Family members who are not migrating: can they still be asked for health and police checks on a 2026 subclass 173 application?
Yes. On a subclass 173 (Contributory Parent (Temporary)) application, the Australian Department of Home Affairs states that you and any family members who apply with you must meet its health requirement, and that it "might also ask that other non-migrating family members meet the requirement"; the identical wording appears under the character requirement. This comes from the Department's official Contributory Parent (Temporary) visa (Subclass 173) page. Everything below is general information and not personalised legal or migration advice, so please weigh your own family situation against the official pages or with a qualified professional.
What exactly does the requirement say about people who are not migrating?
The eligibility criteria separate two groups. The first is certain: you, and any family members included in the application, must meet the health requirement and the character requirement. The second is discretionary: the Department "might also ask that other non-migrating family members meet the requirement", for both health and character.
That single word "might" is the whole point. It means there is no automatic obligation on a relative who is staying behind, but there is also no guarantee that their status will never matter. If the Department does ask, the request carries the same weight as any other request made during processing.
Can non-migrating relatives be asked for police certificates too?
Yes, potentially, and police certificates are explicitly part of the character requirement. On the document checklist for this visa, the Department says it might ask you for character documents, including police certificates, and adds the instruction that you should not arrange a police check until it asks you to.
That instruction applies across the application. Booking police certificates early, for migrating or non-migrating relatives, does not speed anything up, because certificates can fall outside the validity window the Department accepts and simply have to be done again.
Which non-migrating relatives are likely to come up?
The eligibility page does not define "non-migrating family members", so it is safer to work from what the official steps do spell out:
- Family members aged 18 or over. Form 47A (Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over) must be completed by each member of your family aged 18 or over, and the page states this applies even if they are not migrating.
- Children and step-children counted for eligibility. The balance of family test already considers all your children and step-children, whether they are Australian-based, overseas-based, or not part of this application.
- Dependent relatives. Dependent children over 18 can still be included in an application up to certain age and dependency conditions set out on the visa page.
In practice, assume that any adult child or dependent relative you disclose on the forms — migrating or not — could later be brought into the health or character assessment.
Why would anyone look at a relative who is not moving to Australia?
The obvious assumption is that assessment follows migration, so relatives staying behind are outside scope. Form 47A shows that is not how the paper application is built: every family member aged 18 or over is captured on their own form regardless of migration intent, alongside the main Form 47PA application and the sponsor's Form 40.
Reading those pieces together gives a plausible reason: the Department wants a complete record of the family unit before deciding, which lets it exercise the discretion described in the eligibility criteria later if something relevant emerges. The official pages do not explain the reasoning, so treat this as an interpretation of how the requirements fit together rather than a stated Department position.
How this could affect you if you're lodging in 2026
Suppose an applicant has two adult children: one is the sponsoring child settled in Australia, and the other will stay in the applicant's home country and is not joining the application. This is a hypothetical scenario used to show how the rule works, not a real case.
In that scenario, the non-migrating child would still need to complete Form 47A as part of the lodgement, because the paper application applies that form to every adult family member whether they are migrating or not. If the Department later exercises its discretion, that child could be asked to complete health examinations or provide character documents, and the application would need those steps finished before it can move to a decision.
When do the checks actually happen?
Health examinations come after lodgement, not before. In the "after you apply" steps, the Department says it will let you know when you need to complete health examinations. The same logic runs through the character documents note: wait for the request rather than arranging the certificate yourself.
So there is no advantage in pre-booking anything at lodgement time. What you can do early is make sure the forms for adult family members are complete and accurate, and keep those relatives' contact details current, so a later request can be acted on quickly.
What if a non-migrating family member cannot meet the requirement?
This is where caution is warranted, because the outcome depends on criteria rather than on the visa page alone. Under the Migration Regulations 1994, the public interest criteria for this subclass include health criterion 4005 and character-related criteria within the 4001–4021 range, and separate clauses apply to secondary applicants; failing to satisfy them can lead to refusal. Since those provisions are technical and subject to amendment, the wording currently in force should be confirmed against the official Regulations and the Department's health and character pages.
What can be said plainly from the visa page is this: a request directed at a non-migrating family member is still a request your application has to answer. Ignoring it, or responding with documents arranged before you were asked, leaves the application incomplete. Tell the Department promptly if your family composition changes — including the birth of a child — since new family members can widen the group being considered.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do non-migrating family members have to do health checks on a subclass 173 application?
Not automatically. The Department's eligibility criteria say they must be met by you and anyone applying with you, and add that the Department might also ask other non-migrating family members to meet them. If the Department does ask, the request forms part of your application.
Should we arrange police certificates for everyone now, just in case?
No. The document checklist for this visa says the Department might ask for character documents including police certificates, and specifically instructs you not to arrange a police check until asked. Certificates obtained too early may no longer be usable when the request arrives.
Who has to complete Form 47A?
The step-by-step page states that each member of your family aged 18 years or over must complete Form 47A (Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over), and that this applies even if they are not migrating. Completing it is therefore part of lodging, independent of whether health or character checks are later requested.
When will we be told to do health examinations?
After lodgement. The "after you apply" steps state that the Department will let you know when you need to complete health examinations, and that biometrics may be requested separately. There is nothing to organise on this front at the time you post in the paper application.
Is the subclass 173 application made online?
No. The Department's page says online lodgement is not available for temporary Contributory visa applicants and that you must apply on paper using Form 47PA, with the sponsor completing Form 40. Applications must be sent by post or courier and cannot be lodged in person.
Can family members be added after the application is lodged?
Possibly, before a decision is made. The Department says you might be able to add family members using Form 1436 (Adding an additional applicant after lodgement), together with evidence of the relationship and a copy of the family member's passport.