Offshore vs Onshore Family Stream: Where 117 Applicants Must Be in 2026, and Why
Location is not a formality for the Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) — it is a condition of grant. The Australian Department of Home Affairs states on its official Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) page (current as of August 2026) that the child must be outside Australia when the application is made and also outside Australia when the decision is made. In other words, 117 belongs squarely in the offshore family stream: the expectation is that the child waits abroad, receives a permanent visa, and then travels to Australia to begin living here permanently. Everything below is general information drawn from that page and does not take account of any one family's situation, so official sources or a qualified professional remain the reference point for decisions about a specific case.
The rest of this article follows the questions families usually ask next, starting with how to tell which stream you are actually in.
Is the 117 visa onshore or offshore?
It is an offshore-only category, and this is stated twice on the official page: once under "Apply from" and once in the requirements list for applicants. The child must satisfy three things together — be under 18, single, and with no parent able to care for them; have a relative who is a settled Australian citizen, an eligible New Zealand citizen, or an Australian permanent resident; and be outside Australia at both lodgement and decision.
That combination is what makes the location rule a structural feature rather than a preference. The visa is designed to bring a child to Australia for permanent settlement with a relative, not to regularise the stay of a child who is already here. Some family-stream categories exist for people applying from inside Australia, but 117 is not one of them.
Why is there an offshore requirement at two separate moments?
The two moments matter independently, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion.
At lodgement, being outside Australia is a validity requirement. This visa cannot be applied for online or in person — the application consists of Form 47CH (Application for migration to Australia by a child) and Form 40CH (Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia), completed in English and sent by post or courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. A form delivered to another office, or lodged any other way, is not a valid application.
At decision, being outside Australia is a grant requirement. Even if the application was validly lodged from abroad and everything else is in order, the visa cannot be granted to a child who is onshore at the moment the case is decided. This is why the location rule is best thought of as a standing condition that must hold throughout processing, not a box to be ticked once at the start.
Who has to be outside Australia — and who doesn't?
The requirement attaches to the child, not to the sponsor or the sponsoring relative. A settled Australian citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen, or Australian permanent resident who sponsors the child is expected to be in Australia, which is the premise of the whole category.
Family members who are included in the application may be in different countries from the main applicant, though family members coming to Australia have to meet requirements in their own right, such as the health requirement for dependent children. Family members who are not coming to Australia might also have to meet the health requirement. Siblings cannot ride along on one application: each sibling who wants to apply needs a separate application, while the child's own dependent children can be added to their application at lodgement or any time before a decision is made.
Where exactly does the application go?
By post (with correct prepaid postage), to the Department of Home Affairs, Child and Other Family Processing Centre, Locked Bag 7, NORTHBRIDGE WA 6865; or by courier, to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre, Wellington Central, 836 Wellington Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005. The application charge must be paid before the application is posted, and evidence of payment should be included, because no processing occurs until the correct charge is paid. Original documents should not be sent — certified copies only — and families should keep a copy of the completed application and supporting documents.
Applications made outside Australia on or after 1 April 2020 can be imported into ImmiAccount once the acknowledgement letter arrives, which allows supporting documents to be uploaded, details to be updated, and correspondence to be viewed online.
What if the child is already in Australia?
Then 117 does not fit, because the lodgement condition cannot be met from inside the country. This is the practical fork in the road for family reunion cases: the question stops being "how do we make a 117 work" and becomes "which stream applies to a child who is here." That is not a matter of choosing between equivalent options — the categories are built for different starting positions, and each has its own criteria and consequences.
Suppose a hypothetical applicant arrives on a visitor visa and relatives then want to settle the child permanently. The existence of an approved relationship ( kinship ) does not convert an onshore presence into eligibility for an offshore permanent child category. The family would need to identify the pathway that actually covers someone applying from within Australia, and check that pathway's own criteria rather than assuming the 117 rules transfer across.
Can the child travel to Australia while the 117 is being processed?
The official guidance is to not arrange for the child to travel to Australia until the Department advises in writing that the visa has been granted. The two ideas behind this are easy to state: the grant depends on the child being offshore at decision, and there is no entitlement to enter Australia on the strength of a pending application.
Travel on some other visa is a separate question governed by that visa's own rules and is assessed on its own merits, so it should not be treated as a way to wait out processing from inside Australia. Anything a family books before the outcome carries the risk that the arrangements and the location requirement pull in opposite directions.
What happens after the visa is granted?
A grant notification letter sets out the visa grant number, the date the visa starts, any visa conditions, and the date by which the child must enter Australia — the first entry date is generally 12 months from the date of grant. The child must enter before the date specified, and the visa is then digitally linked to their passport; no travel label is placed in the passport.
Entry is also legally meaningful beyond arrival: for citizenship purposes, the child becomes a permanent resident on the day they enter Australia on the visa. From the grant date there is a five-year travel facility allowing travel to and from Australia as many times as desired, subject to the facility remaining valid. Beyond that window, a Resident Return visa (subclasses 155 and 157) is needed to re-enter as a permanent resident, or alternatively Australian citizenship, after which an Australian passport replaces the visa requirement. VEVO can be used to see when the travel facility ends.
Once settled, this being a permanent visa, the child can stay indefinitely, work and study under Australian law, enrol in Medicare, sponsor relatives, attend free English classes through the Adult Migrant English Program if eligible, and apply for Australian citizenship if eligible. If refused, there is no refund of the application fee, and the decision letter will explain why and whether there is a right to review.
What documents does the Department expect, and what slows things down?
The supporting material tracks the eligibility criteria closely. Expect identity documents (passport pages showing photo, personal details, and issue and expiry dates; a national identity card if held; proof of name change if applicable); four recent photographs of 45mm x 35mm for the child and any included dependent; certified copies of the travel document used to enter Australia and any passports held since then; and relationship evidence such as a birth, marriage or adoption certificate, or an officially issued family status certificate or family book.
The central evidence is that no parent is able to care for the child. That means a death certificate or other official document, or a medical report showing why the parents are unable to care. Where parents cannot be found, the page asks for evidence of how long they have been missing and what efforts were made to contact or locate them.
Character documents are required for children over 16: police certificates from every country where the child has spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, military service records or discharge papers where applicable, and Form 80. Australian certificates must be National Police Certificates applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship and issued by the Australian Federal Police, and all police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date.
The official page does not publish a fixed timeframe for this visa; it points to a processing time guide tool for indicative times based on recently decided applications, noting that it is a guide only. Processing takes longer where forms are incomplete, documents are missing, information needs verification, or payment was not made in full at lodgement. An acknowledgement is normally received about one month after lodgement. On cost, the page does not state an amount for the main applicant — a Visa Pricing Estimator is provided for that purpose, alongside note of separate charges for the child's dependent children and possible extra costs for health checks, police certificates and biometrics. One dated development is worth watching: from 1 July 2026, a lower visa application cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens lodging a valid application, based on the primary applicant holding a valid passport from a listed country, with that lower cost extending to family members. Because these figures are set and adjusted administratively, the amount payable should always be confirmed against the Department's current published pricing.
Health examinations are arranged only when the Department asks, and biometrics may also be requested.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Orphan Relative visa (Subclass 117) allow onshore applications?
No. The official page states the child must be outside Australia when the application is made and when the decision is made, which rules out both lodging and being granted from inside Australia. Paper applications go to the processing centre in Perth, not to a local office.
What happens if the child enters Australia before the 117 is decided?
The grant requirement is assessed at the moment of decision, so being onshore then means the visa cannot be granted. The Department's guidance is to wait for written advice of grant before arranging travel.
Can siblings apply together on one 117 application?
Each sibling who wants to apply needs a separate application. The child's own dependent children are different: they can be included in the application at lodgement or added at any time before a decision is made, provided they meet requirements such as the health requirement.
How long does the child have to enter Australia after the grant?
The grant letter specifies the date, and the first entry date is generally set at 12 months from the date of visa grant. Failure to enter by the specified date risks losing the benefit of the grant, so travel should be planned around that deadline.
Is anything published about how long a 117 decision takes?
No fixed period is published. The Department points to a processing time guide tool showing times for recently decided applications as a guide only, and notes that incomplete forms, missing documents, verification needs and short payment all extend processing.
Can the visa be granted before the child travels, then used later?
Yes, and in fact that is how the category works — the grant is made while the child is offshore, and the child then enters by the deadline in the grant letter. The child becomes a permanent resident, for citizenship purposes, on the day they enter Australia on the visa.