Child Visa
Child visas allow a dependent child of a parent who is an Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or holder of an Australian permanent visa move to Australia to live with their parents (subclass 101/802) or stay in Australia temporarily (subclass 445).
Child visa (subclass 101/802)
General Eligibility
To be eligible for applying for a child visa (subclass 101 OR subclass 802) you must:
Dependent
Be dependent on their parent who is an Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent visa holder.
They can be their parent’s:
- biological child
- adopted child
- stepchild (only from a former parent)
Subclass 101
the child must be outside Australia when the application is submitted
Subclass 802
the child must be in Australia, but not in immigration clearance, when the application is submitted and when we make a decision, the child can’t apply for this visa if they are in Australia on another visa with a no further stay condition.
Have a sponsor
The child must be sponsored by an eligible parent or their parent’s spouse, or de facto partner and the sponsorship must be approved by the Department of Home Affairs
Age
The child must be either:
- under 18 years old, or
- over 18 and under 25 years and studying full time, or
- over 18 years with a disability
Have no partner
the child can’t be or ever have been married or engaged to be married; or in a de facto relationship
Others
- meet the health requirement
- meet the character requirement
- have no debt to the Australian Government
- sign the Australian values statement
- Not had a visa cancelled or an application refused (subclass 802)
- have consent to migrate to Australia
- best interests of the child
Dependent Child visa (subclass 445)
This visa allows a child to stay in Australia temporarily while we process their parent’s permanent Partner visa application.
General Eligibility
To be eligible for applying for a Dependent Child visa (subclass 445) you must:
Dependent
Be dependent on a parent who holds a certain visa
The child must be dependent on a parent who holds a:
- Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309)
- Partner visa (subclass 820)
- Dependent Child visa (subclass 445)
The child must apply to be added to their parent’s permanent Partner visa application when they have been granted this 445 visa.
If the child is in Australia, they can’t hold another visa that has a ‘No further stay’ condition.
Have a sponsor
The child must be sponsored by the same person who sponsored or nominated their parent’s permanent Partner visa application, and the sponsorship must be approved by the Department of Home Affairs
Age
The child must be either:
- under 18 years
- over 18 years and financially dependent on the parent who has the temporary Partner or Dependent Child visa
Others
- The child can be in or outside Australia when the visa application is submitted
- meet the health requirement
- meet the character requirement
- sign the Australian values statement
- have no debt to the Australian Government
- have consent to migrate to Australia
- best interests of the child
Citizenship by Descent
The child may apply for Australian citizenship by descent instead of a visa to travel to Australia, if:
- the child was born outside Australia
- one of their parents was an Australian citizen at the time of their child’s birth.
