Sponsor criminal records and Subclass 445 in 2026: what partner visa families must know
Yes — a sponsor's criminal record can bring down a child's application on its own. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official page for the Dependent Child visa (subclass 445), if the sponsor and/or their spouse or de facto partner have a pending registrable offence charge, the Department will refuse the sponsorship and the visa application. Where the sponsor or their partner has a registrable offence conviction instead, sponsorship can be approved only in very limited circumstances.
This catches partner visa families out because the child is not the person with the record. A subclass 445 application is built on top of the parent's temporary Partner visa, and the child must be sponsored by the same person who sponsored or nominated the parent's permanent Partner visa application. The child's own eligibility is rarely the problem; the sponsor's history is.
Why does the sponsor's record decide a child's subclass 445 case?
The sponsorship is a separate decision that has to be made before the visa can be granted. The official page states plainly that the Department "must approve the sponsorship before the visa can be granted", and it sets out the two refusal-related outcomes above: a pending registrable offence charge leads to refusal of the sponsorship and the visa application, while a conviction leaves only very limited scope for approval.
In regulatory terms, sponsorship of this kind is dealt with under regulation 1.20KB of the Migration Regulations 1994, which departmental policy guidance summarises as requiring refusal where the sponsor has an unresolved or convicted registrable offence, and clause 445.224 requires the sponsorship to be approved and still in force at the time of decision. Legislative wording is periodically amended, so the current text on the Federal Register of Legislation should be treated as the final reference.
The practical effect is that the criminal record question is resolved before anyone looks at the child's dependency, health or travel consent. If the sponsorship fails, the application fails with it.
Whose criminal record is actually checked?
Not just the sponsor's. The official page refers to "the sponsor and/or their spouse or de facto partner (if any)". That matters in blended families: a sponsor with a clean record can still be caught by the pending charge or conviction of the person they are married to or in a de facto relationship with.
Two other points follow from the structure of the visa:
- The sponsor must be the same person who sponsored or nominated the parent's permanent Partner visa application — the parent cannot simply substitute a different relative with a cleaner record.
- The parent must still hold a qualifying temporary visa. The child must be dependent on a parent who holds a Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309), a Partner visa (subclass 820), or a subclass 445 visa. Once the parent's permanent Partner visa is granted, the subclass 445 pathway is no longer the relevant one.
What is the difference between a pending charge and a conviction here?
The distinction on the official page is between a charge that is outstanding and a conviction that has already been recorded.
A pending registrable offence charge is treated as decisive: the stated outcome is refusal of both the sponsorship and the visa application. There is no described exercise of discretion in that scenario. A registrable offence conviction is described differently — sponsorship "can only" be approved in very limited circumstances, which means approval is possible in principle but narrow in practice.
What counts as a registrable offence is not spelled out on the subclass 445 eligibility page; the page directs readers to its separate material on measures for the protection of children. Because that concept carries its own definition and scope, it should be read in the Department's current published wording rather than assumed from the everyday meaning of "serious offence".
Can another person sponsor the child instead?
Only in narrow situations. Departmental policy guidance on clause 445.223 describes cases where the original nominator or sponsor has died, or the relationship between the visa-holding parent and that sponsor has ended, and the visa-holding parent has requested consideration under the family violence or parental arrangements provisions. In those situations the visa-holding parent may be able to sponsor the child themselves, and there is also a limited chain where a subclass 445 holder's own parent — the child's grandparent — may act as sponsor.
Any new sponsorship is still a sponsorship. The same criminal record rules apply to whoever steps into that role, and a new sponsorship also has to be approved and remain in force at the time of decision.
What else does the child have to satisfy?
Beyond the sponsorship, the official page lists the criteria that apply to the child:
- Dependency and age. The child must be under 18, or over 18 and financially dependent on the parent who holds the temporary Partner or Dependent Child visa.
- Health. The child, and any dependent children applying with them, must meet the health requirement; family members not travelling to Australia may also have to meet it.
- Character. A child aged 16 or over must meet the character requirement, and other dependent children applying with them may also be asked to.
- Australian values. A child aged 18 or over must have read, or had read to them, the Life in Australia booklet and sign the Australian Values Statement.
- Debt to the Australian Government. Any debt must be repaid or covered by a formal arrangement to repay.
- Consent to travel. For a child under 18, the visa will only be granted if everyone who can legally decide where they live has given written consent, or the home country's laws allow the child to leave, or granting the visa is consistent with any relevant Australian child order.
- Best interests of the child. The visa might not be granted if it is not in the best interests of an applicant under 18.
There is also a timing obligation on the family: the child must apply to be added to their parent's permanent Partner visa application once the subclass 445 visa is granted. Losing the 445 because the sponsorship was refused does not create an alternative route by itself.
This article is general information only and is not personalised advice about your family's situation; how these rules bite depends on the sponsor's actual record and on the wording in force at the time, so the Department's current official pages should be your reference point.
How should families think about the sequence?
The dependency on the parent's temporary visa, the identity of the sponsor, and the sponsor's record are all settled before the child's own evidence is weighed. That ordering is why a family can spend months assembling birth certificates, school records and consent documents and still fail on a question that sits with the sponsor rather than the child. The rules themselves are public, so the position is knowable in advance rather than a matter of waiting to see what a case officer decides.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a charge that has not been heard in court still block the sponsorship?
Yes, on the official page's wording. A pending registrable offence charge against the sponsor, or their spouse or de facto partner, results in refusal of the sponsorship and the visa application. "Pending" is the operative point — the outcome of the charge is not waited for.
What if the offence led to a conviction rather than a pending charge?
The official page says sponsorship can then only be approved in very limited circumstances. Approval is not ruled out in the way it is for a pending charge, but the scope described is narrow.
Is only the sponsor's record checked?
No. The stated test covers the sponsor and/or their spouse or de facto partner, if they have one. A de facto partner's record is treated the same way as a spouse's.
Could a grandparent or the other parent sponsor instead?
Only in limited cases described in departmental policy guidance on clause 445.223 — principally where the original sponsor has died or the relationship has ended, and the visa-holding parent has requested consideration under the family violence or parental arrangements provisions. Any replacement sponsor still has to satisfy the same criminal record rules.
Does the child's own record matter?
Yes, separately. A child aged 16 or over must meet the character requirement, and other dependent children included in the application may also be asked to meet it. That is in addition to the sponsor's record, not a substitute for it.
If the sponsorship is refused, does the child's application continue?
No. The official page states that a pending registrable offence charge leads to refusal of the sponsorship and the visa application together, and the sponsorship must be approved before the visa can be granted in any event.