Family Member Eligibility

You may include the following dependent family members in your visa application:

• your dependent children
• your other dependent relatives.

To be included in your visa application, dependent family members must meet the following requirements. All your dependants, whether migrating with you or not, must meet health and character requirements. If not, you may not be granted a Partner visa.

Dependent children

A person is your dependent child if they are your child or step-child and they meet one of the following requirements:

• they are under 18 years of age, or
• if they are aged 18 years or over, they have been wholly or substantially dependent on you for a substantial period (at least 12 months) for their basic needs (food, clothing and shelter) and the reliance on you is greater than any other person, or
• if they are aged 18 years or over, they are wholly or substantially dependent on you because they have a total or partial loss of their bodily or mental functions that stops them from earning a living (whether or not they migrate with you).

Note: If your child (regardless of their age) is married, in a de facto relationship or is engaged to be married, they will not be considered to be a dependent.

Dependent children may, in some cases, be added to your application after it has been lodged.
See: Including Family Members In Your Application

Best interests of the child

Where an applicant is under 18 years of age, they will need to satisfy the requirement that there is no compelling reason to believe that the grant of the visa would not be in the best interests of the applicant. In order to assess this requirement, sponsors of children under 18 years of age are required to submit either an Australian National Police Check or foreign police certificate/s, depending on the sponsor’s circumstances. If the sponsor has spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia since turning sixteen years of age, the sponsor must provide an Australian National Police Check. If the sponsor has not spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia since turning sixteen years of age, the sponsor must provide police certificates from each country in which they have spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning sixteen years of age.
See:
Stronger Measures for the Protection of Children
National Police Checks
Note: Sponsors required to submit a National Police Check must complete the National Police Check application form which is available from the Australian Federal Police website. Sponsors should use Code 33 at Question 1 on the form and include details of all names they have been known by. If an AFP Certificate is provided based on incorrect information, the department may request another certificate. Fingerprints are not required for National Police Checks.
See: Character Requirements Penal Clearance Certificates (233KB PDF file)

Other dependent relatives

A person is your dependent relative if they are one of the following:

• your parent, brother or sister; step-parent, step-brother or step-sister; grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew, step-grandparent, step-grandchild, step-aunt, step-uncle, step-niece or step-nephew,

and all of the following

• not your dependent child
• single, such as a widowed aunt, etc.
• usually resident in your household
• wholly or substantially financially reliant on you for their basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter
• reliant on you for a substantial period (at least 12 months)
• more reliant on you for that support than on any other person or source.

Health requirement

All your dependants, whether migrating with you or not, must meet the health and character requirements.
See: Health Requirements

Character requirement

All your dependants, whether migrating with you or not, must be of good character.
See: Character and penal clearance requirement

Australian Values Statement

All visa applicants aged 18 years or over, are required to sign an Australian values statement. The statement is included in the visa application form and all applicants aged 18 years and over will need to sign it. Before signing the statement, applicants for this visa are required to have read, or had explained to them, material made available by the government on life in Australia which is contained in the Life in Australia book.

The Life in Australia book provides more information on the values that Australians share and their way of life.
See:
Australian Values - Overview
Life in Australia Book

 

Before lodging an application, please read all related eligibility requirements.
See: Other eligibility