What is Form 47a?
Form 47a is the Home Affairs form titled “Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over”, with design date 10/20. It records the adult family member’s circumstances and sources of support.
The title covers use across visas; it does not itself decide which relatives qualify for inclusion. Each visa’s applicable family-unit rules in the Migration Regulations 1994 determine that scope.
Who completes Form 47a?
Home Affairs Form 47a says every family-unit member aged 18 or over completes it, whether migrating or not. Its declaration requires signatures from:
- the main applicant;
- the main applicant’s partner; and
- the family member described in the form.
Who is considered a non-migrating family member?
A non-migrating family member is a member of the family unit who is not applying for the visa; Home Affairs Form 47a still requires a family-unit member aged 18 or over to complete it.
Does my partner fill in Form 47a?
Home Affairs Form 47a’s declaration is signed by the main applicant, the partner and the family member it describes. The partner’s signature is therefore part of the declaration, not a substitute for the adult child’s details.
What Form 47a asks
Home Affairs Form 47a asks for:
- Education and work history: study and employment details.
- Current employment: whether the person works and, if not, why.
- Disability affecting work: a medical practitioner’s report where a disability stops the person working.
- Main financial support: who provides it, its type, weekly amount, what it buys and how long it has continued.
- Other support: any additional sources of financial support.
- Family details: information about the family.
- The declaration: signatures from the main applicant, partner and family member.
When filling in Form 47a, answer every support question with figures consistent with the payment records. Distinguish your support from other income or assistance, and make the stated support period traceable in the evidence. This connects the form’s questions with the Department’s requested proof rather than relying on a general statement that the child is dependent.
What does dependent mean for a visa?
Under regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994, in the compilation dated 1 July 2026, a “dependent child” is a child or step-child who is not engaged, married or in a de facto relationship and is either under 18, or aged 18 or over and dependent on the person or incapacitated for work.
Regulation 1.05A(1) of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines dependency through either:
- Financial reliance: being wholly or substantially reliant on the other person for basic needs—food, clothing and shelter—now and for a substantial period immediately before, and more reliant on that person than on any other source.
- Incapacity: being wholly or substantially reliant on the other person because total or partial loss of bodily or mental functions incapacitates the person for work.
Separately, the Home Affairs National Innovation visa page, updated 4 September 2026, asks for evidence of at least 12 months’ financial dependence before applying. That evidence request does not replace the regulation’s “substantial period” wording.
Is 12 months of support a legal rule?
No. Regulation 1.05A uses “a substantial period”; the 12 months comes from the Home Affairs 858 page’s evidence request.
Form 47a download
Download the Home Affairs Form 47A PDF directly from the Department’s website. The supplied version has design date 10/20, meaning October 2020.
Use the Department’s PDF rather than a third-party copy, and read its support questions before organising the accompanying records.
Dependent children aged 18 to 22 on an 858 (12 months financial dependence)
The Home Affairs National Innovation visa page, updated 4 September 2026, says a child aged 18 who has not turned 23 must be dependent on you or your partner.
For financial dependency, regulation 1.05A of the Migration Regulations 1994 supplies the legal test: reliance for a substantial period immediately before. The Home Affairs 858 page asks for proof of at least 12 months’ financial dependence before applying, including shared-address evidence, tax records, study evidence and payments.
Under the Migration Regulations 1994, the additional applicant charge for each included child aged 18 or over is $3,120 from 1 July 2026.
Form 47a does not widen the family unit to other relatives. Regulation 1.12(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994 limits the relevant family unit to the partner, qualifying children and their dependent children.
Can a child aged 23 or over be included?
Yes, if dependent through incapacity. Under regulation 1.12(2) and the Home Affairs 858 page, a child aged 23 or over needs a qualified medical practitioner’s report showing dependence on you or your partner because of total or partial loss of bodily or mental functions.
Ageing out during an 858 application
The Home Affairs 858 page, updated 4 September 2026, says a child who turns 18 during processing and is not dependent, or turns 23 and is not dependent through incapacity, cannot meet the criteria.
When adding a child later using Form 1436, regulation 2.08A(2) of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires the child to meet the secondary time-of-application criteria on the deemed application date, as well as the time-of-decision criteria. This means a child already aged 18 on that deemed date must already be dependent.
What if my child turns 23 during processing?
The Home Affairs 858 page says a child who turns 23 and is not dependent through incapacity cannot meet the criteria; continuing financial support alone is not enough at that age.
Adult children on an 858 application
An adult child joins an 858 visa application as a qualifying family-unit member and must meet the health requirement and, from age 16, the character requirement described on the Home Affairs National Innovation visa page.
For a younger sibling under 18 migrating without the other parent, the Home Affairs page requires consent from any non-migrating person with the legal right to decide where the child lives, using Form 1229 or a statutory declaration, or an applicable court order.
Use the family forms for an 858 application to organise the related documents.
Ask an Australian migration lawyer to compare the adult child’s Form 47a answers, support figures and payment records against the legal dependency test and the dependency period the Department asks to see.