This visa lets children adopted outside Australia live in Australia with their adoptive parent.
Intercountry adoption
We can’t help arrange adoptions and we do not issue letters of no objection. Our role is to assess and decide applications for visas.
With this visa you can
- Stay in Australia indefinitely with their adoptive parents
- Work and study in Australia
- Enroll in Australia’s public health care scheme, Medicare
- Sponsor your relatives to come to Australia
- Apply for Australian citizenship, if eligible
Travel to and from Australia for 5 years
The child can travel to and from Australia as many times as they want for 5 years from the date we grant this visa. This is as long as the travel facility on this visa remains valid.
If the child wants to travel after the initial 5-year travel facility:
- they will need to apply for and be granted a Resident Return (RRV) so they can re-enter Australia as a permanent resident
- they might also want to consider Australian citizenship. If they become an Australian citizen, they won’t require a visa to enter Australia. They will need to apply for an Australian passport and use it to leave and re-enter Australia. See more about eligibility requirements and current processing times for Australian citizenship
How long you can stay
This is a permanent visa. It lets you stay in Australia indefinitely.
For citizenship purposes, your permanent residency starts on the day we grant the visa.
Include other children
If the child has siblings who also want to apply for an Adoption visa, submit separate applications for each sibling.
The child’s dependent children can be included on their application when they apply or added to their application at any time before we decide the application.
Cost
The visa costs AU2,665 for the main applicant.
There is also an additional charge for each of the child’s dependent children who apply for the visa.
Processing times
We don’t provide processing times for this visa. Applications are subject to capping and queueing.
Your application might take longer to process if:
- you do not fill it in correctly
- you do not include all the documents we need or we need more information from you
- it takes us time to verify your information
Eligibility
- Be adopted or being the process of being adopted
- Have a sponsor
- The child must be under 18 at the time of adoption, when the application is submitted and when we make our decision.
- You must meet our health requirement.
- You must meet our character requirement.
- Have Paid back your debt to Australian Government
- Best Interest of the child