Family visa allows you to bring your family (Includes Parent, Spouse, De Facto, Child, other family member) to Australia subject to certain conditions. These visas are sponsored by Australian Citizens, permanent residents and New Zealand eligible citizens. There are a range of family visa options available for a variety of circumstances and situations:

They include:

• Contributory Parent Visas
• Non-contributory Parent Visas
• Aged Parent Visas
• Aged Dependent Relative Visas, and
• Child Visas
• Partner Visas

Adoption visa (subclass 102)

The Adoption visa (subclass 102) lets a child come to Australia to live with their adoptive parent. The child can already be adopted or be in the process of being adopted. The adoptive parent sponsors the child for this visa and usually applies on their behalf. An adoptive parent must be:

• an Australian citizen
• the holder of an Australian permanent resident visa
• an eligible New Zealand citizen

The child must be outside Australia when the application is lodged and when the application is decided. More information More information is available from the Child Migration booklet.

What this visa lets you do

This is a permanent residence visa. It allows the child to:

• travel to and stay in Australia indefinitely
• work and study in Australia
• enrol in Medicare, Australia's scheme for health-related care and expenses
• apply for Australian citizenship (if they are eligible)
• sponsor eligible relatives for permanent residence
• travel to and from Australia for five years from the date the visa is granted – after that time they will need another visa to enter Australia

Before you adopt

Seek advice from your closest state and territory adoption authority before starting any adoption process to adopt a child from outside Australia. In Australia, the processing of inter-country adoptions is the responsibility of state and territory central adoption authorities. These authorities manage arrangements for adopting children from overseas, including assessing and approving prospective adoptive parents. We cannot help arrange an adoption. Our role is to assess and decide applications for visas. You should first seek legal advice about adoption law in both Australia and the country in which the child lives. For a child to be eligible for an Adoption visa, one of the following must apply:

• they have been adopted (or are to be adopted) with the involvement of an Australian state or territory central authority
• they have been adopted without the involvement of an Australian state or territory central authority by an Australian citizen, holder of an Australian permanent visa or an eligible New Zealand citizen who has been living outside Australia for more than 12 months before the visa application is lodged
• they have been adopted through an arrangement between two countries, other than Australia, that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (the Hague Adoption Convention)