What is Form 1221?
Form 1221 is the Department of Home Affairs supplementary personal-particulars form for applicants aged 16 or over. The Home Affairs Form 1221 PDF describes it as “a supplementary form required to support your visa application”; it records travel, employment history and military service.
Its supplementary role matters: complete the form Home Affairs requests, rather than assuming that another personal-history form replaces it.
How Form 1221 differs from Form 80
Form 1221 differs from Form 80 in scope and purpose. The following comparison uses the official Home Affairs PDFs, both bearing design date 03/21, and the Department’s guidance on when they are requested.
| Form 1221 | Form 80 | |
|---|---|---|
| Official title | “Additional personal particulars information” | “Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment” |
| Who completes it | Applicants aged 16 or over | Applicants aged 16 or over, as requested by the processing office |
| Covers | Travel, employment history, military service | Identity; address and international travel history for the last 10 years (30 years for humanitarian applicants); employment; education; visa history; character; military service; refusals |
| What kind of form | A supplementary form supporting the visa application | The personal-particulars form for character assessment |
| When asked | When Home Affairs requests it; the relevant visa page says after lodgement | When the processing office requests it; the character requirements page says after you apply |
| Form date | 03/21 | 03/21 |
The Home Affairs PDFs show the overlap: both forms cover travel, employment and military service.
The difference is Form 80’s broader character-assessment scope; the Form 80 guide covers its 10-year address and travel history alongside the other subjects recorded in the Home Affairs Form 80 PDF.
The Department’s guidance does not establish that every applicant must provide both forms. Read the request rather than assuming either that both are compulsory or that one substitutes for the other.
What Form 1221 asks
The Home Affairs Form 1221 PDF records three areas of personal history:
- Travel history.
- Employment history.
- Military service.
This guide does not set out the form’s question numbers or how far back each part goes. Use the instructions in the official PDF when completing your answers.
Form 1221 download and PDF
The official download is the Home Affairs Form 1221 PDF, titled “Additional personal particulars information” and bearing design date 03/21. Download it directly from the Department of Home Affairs.
Form 1221 in an 858 application
Form 1221 is listed with Form 80 among forms that may be required on the Home Affairs National Innovation visa (subclass 858) page, updated 4 September 2026. The Department asks for it after lodgement; that listing is not a statement that every applicant must submit it.
Under section 99 of the Migration Act 1958, information given to Home Affairs about the application is treated as an answer in the application form. This includes information in the Expression of Interest (EOI), Form 1000 attachments and a response supplying additional particulars. Form 1221 is therefore not separate from the application’s answers simply because it is supplementary.
The Home Affairs National Innovation visa page also says application documents must show the achievements claimed in the EOI. Check that Form 1221’s employment and travel history is consistent with the career described in that evidence.
If you have appointed an authorised recipient, Home Affairs’ authorised recipients page says communications—including requests for more information—go to that recipient.
Form 1221, identity and the 858 integrity test
Public Interest Criterion 4020 in the Migration Regulations 1994 addresses bogus documents and information that is false or misleading in a material particular, supplied about the application or a visa held in the 12 months before the application. Such material can prevent the criterion being satisfied.
Under PIC 4020(5), information is false or misleading in a material particular if it was false or misleading when given and relevant to any criterion, whether or not the decision turns on it. Section 5(1) of the Migration Act 1958 includes within “bogus document” a document obtained through a false or misleading statement, whether or not knowingly.
PIC 4020(3) applies even where Home Affairs learns of the false material from the applicant. Correcting an answer is still required, but self-disclosure does not itself cure the PIC 4020 problem.
The identity rules are distinct. Under PIC 4020(2A), the applicant must satisfy the Minister of their identity; paragraph (2B) checks identity refusals involving the applicant or a family-unit member from 10 years before application through to decision. The Migration Regulations do not list these identity limbs among the provisions that can be waived under PIC 4020(4); the PIC 4020 guide explains the integrity rules separately.
For the 858, the Migration Regulations apply PIC 4020 to the primary applicant and applying family members, with a specific exception for secondary applicants on the regulation 858.212(4) security pathway.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1221 form?
The Home Affairs Form 1221 PDF is “Additional personal particulars information”: a supplementary form for applicants aged 16 or over recording travel, employment and military-service history.
What is the difference between Form 80 and Form 1221?
The Home Affairs Form 80 PDF covers character assessment, identity, 10 years of address and travel history, employment, education, visa history, military service and refusals. Form 1221 covers travel, employment history and military service.
Who completes Form 1221 in a family application?
Each applicant aged 16 or over completes the requested form, according to the Home Affairs Form 1221 PDF.
What if your travel or job history changes after you send Form 1221?
Sections 99 and 104(1) of the Migration Act 1958 mean its information counts as application answers, and a change making an answer incorrect must be reported in writing as soon as practicable.
Can an error in Form 1221 lead to a refusal later?
Yes, if it meets PIC 4020’s test for information false or misleading in a material particular. Under the Migration Regulations 1994, relevance to a criterion matters even if the decision does not turn on it, and self-disclosure does not cure it.
Returning Form 1221 during an 858 application
Home Affairs’ “After you apply” page says requests appear in ImmiAccount messages and under Actions required. Attach the completed form through View details → Attach documents, using Other Documents if the document type is not listed. The steps after you apply for the 858 visa include these requests.
If the request is a written section 56 invitation and the application was made in Australia, regulation 2.15(1)(b) of the Migration Regulations 1994 ordinarily prescribes 28 days after notification; an invitation given at an interview or by telephone has a 7-day period. A separate 5-day rule applies in immigration detention. For applications made outside Australia, section 58(2) of the Migration Act 1958 provides for the invitation to set a reasonable period where no period is prescribed. Do not assume every Form 1221 request is a section 56 invitation.
After returning it for your 858 visa, report any later change making an answer incorrect in writing as soon as practicable under section 104(1) of the Migration Act 1958. An answer wrong when given requires separate notification under section 105.
Ask an Australian migration lawyer to check Form 1221 against the EOI, Form 1000 and supporting evidence before it is returned, with particular care over identity answers. This checks consistency and omissions against the application-answer rules in section 99 of the Migration Act 1958 and the identity requirements of PIC 4020.