Who can apply?

An applicant for a Child visa must be the natural child, adopted child or stepchild of their sponsor.

The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.

A child applying outside Australia who was adopted after their parent became an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen cannot apply in this category and should consider applying in the adopted child category.

A child applying in Australia who was adopted after their parent became an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen may still be able to apply in this category subject to meeting certain requirements.

Applicants in this category should seek separate advice from a department office.

Note that a child can only be granted a permanent Child visa on the basis of a step relationship in circumstances where the child's natural or adopted parent is no longer a spouse of the step parent and that step parent has been granted legal responsibility for the child by a court.

Visa requirements

Age requirement

Generally the child must be under 18, but may be under 25 if a full-time student and dependent on the parents. The only exception to the age requirement is where the child has a disability which stops them from working.

Marital status

The child must not be married or living in a de facto (common law) relationship or be engaged to be married. If aged 18 or over, the child must never have had a spouse.

Custody requirement

If the child is under the age of 18, permission for the child to migrate must be obtained from every person who has a right to decide where the child may live.

This may be in the form of a statutory declaration or a court order.