Must a 117 Applicant Stay Outside Australia Until the Decision in 2026?
Yes — a 117 child must be outside Australia at lodgement and again when the decision is made. What that means for travel planning in 2026.
Yes. A child applying for the Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) must be outside Australia when the application is made, and outside Australia again when the decision is made. Both halves of that rule are set out on the Australian Department of Home Affairs' Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) official page, as at the August 2026 version of that page: under "Apply from" it states that the child must be outside Australia when the application is made and when the Department decides, and the visa outcome section repeats it in stronger terms — the child must be outside Australia when the decision is made in order for the visa to be granted. Everything below is general information about how those requirements are published, not an assessment of any particular family's position; where a case turns on facts outside the published requirements, the official page and the Migration Regulations, together with advice from a registered migration agent or legal practitioner, are what counts.
Does the offshore requirement apply once or twice?
Twice, and they are separate tests separated by the whole processing period. Being outside Australia on the day the papers go in the post does not carry you through to the decision, and being outside Australia on decision day does not fix an application that was lodged while the child was in Australia.
| Point in time | What the official page requires | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|
| When the application is made | The child must be outside Australia | The lodgement is invalid if made while the child is onshore |
| While the application is waiting | No travel to Australia should be arranged | Bookings made before written grant advice are at the family's own risk |
| When the decision is made | The child must be outside Australia, or the visa cannot be granted | The Department's decision on the papers cannot end in a grant if the child is in Australia |
Read alongside the rest of the page, the picture is coherent: the subclass is designed for a child who is brought to Australia by the grant, not for a child already here.
Why is the application made on paper from outside Australia?
Because Subclass 117 is one of the remaining family-stream categories that has no online lodgement route. The step-by-step instructions on the same Department page require two forms, completed in English and sent together after the application charge has been paid:
- Form 47CH — Application for migration to Australia by a child
- Form 40CH — Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia
By post to the Department of Home Affairs, Child and Other Family Processing Centre, Locked Bag 7, Northbridge WA 6865; or by courier to the same processing centre at Wellington Central, 836 Wellington Street, West Perth WA 6005. The page warns that an application submitted at any other office or in any other way is not a valid application and cannot be considered further, and that applications for this visa cannot be submitted in person.
This has an obvious knock-on effect for planning: you cannot lodge from inside Australia over the counter, there is no ImmiAccount application to create at the start, and evidence of payment plus the supporting documents have to travel together in the same envelope. Original documents should not be sent — only certified copies, with the family keeping its own complete copy of the application and attachments.
What happens if the child travels to Australia while the application is undecided?
The page deals with this directly and briefly: families are told not to arrange for the child to travel to Australia until the Department advises in writing that the visa has been granted. It does not describe a specific consequence or workaround for a child who enters on another visa while the 117 is pending, and there is nothing on the page suggesting such travel is accommodated. The safest reading of the two rules together is that a pending 117 is not a travel pathway, and any thought of visiting Australia during processing needs to be reconciled with the requirement that the child be offshore at decision.
For families weighing that decision, it is also worth noting what the page says about delays: processing takes longer if the application is incorrectly filled in, documents are missing, information takes time to verify, or full payment was not made at initial lodgement. The Department will not process an application where the correct visa application charge has not been paid, and may return it.
What should be arranged while the child waits offshore?
Several items on the page have timing implications rather than being a one-off checklist:
- Identity and travel documents. The child's passport must be valid, and the application needs a certified copy of the passport or travel document they will use to enter Australia, plus any passports held since then. Four photographs (45mm x 35mm, under six months old) are required for the child and each included dependant.
- Police certificates. For children over 16, certificates are needed from every country where they have spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16. For immigration purposes a police certificate is valid for 12 months from its issue date — a relevant constraint if the wait is long. Form 80 is also required for children over 16.
- Health examinations and biometrics. The Department tells applicants when to arrange the child's health examinations, and tells applicants separately if biometrics are required.
- Changes in circumstances. Changes to the child's phone number, address, passport or relationship status, the birth of a child, or a decision to withdraw must be notified. Mistakes on the application are corrected using Form 1023.
- Ongoing management. After the acknowledgement letter arrives, the paper application can be imported into ImmiAccount, which is how additional documents are uploaded and status is viewed. The Department does not provide progress updates within normal processing times.
Suppose a child's police certificate was obtained early in the process and expires before the Department asks for anything further: nothing on the official page says the application stalls, but the certificate is no longer within the stated 12-month validity and a fresh one is likely to be needed. That is the kind of renewal that is easier to plan for than to be surprised by.
Can other children be added to the application later?
It depends on the relationship. The child's own dependent children can be included on the application when it is made, or at any time before a decision is made. Siblings who also want to apply need a separate application each. Dependent children included in the application must meet the health requirement, as may family members who are not coming to Australia. Each dependent child also carries its own application charge, and dependent children under 18 have their own identity, relationship and (where applicable) character documents.
Once granted, how long does the child have to enter Australia?
The grant letter sets the deadline. The Department advises that the first entry date is generally set at 12 months from the date of visa grant, and that the child must enter Australia before the date specified in that letter. Two further points sit against each other and are worth reading together:
- The travel facility runs for five years from the date the visa is granted, not from the date of first entry. Multiple trips in and out are permitted while it remains valid, and VEVO shows when it ends.
- For citizenship purposes, the child becomes a permanent resident on the day they enter Australia on the visa.
After the initial travel facility expires, re-entering Australia as a permanent resident requires a Resident Return visa (subclasses 155 and 157), unless the child has become an Australian citizen and travels on an Australian passport instead.
The grant itself is digital: the visa is linked to the passport and no label is placed in it, with the grant notification letter supplying the visa grant number needed to access the digital record. A refused application brings written reasons and advice on whether there is a right to review; the application fee is not refunded if the application is refused.
What does the visa cost in 2026?
The Department's page does not publish the headline amount in the text — it directs applicants to the Visa Pricing Estimator for Subclass 117, noting that the estimator does not account for other costs such as health checks, police certificates and biometrics. Since 1 July 2026, a lower visa application cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens who lodge a valid application, recognised on the basis of the primary applicant's valid passport from one of the listed countries: Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Family members are eligible for the lower cost based on the primary applicant's passport. Government charges change, so the amount payable should be confirmed against the Department's current published figures at the time of payment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the child apply for a 117 visa while they are in Australia?
No. The Department's official page states the child must be outside Australia when the application is made, and that the visa cannot be granted unless they are outside Australia when the decision is made.
What happens if the child enters Australia while the 117 application is still pending?
Families are told not to arrange travel to Australia until the Department advises in writing that the visa has been granted. The page does not set out any exception for travel during processing, so entering while the case is undecided puts the decision-day requirement at risk.
Does the five-year travel period start from the grant date or from first entry?
It starts from the date the visa is granted. That said, the grant letter also sets a first entry date — generally 12 months from grant — so the practical window for the first trip is governed by the letter.
Can family members be added to a 117 application later?
The child's dependent children can be added at any time before a decision is made. Siblings cannot be added and must lodge separate applications.
Is the application fee refunded if the visa is refused?
No. The Department states plainly that it will not refund the application fee if the application is refused, and the written decision will set out whether there is a right to have the decision reviewed.
Who may lawfully help prepare a 117 application?
Only a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person may give immigration assistance for a fee; anyone may be appointed merely to receive documents on the applicant's behalf. This is general information only and not individual immigration assistance.