Adding a child over 18 to a 114 application in 2026: Form 47a and 12 months of dependency

How a child aged 18 or over can be included in a Subclass 114 application: Form 47a, the 12-month dependency test and the over-23 exception.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

Yes — but only inside a narrow band. According to the Department of Home Affairs' official Aged Dependent Relative visa (Subclass 114) page (as at August 2026), a child can be included in your application as a dependant if they are under 18, or 18 or over but not yet turned 23 and dependent on you or your partner, or over 23 and unable to earn a living because of physical or cognitive limitations and dependent on you or your partner. For anyone aged 18 or over, the two items that decide the outcome are a completed Form 47a and evidence of at least 12 months of financial dependency before you apply.

Who counts as a dependant on a Subclass 114 application?

For this visa, the official page defines your family members as your dependent child and stepchild. That is a narrower family unit than the one that applies to many other family visas, and it matters here because it is the only route by which an adult child travels on the same application as you.

The page also requires you to include details of all your family members in the application form, whether they are migrating or not. An adult child you are not bringing to Australia still has to be declared, and family members who are not coming may still be asked to meet the health requirement. Declaring a child and including that child as an applicant are two different steps: the first is mandatory, the second has to be earned through the dependency evidence.

Can a child over 18 still be included?

Yes, on one of two grounds. The page sets out three age bands, and the two above 18 are both conditional on dependency.

Age at the time of application	Basis for inclusion	What the official page asks for
Under 18	Dependent child or stepchild	Identity documents, proof of the relationship, character documents if applicable
18 or over, not yet turned 23	Dependent on you or your partner	Identity documents, documents about their other relationships if applicable, character documents, proof of dependency
Over 23	Unable to earn a living due to physical or cognitive limitations, and dependent on you or your partner	The same dependency documents, plus information about the physical or cognitive limitation

Note the structure of the middle band. Turning 18 does not end eligibility, but it converts the child from a person whose relationship is the main question into a person whose finances are the main question. The dependency test, not the birth certificate, is what carries the case from that point on.

What is Form 47a, and who has to complete it?

Form 47a is titled "Details of a child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over". The official page lists a completed Form 47a as a required part of the proof of dependency for any dependant aged 18 or older who is applying with you.

It does not stand alone. Alongside the form, the page requires proof of your relationship with the dependant, such as a birth certificate or adoption papers. In other words, Form 47a establishes the claim of dependency and the relationship documents establish that the person making the claim is your child or stepchild. A dependency form without relationship evidence leaves the family-unit question unanswered, and relationship evidence without the form leaves the dependency question unanswered.

How do you prove 12 months of financial dependency?

The page states the test directly: you must prove the person has been financially dependent on you for at least 12 months before you apply. The examples it gives are proof they live with you, their tax records, and proof they are currently studying.

Those three examples point to three different things a decision-maker can check: where the person actually lives, whether they have an income of their own, and whether their daily life is still funded by someone else's household economy. A file built on only one of them is thinner than a file that covers more than one.

To see how the pieces fit together, suppose an applicant's 21-year-old child lives in the applicant's home, is enrolled full-time, and has no earnings of their own. The natural evidence set would be a completed Form 47a, the child's birth certificate, household records showing shared residence, the child's tax records showing no or minimal income, current enrolment confirmation, and transfer or bank records showing the applicant meeting the child's living costs across the 12 months before lodgement. The scenario is illustrative only; what carries weight is whether the documents cover an unbroken 12-month period ending before the application is lodged.

Two features of the test are easy to misread. The 12 months is measured before you apply, so support that begins at around the same time as lodgement does not satisfy it. And "financially dependent" is a stronger claim than "receives some help" — evidence of occasional or discretionary transfers reads as family generosity rather than dependency.

What if my child is 23 or older?

The official page allows it, but on a different footing. As a general rule it states that your child or stepchild must be under 23 to be included. The exception is a dependant older than 23 who is unable to earn a living to support themselves due to physical or cognitive limitations.

Two conditions apply at once in that exception, and they are cumulative. The person must be unable to earn a living because of the limitation, and they must still be dependent on you or your partner. The page requires you to provide information about the physical or cognitive limitation, and it is that information — not the age itself — that has to bridge the gap the age would otherwise create. Reciting the diagnosis without connecting it to an inability to earn a living, or showing dependency without addressing the limitation, leaves half of the exception unaddressed.

What else does an adult dependant have to provide?

For every dependant aged 18 or older applying with you, the page lists four categories: identity documents, documents about their other relationships if applicable, character documents, and proof of dependency.

The "other relationships" item is the one most often overlooked, and it exists because an adult dependant may have relationships of their own — a partner, or children — that bear on whether they are genuinely dependent on you. Character documents apply to the adult child in their own right; the page advises not arranging police certificates until you are asked. Family members applying with you must also meet the health and character requirements.

Two lodgement mechanics apply to the whole application rather than to the child alone: the Subclass 114 application is made on paper using Form 47OF, and you and all applicants must be outside Australia both when you apply and when the visa is decided. Only certified copies should be sent with a paper application, not originals.

Can you add an adult child after you lodge?

The page says you might be able to add family members before a decision is made, using Form 1436 "Adding an additional applicant after lodgement", together with evidence of the relationship and the family member's passport. Anyone added must meet the health and character requirements.

One qualification is stated on the same page and is worth reading carefully: any family member you add to your application after you apply must be in Australia when you add them. That sits alongside the requirement that you and all applicants must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is decided. Because those two statements point in different directions for a paper visa decided offshore, the practical reading of Form 1436 for an adult child is something to confirm against the current official wording rather than assume.

How does the 12-month test differ from the 3-year test the main applicant faces?

They are separate tests on separate people, and mixing them up is a common source of thin evidence.

	Whose dependency	Period required	What it covers
Main applicant	You, on your relative in Australia	At least 3 years before you apply	Basic needs: food, shelter and clothing
Adult child dependant	The child, on you or your partner	At least 12 months before you apply	Financial dependency, evidenced by residence, tax and study records

The main applicant's test is about a long pattern of reliance for basic needs; the adult child's test is a shorter, more documentary financial test with Form 47a as its anchor.

Where adult-child dependency claims tend to weaken

Reading the published criteria together, three gaps recur. The first is a dependency period that only reaches back a few months, which fails the "at least 12 months before you apply" requirement on its face. The second is evidence of support that is intermittent, which does not read as dependency for basic needs. The third is a missing Form 47a, where the rest of the evidence is present but the specific form the page names for dependants aged 18 or over is absent from the file.

None of these are curable by volume. The test is whether the documents describe continuous financial reliance over the required period, and a large bundle of unrelated papers does not do that work.

This article explains how the published criteria and document lists operate; it is general information rather than personalised immigration advice, and the current wording on the Department's official pages remains the reference to rely on for any individual case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a child over 18 need Form 1229 consent?

No. Form 1229, or a statutory declaration giving consent, is part of the parental responsibility requirements for applicants under 18 who are migrating without a person who has the legal right to decide where they live. The over-18 pathway runs through Form 47a and proof of dependency instead.

Does being a student make an adult child a dependant?

Studying is evidence, not the test. The official page lists "proof they are currently studying" among the documents that can show financial dependency, but the requirement is that the person has been financially dependent on you for at least 12 months before you apply. Enrolment supports the claim when it sits alongside residence and income or tax records.

Can a stepchild over 18 be included?

Yes, if they meet the same age and dependency conditions. The page's family-unit description covers a dependent child and stepchild, and its summary of the age rule refers to "your child or stepchild", with the same under-23 threshold and the same over-23 exception for physical or cognitive limitations.

Do I have to declare adult children who are not migrating?

Yes. The application form requires details of all family members, whether they are migrating or not. Family members who are not coming to Australia may also be asked to meet the health requirement, and the page notes that other non-migrating family members may also be asked to meet the character requirement.

My child turns 23 during processing — what happens then?

The official page states the age bands as the conditions for inclusion and requires the 12-month dependency period to be complete before you apply. It does not set out in its document guidance how a birthday falling during processing is treated, so the current official guidance should be checked on that specific point.

Is there an extra cost for including an adult child?

The page states there is an extra charge for each family member who applies with you, and that the visa is paid in two instalments — the first when you apply, the second when the Department asks for it. The Department's visa cost section does not publish a figure, so the current amount should be confirmed using the official visa pricing information.

Does the assurance of support cover an adult child?

Yes. The Department's eligibility criteria describe the assurance of support as covering you and any family members who come to Australia with you on this visa, and the Department tells you when it needs to be provided.