Subclass 116 visa document checklist (Carer)

The Carer visa (subclass 116) is a permanent visa that lets a person move to Australia to care for a relative, or a member of their family who lives with them, who has a long-term medical condition and no reasonable access to care in Australia. Home Affairs states that applications are subject to capping and queueing, demand for Other Family visas is greater than the places available each year, and processing times can be lengthy. This checklist is a starting point as at November 2026; confirm each item on the Home Affairs subclass 116 page before lodging.

Key numbers (as at November 2026)

• Care need: a medical condition that is long term or permanent and needs help with practical aspects of daily life for at least 2 years, assessed by Bupa Medical Visa Services.
• Sponsor support: housing and financial assistance for the applicant's first 2 years in Australia.
• Location: the applicant must be outside Australia when applying and when the visa is decided.
• Lodgement: on paper, with Form 47OF, sent to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. The application is not accepted without evidence the Bupa assessment has at least begun.

Documents from the sponsor

• Identity: passport bio pages and birth certificate showing both parents' names, or a family book or government or court identity document; evidence of any change of name
• Status and residence: evidence of being a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, usually resident in Australia
• Relationship: birth, marriage, death or adoption certificates, or an officially issued family book, showing the sponsor is the applicant's relative or the relative's partner living with them
• Care need: the Carer Visa Assessment Certificate from Bupa Medical Visa Services, or a Bupa letter confirming the assessment has begun
• No reasonable access to care: written evidence that care is not reasonably available from another relative or from welfare, hospital or community nursing services in Australia
• Financial: income and tax records or other evidence the sponsor can support the applicant

Documents from the applicant

• Identity: passport bio pages and national identity card; evidence of any change of name
• Care need: the Bupa medical certificate, or the Bupa letter until it arrives, and written evidence of no reasonable access to care in Australia
• Character: Police certificates from each country where the applicant has spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, including an Australian Federal Police check where it applies. Home Affairs asks for them during processing; do not arrange them before it does
• Health: Health examinations, when Home Affairs asks for them
• Photographs: 4 recent passport-size photos (45 mm × 35 mm) of each person included
• Partner: identity and character documents, the marriage certificate or evidence of at least 12 months as de facto partners, and documents on former relationships
• Children under 18: identity and relationship documents; Form 1229 or a statutory declaration from anyone with a legal right to decide where the child lives who is not migrating, with their signed photo ID
• Children 18 or over: under 23 and dependent, or 23 or over and unable to support themselves through disability; identity, relationship and character documents, Form 47A, and evidence of financial dependency
• Certified copies: certified copies of all documents except police certificates, which are sent as originals

Collect it with Immiluma

Build this checklist once as a visa template in Immiluma, or have the assistant draft it from this page. Each matter sends it to the client's portal, the carer and the Australian relative upload against each item, and you review each document beside it before the paper application goes to Perth. See all visa checklists.