How Do You Appoint Someone to Handle Your Subclass 836 Application in 2026?

How Form 956A and Form 956 work when you appoint someone to receive documents or give immigration assistance on a Carer visa (836) application.

Published: 8 October 2026

You appoint someone in one of two ways, and the form depends on what the person will actually do. As of the July 2026 version of the Australian Department of Home Affairs Carer visa (Subclass 836) page, you use Form 956A Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient to nominate someone to receive your correspondence, and Form 956 Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person to nominate someone to give you immigration assistance. You can appoint anyone as an authorised recipient, but a person who gives immigration assistance must be one of those three categories.

The distinction matters because the Carer visa (subclass 836) is a paper application, lodged by post or courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. Whoever helps you, the paperwork still travels with the application rather than being lodged over a counter.

What is the difference between receiving your documents and giving immigration advice?

The two roles are separate on the Department's page, and each has its own form.

	Authorised recipient	Person giving immigration assistance
Form	Form 956A	Form 956
Who can be appointed	Anyone you choose	A registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person
What they do	Receive documents and correspondence about your visa matter	Provide immigration assistance
How it ends	Form 956A (appointment or withdrawal)	Form 956

The same page states that only some people can help with an application, and that anyone you appoint to give immigration assistance must fall into one of those three categories. No such restriction applies to the authorised recipient role.

Who can you appoint as an authorised recipient?

Anyone. The Carer visa page says you can appoint anyone to receive documents on your behalf relating to your visa matter. There is no requirement that the person be registered, qualified, or related to you.

In practice this is the route most applicants use when a relative or friend is helping with the practical side of an application — holding the paperwork, receiving letters, keeping track of what the Department has sent. It does not authorise that person to give immigration assistance.

Who can legally provide immigration assistance?

One of three categories, and no others, according to the Department's Carer visa page:

a registered migration agent
a legal practitioner
an exempt person

If you appoint someone outside those categories to give immigration assistance, the appointment does not fit the role the Department describes for Form 956.

How do you submit the forms with a new application?

The Carer visa page deals with this under "Tell us you are getting help", in the document-gathering step, before lodgement.

Choose Form 956A if the person will only receive your correspondence.
Choose Form 956 if the person will provide immigration assistance.
Complete the form.
Send the completed form with your paper application.
Send written notification if you are not using the form.

Written notification is listed as an alternative for the initial appointment; the forms are the mechanism named for both appointing and withdrawing.

What if you want to stop someone's help after you have applied?

The Department addresses this in the "Help with your application" step, after lodgement: you tell it if you no longer want someone to receive your correspondence (Form 956A) or provide immigration advice (Form 956). The published step does not set out a separate process for appointing someone new after lodgement.

To send the form:

Import your paper application into ImmiAccount after you receive your acknowledgement letter.
Upload the completed form there.
If you cannot use ImmiAccount, attach the completed form to a completed Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form.

Importing the application is done with your application ID, your date of birth, and your identity document number — a passport, ImmiCard or Titre de Voyage number.

How do you withdraw an appointment?

Use the same form. Form 956A covers both appointment and withdrawal of an authorised recipient, and Form 956 is the form the Department names for telling it that someone should stop providing immigration advice. Submit the withdrawal by uploading the completed form in ImmiAccount once your paper application has been imported, or attaching it to a completed Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form if you cannot use ImmiAccount.

Does appointing someone shift responsibility for the application?

Not on the Department's page. You are still the applicant, and the page requires accurate information from you, with separate consequences set out where identity cannot be proven or information is not true. If a mistake is found after lodgement, the correction route is Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers, which you upload in ImmiAccount or attach to the Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form.

One related constraint sits in the background of any arrangement: subclass 836 must be applied for on paper, and you must be in Australia — but not in immigration clearance — when the application is submitted and when it is decided. A helper can lodge and manage the paperwork; you cannot be outside Australia at those two points.

This article is general information about the published process, not personalised professional advice, and the Department's current page should be treated as the controlling source for your own circumstances.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I appoint a family member to receive my subclass 836 correspondence? Yes. The Carer visa page states you can appoint anyone to receive documents on your behalf relating to your visa matter. Use Form 956A.

Can one person both receive my documents and give me immigration advice? The Department lists the two roles separately with separate forms. The same person can only take on the advice role if they are a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person.

Do I need a form if someone only helps me fill in the paperwork? If the help amounts to immigration assistance, the person must fall into one of the three permitted categories and be appointed with Form 956. The Department's "Who can help with your application" material is where the boundary between assistance and simple document receipt is set out.

Can I tell the Department to stop someone's help after I have lodged my application? Yes. Use Form 956A if they should stop receiving your correspondence and Form 956 if they should stop providing immigration advice, uploading the completed form in ImmiAccount once your paper application has been imported, or attaching it to a completed Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form if you cannot use ImmiAccount. The page does not describe appointing someone new after lodgement.

How do I remove someone I have appointed? Send the same form again. Form 956A is used for appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient, and Form 956 is the form the Department names for ending an immigration advice arrangement.

Does appointing someone change the application itself? No. The subclass 836 application is still made on paper using Form 47OF, still paid for before submission, and still posted or couriered to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. The appointment only governs who the Department deals with and who receives correspondence.