Telling Home Affairs About Changes After Lodging Subclass 102 in 2026

Which changes you must report to Home Affairs after lodging or being granted an Adoption visa (Subclass 102), and how.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

Yes — moving house and getting a new passport both have to be reported. On the Department of Home Affairs' official Adoption visa (Subclass 102) page, as at the August 2026 version, a change of phone number, address or passport heads the list of things applicants must tell the Department about after applying, and it stays on the list (in a slightly different form) after the visa is granted. What differs between the two stages is what else needs reporting and how the notification is made.

Everything below follows those published steps only; it is general information rather than an assessment of your own circumstances, so where your facts are out of the ordinary, individual professional advice is the safer guide.

Does moving house need reporting while the 102 application is still pending?

It does, along with a short list of other events. The adoption visa page groups them under "Tell us if things change", after you have applied:

changes to your phone number, address or passport
changes to your marital or de facto status
the birth of a child
you want to withdraw your application

Notice that the list is about you and your circumstances, not only about the adopted child. A move that changes where the child will live, or a marriage or separation that changes the household the child would join, falls inside it. Incomplete or stale contact details also matter in a practical way: the same page notes the Department tells applicants when further information is needed, and that no progress updates are given within global visa processing times, so messages tend to arrive rather than be chased.

How do you actually notify them?

For a subclass 102 application lodged on paper, the practical route is ImmiAccount. After you receive your acknowledgement letter you can import the application by entering the application ID, your date of birth and your identity document number (passport, ImmiCard or Titre de Voyage). Applications made in Australia — whether new or existing — can be imported, as can applications made outside Australia on or after 1 April 2020. Once imported, ImmiAccount lets you attach supporting documents, view messages, update your details, check the application status, apply for a bridging visa and withdraw the application. The Department's separate change in situation guidance sets out what to report and through which channel.

If you cannot use ImmiAccount, the published fallback for this visa is the Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form, with the completed form attached.

Is a new address only an update, or has an answer on the form become wrong?

Sometimes it is both, and the page treats them as two different jobs.

Notifying a change of address is a change in situation. But subclass 102 can only be applied for on paper, using Form 47CH (Application for migration to Australia by a child) and Form 40CH (Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia), completed in English and posted or couriered to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. There is no online copy of those forms to edit afterwards. So if the move means an answer already given is no longer correct — where the child will live, the contact address recorded for the sponsor, details that depended on the household as it stood when you lodged — the page directs you to "Mistakes on your application": tell the Department as soon as you can and complete Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers. Upload the completed form through ImmiAccount, or attach it to a completed Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form where ImmiAccount is unavailable.

This is also where the accuracy obligation bites generally: the Department asks for accurate information and documents at both the gathering and applying stages, and points to its guidance on providing accurate information for identity and false information issues.

What else should be reported before a decision is made?

Three items sit alongside the standard list:

A dependent child can still be added. A child's dependent child may be added to the application at any time before a decision is made. After a decision, that option is gone.
Help arrangements can change. To stop someone receiving your correspondence, withdraw or appoint an authorised recipient using Form 956A; for immigration assistance, use Form 956. Both can be uploaded in ImmiAccount or attached to the Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form.
Missing documents should be sent, not awaited. If something was left out when you lodged, provide it as soon as you can, rather than waiting to be asked.

What changes once the visa is granted?

The obligation continues, but the list changes shape. Once you hold the visa, the page asks you to report:

changes to your or your child's phone number, email, address or passport
changes to your relationship status
the birth of a child

Email appears, the details now cover you and the child, the reference to de facto status becomes the broader "relationship status", and withdrawal no longer applies because a decision has been made. What replaces it is a hard limit: dependants cannot be added to this visa after a decision, so a family member needing to come later has to be looked at under another visa option.

Stage	What must be reported	Main route
After applying, before decision	Phone number, address, passport; marital or de facto status; birth of a child; wish to withdraw	ImmiAccount after importing the paper application; change in situation guidance; Form 1023 where an answer is now incorrect
After the visa is granted	Your or your child's phone number, email, address or passport; relationship status; birth of a child	Department's change in situation guidance; VEVO for checking recorded visa details

Does a replaced passport matter for travelling to Australia?

Yes, and it is worth settling before you book anything. For entry, the child must have both a valid visa and a valid passport or other travel document. The first entry arrival date is the one set out in the grant letter; the page notes that if the child does not travel before that date they can still travel on an expired first entry arrival date while the visa remains valid, but the visa may still be cancelled before arrival or at the border. The safest check is VEVO, which shows whether the visa is still valid and what conditions apply.

The travel facility itself runs for five years from the date the visa is granted, during which the child can travel to and from Australia as often as they like. After it ends, returning as a permanent resident means applying for a Resident Return visa (subclasses 155 and 157), unless the child has become an Australian citizen. Because a passport change after grant is still something the Department asks to be told about, dealing with it before the first entry avoids a mismatch between the travel document presented at the border and what is on record.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to tell Home Affairs if we move house while the subclass 102 application is being processed?

Yes. A change of address is explicitly listed as something to tell the Department about after applying, along with changes to phone number or passport. If the move also means an answer on Form 47CH or Form 40CH is now wrong, complete Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers as well.

The child's passport was renewed after we lodged — what do we do?

Report the change of passport as a change in situation, since it appears on the Department's post-lodgement list. If the new passport replaces details recorded in the forms or in the passport pages you supplied, correct the record with Form 1023, uploaded through ImmiAccount if the application has been imported.

We cannot use ImmiAccount. Is there still a way to notify changes?

Yes. The Department's published alternative for this visa is the Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form, with the completed notification form attached. This is the same fallback given for sending additional documents and for lodging Form 1023.

Can we still add the adopted child's own child to the application?

Yes, if no decision has been made yet — a child's dependent child can be added at any time before decision. Once a decision has been made, dependants cannot be added to this visa, and that family member would need to explore a different visa option.

Do we still have to report changes after the visa is granted?

Yes. The obligation continues for changes to your or your child's phone number, email, address or passport, for changes to relationship status, and for the birth of a child. The Department's change in situation page explains how to let them know, and VEVO shows the visa details and conditions currently recorded.

Our address and relationship status both changed after lodgement. Is one notification enough?

Both belong on the same list of things to tell the Department about, so they can be reported together as a change in situation. Whether Form 1023 is also needed depends on whether the changes make any answer already given on the forms incorrect.