About Carer Visa Australia: Sources, Updates and Disclaimer

Updated 24 September 2026 · Checked against the Migration Act 1958 and immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, 24 September 2026

Carer Visa Australia is a plain-English guide to the Australian Carer visa, subclasses 116 and 836, and it is not the Department of Home Affairs, a law firm or a migration practice. Enquiries sent through its form go to Australian Migration Lawyers, the trading name of Australian Legal Partnership Pty Ltd (ACN 656 815 539), the registered law firm that replies, and that referral is how the guide is funded.

116 and 836Carer visa subclasses covered

6 monthsLongest gap between checks of a page

gov and eduThe only websites the guide links to

Who runs this Carer visa guide?

This Carer visa guide is published privately, as a plain-English information service about one visa: the Carer visa, subclasses 116 and 836.

It is not published by a government body, and it does not speak for one. It is not a law firm or a migration practice, and nothing on it is legal advice or a statement by the law firm that receives enquiries.

How is this guide funded?

This guide is funded by enquiries: when a reader sends the enquiry form, the enquiry goes to Australian Migration Lawyers, and the firm may offer the reader paid services.

That is the guide's only source of income. It carries no advertising, no affiliate links and no paid listings. A reader who sends an enquiry is under no obligation to go ahead, and any paid work is agreed directly with Australian Migration Lawyers, in writing.

Is this the Department of Home Affairs?

This is not the Department of Home Affairs: it is a private guide, and nothing on it is an official statement or a decision about any application.

The Department decides Carer visa applications, and its own information is on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au. This guide cannot check the progress of an application, contact the Department for anyone, or change a decision. The Department's channel for questions about a lodged Other Family application is its Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form.

The guide is also not connected with the Administrative Review Tribunal, Services Australia, or Bupa Medical Visa Services, the provider that carries out the carer assessment.

Where does the information come from?

The information comes from three kinds of source: the law, the Department's own pages and forms, and other government bodies.

The law. The Migration Act 1958 (Cth), the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) and the instruments made under them, read on the Federal Register of Legislation. Examples are LIN 24/040, which names the carer assessment provider, and IMMI 17/126, which sets the impairment rating of 30.
The Department of Home Affairs. The subclass 116 and 836 pages on immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, Forms 47OF and 40, the price list, the queue-release updates and the Migration Program reports.
Other government bodies. Services Australia, the Administrative Review Tribunal and the Australian Federal Police.

Where no government source exists, such as the steps and fees of the carer assessment, the guide names the provider, Bupa Medical Visa Services, as the source and marks it as a non-government source. Its website is not linked.

Citations sit inside the sentence, so a reader can see where each fact comes from. Links leave the site only for government and education websites. Where the Department's page and the law say different things, the page points out the difference and follows the law.

How are Carer visa pages checked and updated?

Carer visa pages are checked in four steps, and every page shows the date it was last updated and the sources it was checked against, with no more than 6 months between checks.

Source every fact. Each figure, date and rule is traced to its source, and the date that source was read is recorded.
Re-check on a schedule. Every page is checked again at least every 6 months.
Re-check on events. Some changes trigger an immediate check: the visa charges that change on 1 July, the yearly cap instrument, the Department's queue-release updates, new ministerial directions, and the Administrative Review Tribunal's fee indexation.
Log the change. Each change is recorded with its date in the log of Carer visa news and changes, so a reader can see what moved and when.

Is this legal or migration advice?

This guide is not legal or migration advice: it gives general information about the Carer visa and does not assess anyone's case.

Under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), preparing or advising on a person's visa application or sponsorship is immigration assistance (section 276), and an unregistered agent who gives it breaks section 280. This guide does not give it. It explains the rules in general terms so that a family can understand the process and the questions to ask.

Every family's facts are different. An Australian migration lawyer makes a successful application more likely. No one can make it certain.

What happens to a Carer visa enquiry?

A Carer visa enquiry goes from the form to Australian Migration Lawyers, which reads it and replies to the reader directly.

Australian Migration Lawyers is the trading name of Australian Legal Partnership Pty Ltd (ACN 656 815 539), the registered law firm. It replies by email to the address given in the form, and any further help is agreed with the reader. The services and the estimated fees for any paid work are put in writing before that work starts.

The form, what to include and how details are handled are on the page for asking a migration lawyer to look at your case. Why a migration lawyer makes a grant more likely is covered in the guide to getting a migration lawyer to review your Carer visa case. The overview of both subclasses is on Carer Visa Australia.

An Australian migration lawyer makes a grant more likely

This guide explains the rules; it cannot see the facts that decide one family's Carer visa, such as the wording of a doctor's report or why a sibling cannot help. An Australian migration lawyer who reads those facts makes a successful application more likely, though no one can promise a grant.

Ask about your case