Child Visa 101 Application: Forms, Documents and Steps

You have built a life in Australia, and your child is still overseas. Maybe they live with grandparents, or they stayed behind to finish a school year.

The Child visa (subclass 101) lets your child join you here as a permanent resident. The child visa 101 application is still made on paper, which surprises most parents.

That is why so many families get stuck at the forms stage. Many parents expect an online form, and the consent form for a parent who lives overseas is easy to miss.

The process is clearer than it first looks. You complete two forms, Form 47CH for your child and Form 40CH for you as the sponsor.

Then you post or courier them, with certified documents, to one processing centre in Perth.

This guide covers who qualifies, what goes in each form, the documents checklist, the cost and what happens after you send it.

Is the Child Visa 101 the Right Visa for Your Child?

The Child Visa 101 is the right visa when your child is outside Australia, and you are an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. It is a permanent child visa, so your child can live, study and work in Australia and enrol in Medicare from the day they arrive.

Your child becomes a permanent resident from the day the visa is granted. They can travel to and from Australia as many times as they like for 5 years from the grant date. After that, they need a Resident Return visa (subclass 155 or 157) to come back as a permanent resident. Once eligible, they can apply for Australian citizenship instead.

Who can apply for a Child visa 101?

• The child must be outside Australia when the application is made.
• The child must be under 18, or aged 18 to 24 and studying full-time, or 18 or older with a disability that stops them working full-time.
• The child must be single. They can’t be, or ever have been, married, engaged or in a de facto relationship.
• The child must be your biological child, your adopted child, or your stepchild from a former partner who is under 18 and in your care under a parenting or custody order.
• A child aged 18 to 24 must be financially dependent on you more than on anyone else, and can’t work full time.
• The child must meet the health requirement. From age 16, they must also meet the character requirement.

Some families need a different visa. If your child is already in Australia, the Child visa (subclass 802) applies instead. If you adopted your child after you became an Australian citizen or permanent resident, look at the Adoption visa (subclass 102).

If you were already an Australian citizen when your child was born, citizenship by descent may suit them better than any visa. Our guide to child visa age limits explains the age rules in more detail.

How Do You Apply for a Child Visa 101?

You apply for a Child visa 101 on paper, by sending Form 47CH and Form 40CH together to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. Applicants must follow these steps in order, because an application that misses a step can be found invalid and won’t be processed.

Before you apply

• Make sure your child has a valid passport.
• Check that your child meets every eligibility rule above, including the age rule on the day you apply.
• If someone else has the legal right to decide where your child lives, ask them to sign Form 1229, the consent form for a child under 18.
• If a migration agent is helping you, include Form 956 with the application.

Complete Form 47CH and Form 40CH

• Form 47CH, Application for migration to Australia by a child, is the visa application for your child.
• Form 40CH, Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia, is completed by you as the parent, or by your spouse or de facto partner.
• Both forms must be completed in English, and they must be sent together.
• Pay the visa application charge when you lodge, following the payment instructions in Form 47CH. As at October 2026, it is AUD 4,040 for the main applicant. Sponsorship itself costs nothing to apply for.

Send the application to Perth

Send both forms and certified copies of your documents by post (with correct prepaid postage) or by courier. You can’t lodge in person or at any other office.

• By post: Department of Home Affairs, Child and Other Family Processing Centre, Locked Bag 7, NORTHBRIDGE WA 6865.
• By courier: Department of Home Affairs, Child and Other Family Processing Centre, Wellington Central, 836 Wellington Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005.
• Never send original documents. Keep a full copy of everything you send.

After you apply

The Department of Home Affairs will write to you when it receives the application. Once you have that acknowledgement letter, you can import the application into your ImmiAccount to upload more documents and receive updates online.

If the visa is granted, you’ll receive the visa grant number, the date the visa starts and its conditions. The visa is linked digitally to your child’s passport, so it won’t have a label. As a rough guide, our Child visa 101 processing time guide explains how long recent applications have taken.

If Home Affairs refuses the application, it will tell you the reasons in writing and explain whether a review is available. The visa application charge is not refunded after a refusal.

What Documents Do I Need to Apply for Visa 101?

You need identity, relationship and consent documents for your child, plus character and study evidence if they are older. Applications are often delayed when one of these is missing, so check each item against your child’s age and situation.

These documents include:

• The pages of your child’s current passport showing their photo, personal details, and issue and expiry dates.
• A national identity card, if your child has one.
• Proof of any change of name from an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages or the relevant overseas authority, and documents showing any other names your child has been known by.
• Certified copies of the adoption papers or the adoption compliance certificate, if your child is adopted.
• 4 recent passport-size colour photos (45mm x 35mm) of your child and any dependent child in the application, taken in the last 6 months against a plain light background.
• A certified copy of the passport your child will use to enter Australia.
• Proof of the relationship between you and your child, such as a birth certificate, adoption certificate or an official family book.
• Form 1229 or a statutory declaration from anyone else with legal rights over a child under 18, with a copy of their signed photo ID. An Australian court order can be used instead.
• For a child aged 16 or over, police certificates from every country they have lived in for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, plus Form 80.
• For a child aged 18 to 24, proof of full-time study and a statement explaining any gap of more than 6 months after leaving school.
• For a child aged 18 or over, evidence that they depend on you for food, shelter and clothing, such as bank statements, money transfers or rent receipts.
• For a child aged 18 or over with a disability, a report from a qualified medical practitioner.

All non-English documents must be translated into English. Translators in Australia must be accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI).

Translators outside Australia don’t need NAATI accreditation. They must write their full name, address, phone number, qualifications and experience on each translation, in English.

Every document and translation in the application must be certified, including the photographs. You must keep a copy of your Child visa 101 application. If you don’t understand any document required for the application, you can book a consultation with us.

How The Migration Helps With a Child Visa 101

We make sure the paper application is complete and valid before it leaves your hands. Our work for Child Visa 101 families includes:

• Subclass check. We confirm the 101 is the right visa, and not the 802, the 102 or citizenship by descent.
• Age and dependency planning. For children close to 18 or 25, we plan the study and support evidence early.
• Consent evidence. We prepare Form 1229 or the court order route when the other parent lives overseas.
• Forms and documents. We complete Forms 47CH and 40CH and check every certified copy and translation.
• Lodgement and follow-up. We send the package to Perth, import it into ImmiAccount and answer Home Affairs requests.

Every Child visa 101 file is handled by a MARA-registered migration agent (MARN 2518738), which you can confirm on the MARA register. We have 7+ years of practice in Australian migration.

Conclusion

The Child visa 101 is for dependent children whose parents are Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens. Once granted, your child can live in Australia permanently with you, enrol in Medicare and later apply for Australian citizenship.

The application is still paper-based, so a complete package matters. If you’d like a MARA-registered agent (MARN 2518738) to check your child’s eligibility or prepare the forms, book a consultation or read more on our child visa Australia page.

Frequently asked questions