The Retirement Visa Pathway to Parent PR: Applying for Subclass 103 in 2026

How 405 and 410 holders can apply for Parent visa subclass 103 as retirees, and which three requirements are waived.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

If you held, or had previously held, an Investor Retirement (subclass 405) or Retirement (subclass 410) visa on 8 May 2018, have not held any other substantive visa between 8 May 2018 and the date you apply, and are in Australia when you apply, you can apply for the Parent visa (subclass 103) as a retiree, and you do so without a sponsor, without an Assurance of Support, and without sitting the balance of family test. That is the position set out on the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Parent visa (subclass 103) page, current as at July 2026, together with the Retirement visa pathway page it links to. The trade-off is that the retiree route is narrower than it looks: it turns on two hard eligibility facts and a location rule, and it removes some family options rather than adding any.

This article is general information about how the rules are written, not advice on your own circumstances, and the way they apply to you should be checked against the official pages and, if needed, with a registered migration agent or legal practitioner.

Who actually counts as a retiree for subclass 103?

Three conditions have to be satisfied together. They are cumulative, not alternatives.

On 8 May 2018, you held, or had previously held, an Investor Retirement (subclass 405) visa or a Retirement (subclass 410) visa.
You have not held any other substantive visa between 8 May 2018 and the date you apply for the Parent visa.
You are in Australia when you apply.

The first condition is broader than many readers assume: the official wording is "held or had previously held", so a 405 or 410 that had already ceased before that date can still count. The second is where most retiree applications fail in practice — any other substantive visa held anywhere in that window breaks the chain, and there is no discretion described on the official page to overlook it.

What "no other substantive visa" means for your history

Any other substantive visa you have held since 8 May 2018 — including a temporary visa you moved onto from a 405 or 410 — breaks the retiree chain, so check your full visa history before you apply. If, for example, an applicant moved from a 410 onto a different temporary visa in 2019 and has held visas continuously since, that applicant is not applying as a retiree — and the three waivers below no longer apply to them.

The transitional provision behind this sits in the Migration Regulations 1994 (clause 103.214).

What does the retiree pathway actually waive?

It waives three of the requirements that make the ordinary subclass 103 difficult for many families, and nothing else.

Requirement	Standard subclass 103	Retiree pathway
Balance of family test	At least half your children are eligible children, or more eligible children live in Australia than in any other single country	Not required
Sponsor	An eligible sponsor, usually an eligible child, and the sponsorship must be approved	Not required
Assurance of Support	Must be able to obtain one, guaranteeing you will not rely on government assistance	Not required

The practical effect is not a faster queue. The official page is explicit that Parent visa applications are subject to capping and queueing and are processed in the order received, and that demand exceeds the places available each year. What the waivers remove is complexity and dependency: you do not need a child's sponsorship to be approved, you do not need to calculate where your children live, and you do not need a third party to put up an Assurance of Support (the Centrelink-managed bond arrangement described by Services Australia).

What you still have to satisfy

The waivers are narrow. Everything below still applies to a retiree applicant.

Health. You and any family members applying with you must meet the health requirement, and non-migrating family members may also be asked to meet it.
Character. You and any accompanying family members must meet the character requirement; police certificates are requested rather than lodged up front.
Health insurance. As a retiree you are personally liable for all your healthcare costs in Australia while the application is processed, and you must maintain adequate health insurance — covering medically necessary treatment including transport — until the visa is granted. This is the single biggest ongoing cost difference between the retiree route and other Parent visa routes, and it runs for the whole of the wait.
Debts to the Australian Government. Any debt owed by you or a family member must be repaid, or there must be an approved arrangement to repay it.
Australian Values Statement. If you are 18 or over you must have read, or had explained to you, the Life in Australia booklet and sign the statement.
No subclass 870 conflict. You cannot apply for subclass 103 if you have already applied for or hold a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) (subclass 870) visa.
Visa history. A cancelled visa or a previously refused application can affect eligibility, and identity documents are mandatory — without proof of identity the application will be refused and further visas may be withheld for up to 10 years for you and listed family members.

Can you include your partner or your children?

This is where the retiree pathway is more restrictive than the standard route, and it surprises people.

As a retiree you may include your partner in the application, but only if your partner is also a Retirement visa or Investor Retirement visa holder. You cannot include your children in a retiree application, and you cannot include your partner's children either. The standard pathway's rules on dependent children — under 18, or over 18 but not yet turned 23 and dependent on you or your partner, or over 23, unable to earn a living to support themselves due to physical or cognitive limitations and dependent on you or your partner — simply do not become available to you.

If you lodge as a retiree and later want to add a spouse or de facto partner, they must be in Australia at the time they are added; for non-retiree applicants they can be in or outside Australia. Adding family after lodgement is done with Form 1436.

Where do you have to be, and when?

Location rules differ between lodgement, processing and decision, and only the lodgement rule is stricter for retirees.

Point in time	Retiree applicant
When you apply	Must be in Australia, and not in immigration clearance
While we process	You must hold a valid visa to remain in Australia; as a retiree you can access a bridging visa linked to the subclass 103 application if your current visa expires before a decision
When we decide	You can be in or outside Australia

Two operational details matter. If you apply on or after 22 April 2026, you must lodge online through ImmiAccount; paper lodgement is only contemplated where a technical issue cannot be resolved through the ImmiAccount Technical Support Form. And if you already have an undecided application for a different Parent visa, you must withdraw it as part of the new subclass 103 application.

What does it cost?

The visa costs from AUD 8,665 for a single applicant, with additional charges for each family member who applies with you. The fee is paid in two instalments — the first when you apply, the second when the Department asks for it. The second instalment must be paid before the visa can be granted, and if the invoice goes unpaid the application will be refused. Budget separately for health checks, police certificates and biometrics, and check current visa pricing before lodging, since charges change.

How the wait is structured

Applications go through two stages. First, an initial assessment to decide whether the application is added to the queue or refused. Second, as places become available, applications are released from the queue for final assessment. The Department's Parent visa queue release dates page is the reference for how far through the queue processing has reached.

Applications take longer if they are incomplete, if documents are missing, or if information takes a long time to verify. The Department will not provide progress updates within normal processing times, and it will not refund the application fee if the application is refused. Do not arrange to stay permanently in Australia until the grant is notified in writing.

Once granted, subclass 103 is a permanent visa: indefinite stay, work and study rights, access to Medicare, the ability to sponsor family members, and travel to and from Australia for five years from the date of grant, after which a Resident Return visa (subclass 155 or 157) is needed to re-enter as a permanent resident. For citizenship purposes, permanent residence starts on the day of grant if you are in Australia, or the day you enter Australia on the visa if you are outside.

If the queue is the problem, what are the alternatives?

The official page points to three other Parent options, each with a different cost and speed profile, and one that can end the retiree path entirely:

Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143) — permanent, may be processed faster, costs more than subclass 103.
Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 173) followed by subclass 143 — faster, costs more than subclass 103 overall and more than applying for 143 directly, but the cost is spread across two visas over a longer period.
Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870) — temporary, allowing stays of up to 3 or 5 years at a time to a maximum total of 10 years. Holding or having applied for this visa blocks a subclass 103 application.

If you switch from subclass 103 to a Contributory Parent visa, the date you originally applied for subclass 103 is taken into account for the new application, so switching does not disadvantage you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to still hold my 405 or 410 visa on 8 May 2018?

No. The requirement is that on 8 May 2018 you held, or had previously held, a subclass 405 or subclass 410 visa. A visa that had already ceased before that date can still satisfy the condition.

I held another substantive visa for a while after 8 May 2018. Can I still use the retiree pathway?

No. You must not have held any other substantive visa between 8 May 2018 and the date you apply for the Parent visa. If that condition is broken, the retiree waivers — no balance of family test, no sponsor, no Assurance of Support — are not available to you.

Do I need to be in Australia when the visa is granted?

No. You must be in Australia when you lodge, but you can be in or outside Australia when the Department makes its decision. That differs from non-retiree applicants, who must be outside Australia at the time of decision.

Can I include my children in a retiree application?

No. Retiree applicants cannot include their children, or their partner's children, in the application. You can include your partner only if they are also a Retirement visa or Investor Retirement visa holder.

Do I need health insurance while I wait?

Yes. As a retiree you are personally liable for all healthcare costs in Australia while the application is processed, and you must maintain adequate health insurance — covering medically necessary treatment including transport — until the visa is granted.

How much does subclass 103 cost and when do I pay?

It costs from AUD 8,665 for a single applicant, with additional charges for accompanying family members. Payment is in two instalments: the first when you apply and the second when the Department invoices you, which must be paid before the visa can be granted.