Bringing parents and family to Australia — visitor visas, the parent-visa pathways and their published queues, and the health-cover options for visiting relatives. Factual information about the published programs, not advice on which to choose.
Six visa options, one honest comparison. This guide sets out — with every fee and queue figure sourced and dated — what the visitor visa (600), the temporary sponsored parent visa (870), the contributory parent visas (143/173) and the non-contributory parent visas (103/804) actually cost, how long they actually take, and what they do and don't give you (permanent residency, Medicare, the right to work). It does not tell you which one to choose.
India has no reciprocal healthcare agreement with Australia, so a parent visiting on a subclass 600 or 870 visa pays full private rates for any hospital treatment unless they hold adequate health insurance. This guide sets out what visa condition 8501 actually requires, how it differs between the 600 and 870 visas, how insurers treat pre-existing conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and a factual, alphabetical comparison of Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) products — with every figure sourced and dated.
