Who Can Sponsor a Child for the Subclass 101 Visa in 2026?

According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Child visa (Subclass 101) page, current as of August 2026, a child applying for this visa must be sponsored by an eligible parent or by that parent's spouse or de facto partner, and the sponsorship itself has to be approved before the visa can be granted. In other words, being the right person on paper is only half the question — the second half is whether the sponsorship survives assessment. What follows is general information about how the rules are written, not personalised advice about any one family's situation, so the official page and the legislation behind it remain the reference point for a real case.

Who counts as an "eligible parent"?

Sponsorship starts with the parent, not with the sponsor's willingness. The child must be dependent on a parent who is an Australian citizen, an eligible New Zealand citizen, or an Australian permanent visa holder. Those three statuses are the gate; a parent who holds none of them cannot anchor the application, however close the relationship.

The parent-child link can be biological, adoptive, or a stepchild relationship, but each carries its own conditions. For an adopted child, the adoption must have taken place before the child turned 18, and the adoptive parent must not have been an Australian citizen, permanent visa holder or eligible New Zealand citizen at the time of the adoption. Where the adoptive parent already held one of those statuses when the adoption happened, the child might instead be eligible for the Adoption visa (subclass 102), which is a different visa with its own rules.

For a stepchild, the official page sets three requirements stacked on top of each other: the child must be the child of the step-parent's former partner, must be under 18, and the step-parent must hold either an Australian parenting order in force that says the child is to live with and be looked after by them, or guardianship or custody of the child under Australian law or the law of another country.

Can the parent's spouse or de facto partner sponsor instead?

Yes. The eligibility wording is deliberately wider than "parent": the sponsor can be an eligible parent or that parent's spouse or de facto partner. This is what allows, for example, a mother's partner to stand as sponsor while the dependency test is met through the mother.

The subtlety is that sponsorship and dependency are two separate criteria, and both have to be satisfied. The same official page states that a child does not meet the dependency requirement if the stepparent is the current spouse or de facto partner of the child's biological or adopted parent. Read together with the stepchild rules above, the effect is that naming a step-parent as sponsor does not create a qualifying dependency where the child's own parent is the one outside Australia's citizen or permanent resident categories. The stepchild route depends on the child coming from the step-parent's former relationship and being under 18 — a current partnership with the child's biological or adopted parent points the other way.

Clause 101.212 of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires the sponsor to be at least 18 years old.

What disqualifies a sponsor, even a willing one?

This is where sponsorships fail most sharply. The Department's page states that if the sponsor, and/or their spouse or de facto partner (if any), have a pending registrable offence charge, it will refuse both the sponsorship and the visa application. A pending charge — not a conviction, and not a finding of any kind — is enough.

Where the sponsor or their partner has a registrable offence conviction, the sponsorship can only be approved in very limited circumstances. The Department publishes a dedicated page, "Measures for the protection of children", for how this assessment works.

The practical consequence is worth stating plainly: the assessment follows the sponsor's household, not just the sponsor. A sponsor with a clean record can still be refused on the basis of a partner's pending charge, so the question "who can sponsor" has to be asked about both people in the relationship.

How is the sponsorship actually lodged?

Sponsorship is not a separate application submitted on its own. The official step-by-step page requires Form 40CH (Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia) and Form 47CH (Application for migration to Australia by a child) to be completed and sent together by post or courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. The visa is a paper-only application: submitting it in person, or to any other office, does not produce a valid application. Both forms must be completed in English, and the application charge must be paid before the application is posted — the Department does not begin processing until payment is received.

The Department's procedural guidance (PAM3) describes the Form 40CH undertaking as covering financial and accommodation support for the two years after the child first enters Australia.

What sponsorship approval does not fix

Approving a sponsor does not approve a child. The child still has to meet the visa's own criteria, and these are assessed independently of who signed the sponsorship form:

Age: under 18, or 18 to under 25 and studying full time, or 18 or over with a disability. Full-time students can't work full time and must be financially dependent on their parent more than any other person.
No partner: the child can't be, or ever have been, married, engaged to be married, or in a de facto relationship.
Health, and character for children aged 16 or over.
Any debt owed to the Australian Government must be repaid, or be subject to a formal arrangement to repay it.
Children aged 18 or over must sign the Australian Values Statement.
For a child under 18, there must be consent to migrate — written consent from everyone who can legally decide where the child lives, or the home country's law allowing the child to leave, or consistency with any Australian child order about the child.

One more criterion sits above the rest: the Department might not grant the visa if doing so would not be in the best interests of an applicant under 18.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can sponsor a child for the Subclass 101 visa?

An eligible parent — an Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent visa holder — or that parent's spouse or de facto partner. The sponsorship must be approved before the visa can be granted.

Does the sponsor have to be an Australian citizen?

No. Australian permanent visa holders and eligible New Zealand citizens are also listed as eligible parents on the Department's page. What matters is that the child is dependent on a parent holding one of those three statuses.

Can a step-parent sponsor their partner's child?

Yes — a parent's spouse or de facto partner, including a current partner, can be the sponsor. Sponsorship and dependency are separate tests: the child must still be dependent on a parent who is an Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or Australian permanent visa holder. The stepchild rules — child of the step-parent's former partner, under 18, and a qualifying Australian parenting order, or guardianship or custody under Australian or foreign law — apply when the child is claiming eligibility as that parent's stepchild, not when deciding who may sign as sponsor; a stepparent who is the current spouse or de facto partner of the child's biological or adopted parent does not give the child a qualifying dependency, but the child's dependency may still be met through their own parent.

Can an adopted child be sponsored for this visa?

Yes, if the adoption took place before the child turned 18 and the adoptive parent was not yet an Australian citizen, permanent visa holder or eligible New Zealand citizen at the time. If the adoptive parent already held that status when the adoption happened, the Adoption visa (subclass 102) is the visa the Department points to instead.

What happens if the sponsor has a criminal record?

The Department states it will refuse the sponsorship and the visa application where the sponsor, or their spouse or de facto partner, has a pending registrable offence charge. Where there is a conviction rather than a pending charge, sponsorship can be approved only in very limited circumstances.

Does the sponsor have to meet an income threshold?

The Department's eligibility page does not set an income test for sponsors, and the procedural guidance summarises the sponsor's obligation as an undertaking to support the child rather than as a minimum income requirement. An Assurance of Support can be requested in some cases, but policy described in that guidance treats it as uncommon for this visa.

Is the sponsorship lodged separately from the visa application?

No. Form 40CH must be sent together with the child's Form 47CH by post or courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth, and the application charge must be paid before the application is posted.