Family Member Eligibility
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The following family members can be included in your application:
- your spouse
- your dependent child or children
- other dependent relatives.
Family members must meet the following requirements to be eligible for inclusion in this visa application.
Spouse
Your spouse must be the person you live with as husband or wife, either legally married or in a de facto relationship.
Dependent child
Your child (natural, adopted or step-child) is considered a dependent when they are one of the following:
- under 18 years of age
- aged 18 years or over and have been wholly or substantially reliant on you for a substantial period for their basic needs (food, clothing and shelter)
- of any age and is incapacitated for work due to a total or partial loss of bodily or mental functions (whether or not they migrate with you).
A child of any age is not considered dependent if they are married, engaged to be married or in a de facto relationship.
Other dependent relatives
Your other relatives may be considered dependent if they are all of the following:
- wholly or substantially reliant on your financial support for their basic living needs (food, shelter and clothing)
- more reliant on you for support than on any other person or source
- have been reliant on you for a substantial period.
Details of each dependent 18 years or older, whether migrating or not, must be provided.
See: Form 47A Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over (248KB PDF file)
Health
Your spouse and all dependent family members must meet health requirements.
See: Health Requirements
Character
Your accompanying spouse and dependent family members aged 17 and above must meet character requirements.
See: Character Requirements
English language ability
Adult family members included in the application must have functional English. This is the basic language skills necessary to deal with everyday social situations and some work situations in English.
There is more information to help you understand how your English language ability is assessed.
See: Information Form 966i Migrating to Australia - English language assessment (58KB PDF file)
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
