Can I Include Family Members in My Subclass 300 Application in 2026?
Yes — you can include members of the family unit in your Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) application when you lodge it, and in one narrow case you can add a dependent child afterwards. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) page, as at July 2026, family members who apply with you must be members of the family unit, meet the health and character requirements, and be outside Australia; a dependent child can be added after lodgement but only before a decision is made on the temporary visa. Once the visa is granted, nobody can be added to that application. This is general information about how the rules are published rather than advice for your situation, and the Department's current page is the final check before you act.
Who counts as a family member on a Subclass 300 application?
The Subclass 300 page itself does not spell out a list — it uses a single test: the person must be a member of the family unit of the main applicant. The detail sits in the Migration Regulations 1994. Clause 300.311 requires a family member to be a member of the family unit of the primary applicant and to apply at the same time; clause 300.312 requires the sponsorship to cover that person; and clause 300.321 requires the person to still be a member of the family unit at the time of decision, with the main applicant holding a Subclass 300 visa.
In practice this means the family group travels on the same application as you, not on a separate one. Dependent children are the category the Department names when it explains what can be added later, so a child you intend to bring is the clearest case; other relatives have to satisfy the same family-unit test at lodgement. For a family member under 18, clause 300.326 adds public interest criteria 4017 and 4018, which concern custody or guardianship consent and the best interests of the child — which is why the document checklist asks for proof of custody arrangements where relevant, alongside evidence of any dependants you have.
What conditions does each family member have to meet?
The conditions apply to each person individually, and they are the same three the Department lists for the main applicant's companions, plus sponsorship:
- Be outside Australia. You must be outside Australia when you apply, and family who apply with you must also be outside Australia. A child added after lodgement must likewise be outside Australia.
- Meet the health requirement. Health examinations are part of the process, and the Department states it cannot grant a visa without a valid health assessment.
- Meet the character requirement. That includes police certificates from every country where the person spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, military service or discharge records if applicable, and completed Form 80.
- Be covered by the sponsorship. You and anyone who applies with you must have a sponsor when you lodge and while you hold the visa.
Family members who are not coming to Australia may also have to meet the health and character requirement — the official page puts this as a possibility rather than an automatic rule, and departmental policy guidance notes a limited discretion where it would be unreasonable to require an examination from someone who is not applying.
One consequence is worth understanding before you lodge: departmental policy guidance describes the outcome as an all-or-nothing one under clause 300.226 — if a family member does not meet the family-unit or public interest criteria, the application cannot succeed as a whole.
Can I add a family member after I lodge?
For a dependent child, yes, up until a decision is made. The Department's step-by-step guide says to complete and attach Form 1436 – Adding an additional applicant after lodgement in ImmiAccount, and then notify the Department using the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. The child must be outside Australia, and the Department says it can grant the child a Subclass 300 visa if they are a member of the family unit and meet all other criteria for grant.
The post-lodgement route the official pages describe is written for a dependent child; they do not describe an equivalent route for adding other relatives after lodgement. If your child is born after you apply, that is a separate notification step — the pages direct applicants to the "You had a baby" process, followed by notice through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form.
What happens after the visa is granted?
The official page is blunt: you cannot add family members to your visa application after the Subclass 300 visa is granted. A family member who needs to travel later would have to look at other visa categories — the page refers readers to the Department's visa finder for options.
Two other things continue after grant. Family members must meet all visa conditions and obey Australian laws, and the birth of a child still has to be reported. The visa itself runs 9 to 15 months from the grant date, and if you marry and apply for a Partner visa (subclasses 820 and 801) before it ends, you pay less for that application.
What does it cost to include family members?
The Subclass 300 page confirms there is a fee for each family member who applies with you, and that the Department cannot process the application if the correct visa application charge is not paid. It directs applicants to the Visa pricing estimator to work out the total, including additional family members, and notes that the estimator does not cover health checks, police certificates or biometrics. No fixed amounts are published on that page, so the estimator is the only way to price your own case.
There is also a published concession. From 1 July 2026, a lower visa cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens who lodge a valid application, and family members are eligible for the lower cost too, based on the passport of the primary applicant. The countries named are the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
What documents should I prepare for each family member?
Identity evidence comes first: a birth certificate showing the names of both parents, or an accepted alternative such as a family book, government identity document, court-issued document or family census register; the passport pages showing photo, personal details and issue and expiry dates; a national identity card if held; and proof of any name change. You also need evidence of any dependants you have.
Documents that are not in English must be translated, with accredited translators used in Australia and, for overseas translators, their full name, address, telephone number and qualifications included in English. Everything should be scanned or photographed in colour, documents do not need to be certified, and each person on the application has a limit of 100 attached documents that cannot be increased.
Timing matters for two items: police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date for immigration purposes, and health assessment results are valid for 12 months from the date the examinations were completed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I include my parents or siblings in my Subclass 300 application?
The test on the official page is membership of the family unit, and the page does not list which relatives qualify; that definition sits in the Migration Regulations 1994. People who meet it can be included at lodgement, while the only category the Department names for adding someone later is a dependent child.
Does each family member need to be outside Australia?
Yes. The official page states that family who apply with you must be outside Australia, and the step-by-step guide repeats the same requirement for a child added after lodgement. Being outside Australia is not just a lodgement formality — it is part of what the visa criteria require.
Do family members who are not travelling to Australia still need health and character checks?
The official page says family members who are not coming to Australia might also have to meet the health and character requirement, so it cannot be assumed they are exempt. Departmental policy guidance treats the health criterion as applying to family members whether or not they apply, with a narrow discretion where requiring an examination would be unreasonable.
Can I add my partner's child to my application?
A family member must be a member of the family unit of the main applicant under clause 300.311, so the relationship is assessed against your application rather than your partner's. Where the child is under 18, public interest criteria 4017 and 4018 add questions of custody or guardianship consent and the child's best interests.
What if my child is born while my application is still being decided?
A birth is one of the changes the Department requires you to report, and the pages direct applicants to the "You had a baby" process and then to notify the Department through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. This is handled as a change in situation rather than as an ordinary addition of an applicant.
Can I add my child after my Subclass 300 visa is granted?
No. The official page states that family members cannot be added to the application after the Subclass 300 visa is granted, and points to the visa finder for other visa options. This is why the decision on who travels with you has to be settled before lodgement or, at the latest, before the visa is decided.