Assurance of Support for Subclass 103: Who Can Be an Acceptable Assurer (2026)

For a Parent visa (subclass 103), the Assurance of Support does not have to come from your sponsor, and it does not have to come from a relative. The Australian Department of Home Affairs states on its Parent visa (subclass 103) page that an individual, more than one person, or an organisation can provide it, and that neither the sponsor nor a family member is required to.

What does an Assurance of Support actually guarantee?

An Assurance of Support is a guarantee given to the Australian Government that you will not need to rely on government assistance after you enter Australia on this visa, for the duration of the Assurance of Support period. Its addressee is the government rather than the visa applicant; it exists to answer the department's question about who carries the risk of you claiming public support, not to fund your living costs privately.

The Parent visa page refers to the length of that commitment only as "the Assurance of Support period" and does not state a number of years on that page. It does state plainly who the promise covers: you, and any family members who come to Australia with you on this visa.

Who counts as an acceptable assurer?

The page approaches the question from the funding source rather than from the relationship between the parties. Three forms of assurer are named, and two roles are explicitly excused.

Potential assurer	Position under the Parent visa page	What the page says
One individual	May provide it	"An individual … can provide it"
Two or more people together	May provide it jointly	"more than one person … can provide it"
An organisation	May provide it	"an organisation can provide it"
Your sponsor	Not required to provide it	"The sponsor … does not need to provide an Assurance of Support"
A family member	Not required to provide it	"a family member does not need to provide"

What the Parent visa page does not do is publish the assessment mechanics: no income threshold, no bond figure, no split of responsibility between joint assurers appears there. For those, the department points to Services Australia's Assurance of Support page. Eligibility rules and assessment practice can also change, and this article is general information rather than advice tailored to any one person's circumstances — the official pages should be taken as the final reference, alongside professional input where your situation is unusual.

Is the assurer the same person as the sponsor?

No, and conflating the two is the most common source of confusion. A sponsor is a separate eligibility requirement: your sponsor must be an eligible sponsor and the sponsorship must be approved. Usually an eligible child sponsors a parent. If that child is under 18, an eligible relative or a community organisation can sponsor instead.

Suppose an applicant's only eligible child is 16 years old. An eligible relative or a community organisation could take the sponsorship role under that rule, and the sponsorship would still have to be approved. Whoever ends up as sponsor is not, by virtue of that role, obliged to give the Assurance of Support.

The two roles also produce different paperwork. Sponsorship runs through Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia; the Assurance of Support is a separate item that the department requests in its own time.

Does one person have to carry the whole assurance?

No. More than one person can provide it, which matters where no single individual is comfortable carrying the commitment alone. The Parent visa page does not describe how a shared assurance is assessed or how responsibility is divided between the people giving it, so the detail has to be read from the Services Australia material the department links to.

Can an organisation give it instead of a person?

Yes. An organisation can provide the Assurance of Support for a subclass 103 application. The Parent visa page does not restrict this to a particular kind of body. Organisations appear elsewhere in the same rules in a different capacity: a community organisation can act as sponsor where the sponsoring child is under 18.

When will you be asked for it?

Not at the moment you lodge. The department says it will let you know when you need to provide the Assurance of Support, and the document checklist repeats the instruction in the same conditional form: when we ask for it, provide it.

That timing fits how subclass 103 is processed. Applications are subject to capping and queueing and are processed in the order received; assessment happens in two stages, an initial assessment that either queues or refuses the application, then a final assessment once a place becomes available. The request for the assurance belongs to the later part of that process.

Two other money-related steps also sit before the grant rather than at lodgement. The second visa instalment must be paid before the visa is granted, and the department sends an invoice when it is due; failing to pay it leads to refusal. The visa itself costs from AUD 8,665 for a single applicant, with additional charges for family members, and related costs such as health checks, police certificates and biometrics may apply per applicant. Until the grant arrives in writing, you should not arrange to move to Australia permanently.

Who does the assurance cover?

It covers you and any family members who come to Australia with you on this visa. Family members who are not migrating are outside that wording, although you still have to include details of all family members in the application form even when they are not coming. Adding someone later is possible in some cases through Form 1436 Adding an additional applicant after lodgement; anyone who joins needs evidence of the relationship and a copy of their passport.

Who does not need one at all?

Applicants who apply as a retiree under the Retirement visa pathway are exempt. That pathway is available to someone who, on 8 May 2018, held or had previously held an Investor Retirement (subclass 405) or Retirement (subclass 410) visa, held no other substantive visa between 8 May 2018 and the date of application, and is in Australia.

Retiree applicants do not need an Assurance of Support, a sponsor, or to meet the balance of family test. The trade-off is different rather than absent: they are personally liable for all healthcare costs in Australia while the visa is processed and must maintain adequate health insurance until it is granted. They also cannot include children in the application, and can include a partner only if that partner also holds a Retirement or Investor Retirement visa.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my sponsor also give the Assurance of Support?

The sponsor is not required to, and the department states this explicitly. Whether the sponsor chooses to take on the role anyway is a separate question from sponsorship; the assurance is not a condition of the sponsorship being approved.

Can two people share one Assurance of Support?

Yes. The Parent visa page states that more than one person can provide it. How a shared assurance is assessed, and how the commitment is divided, is not set out on that page and is covered in the Services Australia material the department links to.

Can a company or community organisation be the assurer?

An organisation can provide the Assurance of Support, and the page does not limit the type of organisation. Community organisations appear separately in the sponsorship rules, where they can sponsor if the sponsoring child is under 18.

When does the Department ask for the Assurance of Support?

It tells you when the assurance is needed, rather than requiring it with the lodgement. Given that subclass 103 applications are capped and queued, and final assessment happens only once a place becomes available, the request arrives during processing.

Does the assurance cover my partner and children?

It covers you and any family members who come to Australia with you on this visa. Family members who stay behind are not covered by that wording, though they must still be listed in the application.

Do I need an Assurance of Support on the Retirement visa pathway?

No. Retiree applicants under that pathway do not need an Assurance of Support, a sponsor, or to satisfy the balance of family test. They do need to be in Australia when applying and must hold adequate health insurance until the visa is granted.

Where are the income or bond rules for assurers published?

Not on the Parent visa page, which names who may give an assurance but publishes no thresholds. The department directs readers to Services Australia's Assurance of Support page for that part of the process.