Bringing your parents to Australia: visas, insurance and flights

The main visa options for visiting parents

This is an overview only. Visa rules, fees and processing times change, so read the official Home Affairs page for each visa before you apply.

Visa	Typical stay	Sponsor needed?	Health insurance	Official page
Visitor visa (subclass 600), Tourist stream	Up to 12 months, as granted	No	Strongly recommended by Home Affairs, and it can be made a visa condition (condition 8501)	Home Affairs
Visitor visa (subclass 600), Sponsored Family stream	Usually up to 3 months, and up to 12 months in some cases	Yes: an Australian citizen or permanent resident, usually settled in Australia for some time. A security bond may be asked for	The applicant must show adequate means for the stay, including health insurance where required	Home Affairs
Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870)	3 or 5 years per visa, up to 10 years in total across 870 visas	Yes: the child must first be approved as a parent sponsor, then the parent applies	Mandatory: condition 8501, adequate health insurance for the whole stay	Home Affairs

There are also permanent parent visas, which are a much bigger decision with long waiting times. Home Affairs has an overview of parent visas.

Speak to a registered migration agent if you're unsure which visa fits, if a past visa was refused, or if your parents have health conditions. You can check that an agent is registered on the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority website. We book flights and are not migration agents.

Health insurance: the headline

Visitors from India are generally not covered by Medicare, so a hospital stay in Australia can be very expensive. For the subclass 870 visa, adequate health insurance is a mandatory visa condition (condition 8501) for the whole stay, according to Home Affairs. For visitor visas, Home Affairs may also impose it, and either way it's wise to have cover. Several Australian health funds sell overseas visitor cover. We don't sell insurance, so compare policies and check what they exclude, especially pre-existing conditions.

The flight side

One-way or return?

• Visitor visas: most families book a return so the dates sit inside the stay the visa allows. A fare that lets you change the return date is worth considering, because plans change once parents arrive.
• Subclass 870: with a stay of years, a one-way ticket, or a return with the date changed later, is often more practical than a fixed return. Return tickets usually can't be held open for more than a year, so we'll check the fare rules with you.
• Book after the visa is granted if you can. If you need to book first, choose a fare with sensible change or refund conditions. Make sure the names on the ticket match the passports exactly.

Wheelchair and assistance

Airlines provide wheelchair help free of charge, but it has to be requested. We add it when we book, for every airport on the journey, including the connecting airport. Long walks at big hubs and the queue at immigration are the hardest parts for older travellers, so even parents who walk well at home often accept a wheelchair for the airports. We also request seats and meals (such as vegetarian or Hindu meals) where the airline allows.

Transit

Book the whole trip on one ticket with bags checked through, so parents stay inside the transit area and don't have to clear immigration at the connecting airport. Our transit rules guide covers Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Doha, Bangkok, Colombo and Hong Kong for Indian passport holders.

Coming from	To Adelaide	Notes
Amritsar	Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur, or Scoot and Singapore Airlines via Singapore	One stop. See Adelaide to Amritsar
Delhi	Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Emirates or Qatar Airways	One stop, or Air India non-stop to Melbourne or Sydney and a domestic flight. See Adelaide to Delhi
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru	One stop via a South-East Asian or Gulf hub	See Adelaide to Mumbai and Adelaide to Ahmedabad

What to send your parents before they fly

• The e-ticket, with the booking reference and wheelchair request shown
• A copy of the visa grant notice (Australian visas are electronic and linked to the passport)
• Their health insurance details
• Your address and phone number in Australia
• A note about food: anything brought into Australia must be declared on arrival, and some items will be taken

More on what we take care of for parents is on our parents' page.

Talk to a real person about your parents' flights

Fares and schedules change every day, so we don't publish prices on this page. For live fares, call or WhatsApp the Travel Care team on 0421 882 733. We're a family-run agency at 222 Henley Beach Road, Torrensville, booking flights since 2010, and we speak English, Hindi and Punjabi. Seen a cheaper fare somewhere else? Send us the screenshot and we'll see what we can do.

Last checked: 20 October 2026 by the Travel Care team.