all.

How does the balance-of-family test connect to sponsorship?

The balance-of-family test is a separate criterion, but it turns on the same concept of an eligible child. It is met if at least half of the applicant's children and step-children are eligible children, or if there are more eligible children living in Australia than in any other single country.

The evidence is relationship-based: proof of how the applicant is related to each child, evidence of each child's Australian citizenship or country of permanent residence, and evidence that a child should be left out of the count, such as a death certificate. Retiree applicants do not need to meet the test.

When is no sponsor required at all?

Applicants who apply as a retiree under the Retirement visa pathway do not need a sponsor, do not need to meet the balance-of-family test, and do not need an Assurance of Support. To apply as a retiree, the applicant must have held — or previously held — an Investor Retirement (subclass 405) or Retirement (subclass 410) visa on 8 May 2018, must not have held any other substantive visa between 8 May 2018 and the date of application, and must be in Australia.

That pathway carries its own conditions: the applicant is personally liable for healthcare costs while the visa is processed and must maintain adequate health insurance until grant, and retiree applicants cannot include their own or their partner's children in the application.

What else has to line up around the sponsorship?

A few requirements sit next to the sponsorship and affect when and how it can be used:

You cannot apply for subclass 103 if you have already applied for or hold a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) (subclass 870) visa.
Applications lodged on or after 22 April 2026 must be lodged online through ImmiAccount; a paper application is considered only where a technical issue cannot be resolved.
You must be outside Australia when the Department decides the application, unless you applied as a retiree.
The second instalment must be paid before the visa can be granted, and the application is refused if the invoice is not paid. The application fee is not refunded if the visa is refused.

Because subclass 103 is queued, the Department points applicants to its Parent visa queue release dates page rather than to a fixed processing time, and it does not provide progress updates within normal processing times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a permanent resident child sponsor my subclass 103 application?

Yes. A settled Australian permanent resident is one of the three statuses listed for an eligible child, alongside settled Australian citizenship and settled eligible New Zealand citizenship. Permanent residence is sufficient; the child does not need to have become a citizen.

Can an eligible New Zealand citizen sponsor a parent?

Yes, provided they are an eligible New Zealand citizen and settled. The visa page places eligible New Zealand citizens on the same footing as Australian citizens and permanent residents for sponsorship, so the question is whether the child meets that status and the settled requirement.

My child is under 18 — who can sponsor instead?

An eligible relative or a community organisation can sponsor the application where the sponsoring child is under 18. The substitute sponsor still has to be eligible and still has to complete Form 40, and the Department still has to approve the sponsorship.

Does my sponsor have to provide the Assurance of Support?

No. The Department states that neither the sponsor nor a family member needs to provide it. An individual, more than one person, or an organisation can provide the Assurance of Support instead, and the Department advises when it is needed.

Does the sponsor have to be my own child?

Usually, but not always. Where the child is under 18, an eligible relative or community organisation can sponsor instead, and retiree applicants need no sponsor at all. In every other case the sponsorship runs through an eligible child.

Can I apply for subclass 103 without a sponsor?

Only through the Retirement visa pathway, which requires holding or having previously held a subclass 405 or 410 visa on 8 May 2018, holding no other substantive visa between that date and the application date, and being in Australia. Retiree applicants also skip the balance-of-family test and the Assurance of Support.

Is the sponsorship approved automatically once Form 40 is lodged?

No. The sponsorship is a criterion in its own right and the Department must approve it. Lodging Form 40 starts that assessment rather than completing it.

I have applied for a subclass 870 visa — can my child still sponsor a subclass 103 application?

No. You cannot apply for subclass 103 if you have already applied for or hold a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) (subclass 870) visa, so the sponsorship question does not arise until that bar is cleared.