The processing time for a visa application that is lodged under the Parent (subclass 103) or the Aged Parent (subclass 804) category is likely to be significant – at the present time we think this will be 30+ years.

All applications under these visa subclasses are assessed in order of lodgement with the Department of Immigration.

About 2 to 3 years after the submission of a visa application (based on present timelines) under subclass 103 or 804 applicants can expect to be asked to attend a medical examination and to arrange a police clearance certificate from each jurisdiction in which the applicant has been present for more than 12 months in the previous 10 years.

Once these health and character requirements have been satisfied the application will be assigned a queue date, and will be placed in the queue for the relevant visa subclass.

The Department of Immigration’s online queue calculator enables Parent and Aged Parent visa applicants with a queue date to determine how many people are ahead of them in the queue.

Applicants can then estimate the approximate time it will take to be considered for the granting of the visa, based on the number of visa grants available for the visa subclass in any one Migration Programme year.

Of course, changes to the number of visa grants in a Program year will affect the length of time an applicant will wait before they will be considered for visa grant.