Subclass 117 Sponsorship: What an Australian Relative Must Promise in 2026

On the Australian Department of Home Affairs official page for the Orphan Relative visa (subclass 117), the answer is blunt: the child must be sponsored by an eligible sibling or step-sibling, grandparent or step-grandparent, aunt, uncle, step-aunt or step-uncle — and "we must approve the sponsorship before the visa can be granted" (as at the August 2026 version of that page). What the sponsor is promising is recorded on Form 40CH Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia, one of the two paper forms lodged together with Form 47CH. Under the sponsorship requirement in the Migration Regulations 1994 the child must be sponsored by an eligible relative, and the undertaking recorded on Form 40CH covers accommodation and financial support for the child for two years from their first arrival; that undertaking is not a formality: the decision-maker has to be satisfied the sponsor can actually deliver it.

Because the two-year undertaking lives in the sponsorship form and the department's internal guidance rather than on the public eligibility page, the wording of the current Form 40CH is the version to rely on, and official pages should be checked for the latest position before lodging.

Who is allowed to sign the sponsorship?

The regulations describe two routes. The Australian relative can sponsor in their own right, or their spouse or de facto partner can sponsor instead — but only if that partner is at least 18, is a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and is living with the Australian relative.

The same basic identity and age tests apply to the relative themselves: they must be 18 or over and be "settled" in Australia as a citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. "Settled" is a defined term in the regulations, not a matter of impression, so evidence of established lawful residence matters. What the department expects to see for that is set out in its current guidance, and that guidance — not a general idea of "living here for a while" — is what should be checked.

Being a relative is not the same as being an eligible relative. The step-relationships (step-sibling, step-grandparent, step-aunt, step-uncle) are separately listed, so blended families can qualify, but the categories are closed: a cousin, a family friend or a more distant connection is outside the list no matter how close the care relationship is.

What exactly is being promised?

Two things, for a defined period:

Accommodation — the child needs somewhere to live after arriving, and the sponsor is the person who commits to providing it.
Financial support — day-to-day support for the child's needs, so that the child is not expected to rely on Australian social security payments to get by.

The period is two years from the child's first entry. In practice this is why a sponsor's household situation is relevant at all: how many people already live in the home, whether there is room, and whether the income coming in covers another person. The regulations also attach welfare-arrangement criteria to applicants under 18, which is a separate but closely related question about how the child will be cared for.

A useful way to think about the difference: the sponsorship undertaking is about the sponsor's own household resources, while the department's "best interests of the child" assessment is about whether the placement is right for the child. Both need to hold up.

How is the sponsor's ability to deliver assessed?

The assessment is an evidence exercise, not an interview of intentions. The decision-maker looks at whether the sponsor's income, savings, housing and existing commitments make the two-year promise credible. Documents of the kind that speak to this — payslips or tax records, bank statements, tenancy or home ownership records, employment details — are the natural material, and the current official guidance should be consulted for the specific list.

Capacity is judged in context, and the most important context is how many people the sponsor has already committed to. If the same sponsor is sponsoring more than one child at the same time, the assessment has to cover all of them at once. A promise that looks comfortable for one child can look thin for three, and this is the situation where applications most often run into trouble.

There is no employer or business test in this visa, because there is no employer involved. The whole financial question sits on the sponsor as an individual or household.

Is this the same as an Assurance of Support?

No, and mixing them up is one of the common confusions. The sponsorship undertaking on Form 40CH is always part of a subclass 117 application. An Assurance of Support is a separate instrument that the regulations allow the department to require; where it is required, it has to be accepted by the Secretary of the department responsible for social services before the visa can be granted. It is not an automatic requirement in every case.

Where it does come up, it is usually because there is a question about whether the child might need to draw on Australian social security. The practical difference for a sponsor is that an Assurance of Support brings another assessment — and potentially another person, if a third party has to be brought in — on top of the Form 40CH undertaking.

Can the sponsorship fail even if the relationship is genuine?

Yes. Three routes matter most.

First, child protection. The department's official page states that if the sponsor, or their spouse or de facto partner, has a pending registrable offence charge, the sponsorship and the visa application will be refused. A registrable offence conviction can only be approved in very limited circumstances. This is a hard constraint on the sponsorship approval power, and it applies to the sponsor's partner as well as the sponsor.

Second, capacity. An undertaking the sponsor plainly cannot keep is not an undertaking the department will accept, and a failed sponsorship blocks the visa regardless of how strong the child's own case is.

Third, timing. The sponsorship has to be approved before the visa can be granted, and it has to be approved and still in force at the time of decision. It is not something that can be sorted out after the child's case is otherwise ready.

What does this mean for the rest of the application?

The sponsorship has to cover everyone in the application. Where the child has dependent children of their own applying with them, the regulations require the sponsorship to extend to those secondary applicants, which loops back to the same capacity question: one sponsor, several people, one assessment.

The application itself remains a paper application, lodged together — Form 47CH by the child and Form 40CH by the sponsor — to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth, with the application charge paid before posting. The child must be outside Australia both when applying and when the decision is made. If the sponsorship is refused, the refusal reaches the visa as well, because grant is not possible without an approved sponsorship in force.

This is general information about how the sponsorship rules fit together, not advice about any particular family's circumstances, and the department's current official pages and the current Form 40CH should be treated as the final reference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the sponsorship promise legally binding on the sponsor?

The undertaking is the basis on which the department approves the sponsorship, and the visa cannot be granted without that approval. How the undertaking is treated after the child arrives is a matter for the regulations and current official guidance, so sponsors should read the Form 40CH wording itself rather than relying on a summary.

How long does the sponsor have to support the child?

The undertaking covers accommodation and financial support for two years from the child's first arrival in Australia. Because the period is fixed by the sponsorship form, the current Form 40CH is the document to check for exact wording.

Can the sponsor's spouse or partner sign Form 40CH instead?

Yes, in the situation the regulations describe: the spouse or de facto partner is at least 18, is a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and lives with the Australian relative. The partner then carries the same undertaking and the same assessment.

Does the sponsorship cover the child's own children?

It has to. Where dependent children apply with the main applicant, the regulations require the sponsorship to cover those secondary applicants, which means the sponsor's capacity is assessed against everyone in the application at once.

Is an Assurance of Support required for every subclass 117 case?

No. It is a separate instrument that the department may require; where it is required, it must be accepted by the Secretary of the department responsible for social services before grant. The Form 40CH undertaking is required in every case.

Can the sponsorship be approved after the visa is granted?

No. The department must approve the sponsorship before the visa can be granted, and the sponsorship must be approved and still in force at the time of decision.

Does a step-relationship count for sponsorship?

Yes. Step-siblings, step-grandparents, step-aunts and step-uncles are separately listed as eligible sponsors. Relationships outside the listed categories, such as cousins, are not eligible however close the care arrangement is.