Bringing Dependants on the Subclass 300 Route in 2026: What Affects Their Later PR

How dependants included in a 2026 Subclass 300 application affect the later onshore Partner visa (820/801) route, and the risk rules that apply.

Published: 10 July 2026 Reading time 12 min

Dependants can travel with you on the Subclass 300 (Prospective Marriage) route, and three dates decide almost everything: you can include members of the family unit when you lodge, you can still add a dependent child up to the moment of decision, and nobody can be added once the visa is granted. That sequence is what determines whether each family member is carried forward to your later onshore Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) or has to find another visa entirely. This article is based on the Department of Home Affairs' Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) official pages as at July 2026, together with the criteria in Division 300.3 of the Migration Regulations 1994 and the Department's published policy guidance on those criteria; it is general information only, not advice about any individual's circumstances, and the official pages as they stand on the day you act are what govern your own decision.

Who can be included as a dependant when you lodge?

Family members applying with you must be members of the family unit, meet the health requirement, meet the character requirement, and be outside Australia. You must be outside Australia when you apply, and so must every family member who applies with you.

That last condition is easy to mishandle. It is a location requirement at lodgement, not merely at the time you travel, so a dependant already in Australia on another visa does not satisfy it simply because the plan is to settle there later.

The evidence side follows the same per-person logic. Each applicant's identity must be established — a birth certificate showing the names of both parents, or one of the alternative documents listed for cases where that certificate is unavailable — and the relationship evidence you provide covers your prospective spouse, any former relationships, and any dependants you have. ImmiAccount allows up to 100 documents per person on the application, and that limit cannot be increased.

Sponsorship runs with the dependant, not just with you. You and anyone applying with you must have a sponsor both when you lodge and while you hold the visa, so the sponsorship arrangement has to extend to each person named in the application.

What does "one fails, all fail" mean here?

Health and character are collective at this stage, and so is the outcome.

The official position is that every included family member must clear the health and character requirements, and a visa cannot be granted without a valid health assessment. The Regulations reinforce this at the decision stage: where a family member does not satisfy the family unit or public interest requirements, the main applicant cannot be granted either. This is the outcome usually described in policy guidance as the "one fails, all fail" rule. The practical consequence for your PR pathway is that a dependant's unresolved health or character issue does not sit quietly next to your application — it can stop the whole family's grant before you have ever married or lodged anything at the Partner stage.

Two related points are worth building into your planning:

Family members who are not coming to Australia might still have to meet the health and character requirements. Someone excluded from the travel plan is not automatically excluded from the assessment.
Where it would be unreasonable to require an examination of a family member who is not applying, there is scope not to require it. That is a carve-out in the Regulations rather than something you can assume, so contested cases turn on how the Department exercises that discretion.

Timing compounds the risk. Results of a health assessment are valid for 12 months from completion, a health undertaking is valid for 6 months, and police certificates are valid for 12 months from issue. If more than 15 months has passed since an AFP National Police Certificate was issued, new checks are required to progress the application. Clearing everyone too early can therefore mean clearing them again.

When can a child still be added, and why does that date matter?

The cut-off is the decision, and nothing moves it.

Point in time	What is possible	Effect on the later Partner application
When you lodge	Members of the family unit are included in the same application	Each named person travels with you through marriage to the 820/801 step
After lodgement, before decision	A dependent child can be added with Form 1436, while outside Australia, then notified to the Department	Still assessed against every criterion for grant, including the family unit and health and character requirements
After grant	No family member can be added to the application	Anyone omitted is not carried forward and would need another visa class
A baby born after grant	Notify the change of circumstances through the "You had a baby" process	Notification is not a visa grant; the child needs their own visa pathway

Clause 300.311 of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires a family member to have applied at the same time as the main applicant, while the Department's published process describes adding a dependent child after lodgement but before decision using Form 1436. Where those two descriptions meet, the process the Department publishes and operates is the one that governs what you can actually do — check the official page for the form and notification steps.

After grant, the position is not discretionary: no family member can be added to a granted Subclass 300. A child born after you are granted must be notified, but notification does not by itself create a visa.

How does the Subclass 300 stage shape the later Subclass 820/801 application?

The 300 stage is not a holding pattern; it sets the conditions for the Partner application that follows.

Four published rules matter most:

Sequence. If you want to settle in Australia, apply for the Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) after you marry and before your Subclass 300 ends.
Location. You must be in Australia to apply for the Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801).
Marriage validity. You must enter Australia on the Subclass 300 before the first entry arrival date in your grant letter, and marry before the visa expires. You can marry in any country, but the marriage must be valid under Australian law.
Cost footing. You pay less for the Partner visa if you marry and apply before the Subclass 300 ends, and as a Subclass 300 holder you are eligible for the lower application charge. If you are granted any other visa, that visa replaces your Subclass 300 and you may then pay the higher charge.

Point 4 applies individually. Each family member included in the application is granted their own Subclass 300 where they meet the family unit and other grant criteria, so any one of them who takes another visa before lodging the Partner application risks losing that person's reduced-charge footing.

One boundary should be stated plainly: this page describes the Partner visa as the next step after marriage, but it does not set out how family members are treated at that later stage. Whether each dependant is included in, or assessed against, the Partner criteria is a separate question governed by the Partner visa rules — the Department's Partner Program Frequently Asked Questions address questions of that kind. What is settled at the 300 stage is narrower and decisive: omission at grant cannot be repaired afterwards.

What happens if circumstances change part-way through?

Changes before grant are handled within the application; changes after grant are not.

You marry before the decision. You are no longer eligible for the Subclass 300. The application can request consideration for a Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309) and Partner (Migrant) visa (subclass 100), and must withdraw the Subclass 300 application; if it is not withdrawn, it will be refused. For a family, that is a change of route from onshore to offshore partner processing.
A relationship ends at the 300 stage. The notification processes in ImmiAccount apply, and continuing eligibility is assessed at decision time.
A relationship ends after grant. Depending on the situation, you may still be eligible for the Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) if the relationship ends or your partner dies, and there are family violence provisions. You must still be in Australia to apply.
A birth, or another change relevant to the application. This must be notified while the application is undecided, and after grant as well.

Obligations are shared. You and your family members must meet all visa conditions and obey Australian laws, and conditions can be checked through VEVO. Separately, health cover is a real exposure for every person in the group: the Department recommends taking out health insurance, because without it you are personally liable for healthcare costs, and study on this visa attracts no government support. None of that is reimbursed, and the application fee itself is not refunded if an application is refused.

What does it cost to include them, including from 1 July 2026?

There is a fee for each family member who applies with you, and the application cannot be processed if the correct visa application charge is not paid. On top of the charge, each person may incur costs for health checks, police certificates and biometrics. The Visa pricing estimator is the tool for working out the charge with additional family members, and it does not account for health checks, police certificates or biometrics.

From 1 July 2026, the cost section of the Subclass 300 official page records a lower visa application cost for eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens who lodge a valid visa application. The lower cost is charged during the application process in ImmiAccount, and eligibility is recognised from a valid passport issued by a specified country. Family members are eligible too, based on the passport of the primary applicant or the visa holder who satisfies the primary criteria. The specified countries are:

Federated States of Micronesia
Fiji
Kiribati
Nauru
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Republic of the Marshall Islands
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu

The concession is set out on the Department's Subclass 300 cost page, which is where its current scope and commencement can be confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I include family members in my Subclass 300 application?

Yes. You can include members of the family unit when you lodge, and each included person must meet the health and character requirements and be outside Australia at that time. Family members who are not coming to Australia might still have to meet health and character requirements.

Can I add my child after I have lodged?

Yes, up to the point of decision, but not afterwards. Before the temporary visa is decided, you can add a dependent child using Form 1436 while the child is outside Australia; once the Subclass 300 is granted, no family member can be added.

Can my dependants be added to my Subclass 820/801 application later?

Being included at the Subclass 300 stage is what puts them in position to be considered on the onshore Partner route; being omitted at grant is not repairable later. How each person is treated at the Partner stage is governed by the Partner visa criteria rather than by the Subclass 300 page.

What if one family member fails the health requirement?

A visa cannot be granted without a valid health assessment, and under clause 300.226 of the Migration Regulations 1994 the main applicant cannot be granted if a family member does not satisfy the family unit or public interest criteria. There is limited scope not to require an examination of a family member who is not applying where requiring one would be unreasonable.

What happens if my baby is born after the Subclass 300 is granted?

You must notify the birth through the Department's "You had a baby" change-of-circumstances process. Notification is not a visa grant, because no family member can be added to a granted Subclass 300, so the child needs their own visa pathway.

Do dependants have to keep meeting conditions once the visa is granted?

Yes. You and your family members must meet all visa conditions and obey Australian laws, and you must enter Australia before the first entry arrival date and marry before the visa expires. Conditions can be checked at any time through VEVO.