Which Police Certificates Do I Need for a Subclass 300 Visa in 2026?

Updated 2026-09-28 · General information, not migration advice · Run by the Arrivau team

You need a police certificate from every country where you spent a total of 12 months or more during the last 10 years, counting only from the day you turned 16 — and Australia counts as one of those countries if you spent that much time here. That is the rule as set out on the Department of Home Affairs' official Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) page, as of the July 2026 official page, and it is the whole test: not nationality, not current residence, not where your passport was issued. This article is general information about how that rule is worded, not advice about your own case; where your history is unusual, the official page and a qualified professional are the ones to rely on.

What documents does the character requirement actually ask for?

The Subclass 300 page lists the character documents in three parts:

A police certificate from every country where you spent a total of 12 months or more during the last 10 years since you turned 16.
Military service records or discharge papers, if you served in the armed forces of any country.
Form 80 (Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment), completed and attached to the application.

The requirement is not limited to the main applicant. The official eligibility section states that you and any family members aged 16 years and over who apply with you must meet the character requirement, and that the department might also ask for character information about family members who are not coming to Australia.

How does "a total of 12 months" work if I never stayed anywhere for a full year?

The operative word is total. The page does not ask whether you lived in a country for 12 continuous months; it asks whether your time in that country adds up to 12 months or more inside the counting window. Separate stays are added together, and the sum is what matters.

Three hypothetical applicants show how the arithmetic changes the answer:

Assume an applicant who spent seven months in one country in 2019 and five months in the same country in 2021. Neither stay reaches a year, but together they reach 12 months, which meets "12 months or more".
Assume an applicant who made four short work assignments of three months each to the same country across six years. That is 12 months in total, so the country is on the list even though no single trip was long.
Assume an applicant who spent 11 months in a country on one stay, spread across two calendar years. On the face of the rule as published, that stays under the threshold — and the official page does not explain how part-months or a few extra days are treated, so borderline totals are exactly where the wording matters most.

Which years are in the counting window?

Two limits run at the same time, and the narrower one wins:

The 10-year limit: you look back over the last 10 years.
The age-16 limit: time before your 16th birthday is outside the count entirely.

So if you turned 16 more than 10 years ago, the window is simply the last 10 years. If you turned 16 only six years ago, the window is those six years, because nothing before your 16th birthday is counted no matter how recently it happened. Moving the start of the window to your 16th birthday rather than to a fixed calendar date is what most often removes countries from the list — a childhood spent in a third country is not counted, while a university year at 19 is.

Do I need an Australian police certificate as well?

Yes, if Australia is one of the countries that reaches the threshold: the page says to provide an Australian police certificate if you have spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since you turned 16. The same cumulative logic applies — separate visits to Australia, such as a student year plus later working holiday months, are added together.

The department is specific about the type of certificate. It only accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police, and it does not accept standard disclosure certificates or national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police. A state police check obtained for an employer will not satisfy this requirement.

How long does each certificate stay valid?

For immigration purposes, police certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue, and the Subclass 300 page repeats this in two places: as a general statement about certificates, and in the section on gathering documents, where it notes you have the option to obtain them before you apply.

There is also a specific consequence attached to the Australian certificate. If more than 15 months has passed since your National Police Certificate was issued by the Australian Federal Police, new checks will be required to progress your application. That gap between the 12-month validity period and the 15-month trigger is the practical reason applicants who have lived in several countries tend to sequence their certificates rather than collect them all at once.

What if I served in the armed forces?

Military service records or discharge papers are requested if you served in the armed forces of any country. The official page states this without attaching a minimum period, a rank condition, or a link to the 12-month test — service and residence are separate items on the character list, so a country where you did military service can be relevant even if your time there never reached the 12-month threshold for a police certificate.

How do people get a certificate for a country they have already left?

The Subclass 300 page points to the department's "Offices outside Australia" page as the place to find how to obtain a police certificate. Two document rules from the same page then apply to whatever you receive:

Anything not in English must be translated. Translators outside Australia do not have to be accredited, but each translation must include the translator's full name, address and telephone number, and their qualifications and experience in the language, all in English.
Documents are scanned or photographed in colour, a multi-page document is saved as one file, and documents do not need to be certified.

What else sits alongside the police certificates?

Form 80 is the personal particulars form used for character assessment and is listed as part of the character documents, so it is filed with the certificates rather than instead of them. When attaching anything to ImmiAccount, the page advises labelling documents clearly, attaching a document only once even if it supports more than one point, and noting that up to 100 documents can be attached for each person on the application.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a police certificate from a country I only visited on holidays?

Only if your visits to that country add up to 12 months or more within the counting window. The rule is about cumulative time spent in the country, not about holding a residence permit, working there, or paying tax there.

I turned 16 six years ago — do I still count the last 10 years?

No. Time before your 16th birthday is excluded, so your window is the six years since you turned 16. A country you lived in as a child is outside the count even if that period is still inside the last 10 calendar years.

Can I use a state police check instead of an AFP certificate?

No. The department only accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police and does not accept standard disclosure certificates or certificates issued by Australian state or territory police.

What happens if my certificate expires while my application is being processed?

Police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date, and if more than 15 months has passed since an AFP National Police Certificate was issued, new checks will be required to progress the application. Because processing takes time, a certificate collected very early can end up needing to be redone.

Do my children need police certificates too?

The character requirement applies to you and any family members aged 16 years and over who apply with you, so accompanying children under 16 are not covered by the same document list. The department may still ask for character information about family members who are not coming to Australia.

I have lived in one country my whole life — is this simpler?

Yes. The list then normally comes down to that one country, plus Australia if you have separately spent a total of 12 months or more here in the last 10 years since you turned 16, plus military records if you served.