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Who can sponsor a Subclass 114 aged dependent relative in 2026?

Three things decide whether someone can act as your sponsor for the Aged Dependent Relative visa (Subclass 114), sometimes written as the Aged Dependent Relative (Subclass 114) visa: they must be 18 years or older, they must be settled in Australia, and they must be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen. On top of that, the sponsorship itself has to be approved before the visa can be granted. This reflects the Department of Home Affairs' official page Aged Dependent Relative visa (Subclass 114), read as of August 2026, along with clause 114.212 of the Migration Regulations 1994 as published on the Federal Register of Legislation.

What follows is general background, not an assessment of any one family's circumstances, and it is not personalised professional advice. Sponsorship eligibility is decided on the documents and facts actually put before the Department, so where your own history is in doubt, the current official material and a registered professional's view matter more than anything written here.

Who can sponsor a Subclass 114 applicant, exactly?

The sponsorship words used on the Department's page are deliberately narrow: your migration must be sponsored by your relative or your relative's partner. Both routes come from clause 114.212 of the Migration Regulations 1994, and each carries the same three tests.

Under clause 114.212(a), the sponsor is usually the Australian relative themselves — the person through whom you claim to be an aged dependent relative — provided they are at least 18 and are a settled Australian citizen, a settled Australian permanent resident, or a settled eligible New Zealand citizen. Note how the word "settled" attaches to each status rather than sitting alongside it: being a citizen is not enough on its own if the person is not settled here.

Under clause 114.212(b), the sponsor can instead be that Australian relative's spouse or de facto partner, again only if they are settled, hold one of the three qualifying statuses, and are 18 or older. The definitions that matter here are "spouse" in section 5F of the Migration Act 1958 and "de facto partner" in section 5CB, both referenced in the Regulations.

Either way, the underlying relationship requirement does not move. Clause 114.211 asks that you be the aged dependent relative of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen. A partner stepping in as sponsor adds a route for signing the paperwork; it does not replace the family relationship the visa is built on.

What does "settled in Australia" mean for a sponsor?

This is the requirement that trips people up, because the Department's visa page states it without attaching a number to it. The page simply requires the sponsor to be settled in Australia and asks for documents proving the sponsor is an eligible citizen or permanent resident — a citizenship certificate, a passport, or, for eligible New Zealand citizens, a valid visa. It does not publish a fixed residence period for sponsors.

The legal definition sits in regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994. In practice that definition is widely read as requiring roughly two years of lawful residence in Australia, which is why a sponsor who has only just been granted permanent residency may look fine on paper while still falling short of "settled". Because no fixed figure appears on the visa page itself, this is one of those points to verify against the current version of the Regulations and the Department's latest published guidance rather than treating any single year-count as settled fact.

Suppose the potential sponsor is a daughter who became an Australian permanent resident eleven months ago and has lived in Sydney since. Nothing about her status is wrong — she meets the "permanent resident" limb — but whether she has been here long enough to be considered settled is a separate question, and the answer turns on the definition in force and how her residence history is presented.

Can my spouse or de facto partner sponsor instead of me?

Yes, in the situation clause 114.212(b) describes, and it is a genuine alternative rather than a loophole: the person who signs Form 40 does not have to be the person you are related to.

Three conditions have to line up. The partner must be living with the Australian relative at the relevant time. They must themselves be a settled Australian citizen, settled Australian permanent resident, or settled eligible New Zealand citizen. And they must be 18 or older. If any one of those fails — say the couple has separated, or the partner holds a temporary visa that is not the eligible New Zealand citizen kind — the partner route is closed, and sponsorship has to come back to the Australian relative.

Say an Australian citizen daughter lives in Melbourne with her husband, a New Zealand citizen holding a valid visa who has been here several years and cohabits with her. The husband can sponsor her ageing parent, provided he clears the settled and eligible-New-Zealand-citizen tests, even though the dependency relationship runs through the daughter.

Does the sponsor need to earn a certain amount?

Not as a stated sponsorship condition. The official page imposes no minimum income on the sponsor for this visa, and that is worth stating plainly because the financial side of these applications often gets bundled together with the sponsorship side in people's minds.

Money enters through a different door: the assurance of support. The Department lists it as an eligibility requirement — you must be able to obtain one — and describes it as an assurance that you will not have to rely on government assistance after entering Australia, covering you and any family members who come on the visa with you. Guidance summaries of this visa commonly cite a bond of AUD 5,000 for the main applicant and AUD 2,000 for each additional adult, running for roughly two years, but those amounts are set under separate social services arrangements and have moved over time, so treat them as an indication of scale rather than a current quote. The assurance is assessed through Services Australia, and the Department tells applicants when it is needed rather than asking for it upfront.

Is sponsorship approval the same as getting the visa?

No, and the distinction has consequences. The Department states plainly that it must approve the sponsorship; approval is treated as its own step, initiated by the sponsor completing Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia.

Approval also has to survive until the decision. Clause 114.222 requires that the sponsorship mentioned in clause 114.212 has been approved and is still in force at the time of decision, and clause 114.221 requires that you still meet clause 114.211 at that point. In other words, the sponsorship is assessed twice in substance: once when it is lodged, and again implicitly when the visa decision is made.

This is also why the choice of sponsor is not something to be revised halfway through. The guidance on this visa takes the position that a sponsor cannot simply be swapped out for another person while the application is on foot, so an application whose sponsor withdraws or loses capacity runs into serious difficulty. That restriction is not spelled out on the visa page in those words, so confirm it against the Department's current procedure guidance before relying on it either way.

The practical upshot is simple: identify the strongest available sponsor at lodgement, because there is little room to correct course afterwards.

Is there anything that rules a sponsor out even after the three tests are met?

Potentially. The Regulations contain sponsorship limitation provisions, including regulation 1.20LAA, which operates where the sponsor previously held a Subclass 802 visa that was granted with support from a state or territory government welfare authority. Where that limitation applies, the person cannot sponsor a Subclass 114 applicant regardless of their age, status or residence history.

Payment obligations and immigration history can also sit in the background. The Regulations include criteria dealing with debts to the Australian Government and with visa cancellations or previous refusals, and these are assessed on the applicant's record. Because these provisions sit in the legislation rather than in the summary visa page, check them against the current instrument text and the latest official guidance when they might be relevant to anyone in your family.

What does the sponsor actually have to provide?

The paperwork asked of a sponsor is narrower than most families expect. From the Department's list, the core items are:

The rest of the documentary load falls elsewhere: the applicant completes Form 47OF, applies on paper while outside Australia, supplies identity documents, evidence of dependency for basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing, and later any health or character documents requested. None of that changes who may sponsor — but gaps in these items can delay or derail an application whose sponsorship was never in question.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a permanent resident sponsor this visa, or does it have to be a citizen?

Australian permanent residents can sponsor, provided they are settled in Australia and at least 18 years old. Eligible New Zealand citizens are the third qualifying category.

Can I change sponsors if my original sponsor dies or withdraws?

Guidance on this visa takes the position that the sponsor cannot be replaced once the application is lodged, which is why the initial choice matters so much. Confirm the current position in the Department's official guidance before relying on it.

How long does my sponsor need to have lived in Australia?

The visa page does not publish a specific period; it requires the sponsor to be "settled". The legal meaning comes from the Migration Regulations 1994, commonly read as about two years of lawful residence, so verify it against current official wording.

Can my partner sponsor my parent, even though I'm the Australian citizen child?

Yes, under clause 114.212(b) the Australian relative's spouse or de facto partner may sponsor, provided they live with that relative, meet the 18-and-over threshold, and are themselves settled and a citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen.

Does the sponsor need to show a minimum income?

No minimum income is stated as a sponsorship requirement for this visa. Financial capacity is examined through the separate assurance of support, which is assessed by Services Australia when the Department asks for it.

Does my spouse have to be the same nationality as me to act as co-sponsor in practice?

There is no nationality test of that kind. What matters is that the person meets the settled, age and status requirements personally, rather than deriving eligibility from their relationship to the Australian relative.

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