Bring a Relative to Care for You: Carer Visa and Options

To bring a family member to Australia to care for you, you sponsor them for the visa whose rules match why they are coming: a medical need for care, family ties, financial dependence, being your parent, or a visit of a few months. The Carer visa (subclass 116 from overseas, subclass 836 in Australia) is the only permanent route built on your own care need, and it applies when Bupa Medical Visa Services certifies that you need direct help with daily life for at least 2 years and the Department is satisfied that no other Australian relative or care service can reasonably give that help.

Route	Who can come	What you must show or do	Permanent?	Department estimate for a new application
Carer (116 or 836)	Any "relative" under regulation 1.03: child, parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or a step-relative of those kinds	A Bupa certificate (rating of 30 or more, need of 2 years or more), care not reasonably available, and sponsorship on Form 40	Yes	12 years
Remaining Relative (115 or 835)	Your brother, sister, step-sibling or child whose near relatives all live in Australia as citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens	An assurance of support, which is mandatory	Yes	22 years
Aged Dependent Relative (114 or 838)	A single older relative who has depended on you for basic needs for at least the last 3 years	An assurance of support, which is mandatory	Yes	22 years
Parent visas (103, 143, 173, 804, 864, 884)	Your parent	The balance-of-family test (regulation 1.05)	Yes, or temporary first for the contributory 173 and 884	33 years (Parent and Aged Parent), 15 years (Contributory Parent)
Sponsored Parent (Temporary) (870)	Your parent, step-parent or parent-in-law	Approval as a Parent Sponsor	No: 3 or 5 years at a time, 10 years in total	Not queued
Visitor (600)	Any relative	A genuine temporary visit, sometimes with a sponsor and a bond	No: generally 3 months, up to 12	Not queued

Which visa lets a relative come to care for you?

The visa that lets a relative come to care for you is the Carer visa, and it is the only one built around your care needs; the others rest on family ties, dependence or being a parent. The estimates in the table come from the Department of Home Affairs' queue pages for Other Family visas and parent visas, updated 9 July 2026, and they change each program year.

Your side and the carer's side have to fit together. You sponsor and are assessed; the relative applies, and must be willing and able to give the help you need, not only be available to come.

When is the Carer visa the answer?

The Carer visa is the answer when three things are true of you: your condition is assessed and rated, your need lasts at least 2 years, and no one else in Australia can reasonably give the care. Regulation 1.15AA of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) sets out each one.

Your condition is assessed and rated. A Bupa certificate records a medical condition that impairs your ability to manage the practical side of daily life, with a rating of at least 30 under the Impairment Tables, the threshold set by the instrument IMMI 17/126.
Your need lasts at least 2 years. The certificate confirms that, because of the condition, you need direct help and will keep needing it for at least 2 years.
No one else can reasonably give the care. The help cannot reasonably come from another relative of yours who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, or from welfare, hospital, nursing or community services in Australia.

The person needing care does not have to be you. It can be a member of your family unit, such as your child (regulation 1.15AA(1)(b)(i)), and then you must also have a permanent or long-term need for help to give that care yourself (regulation 1.15AA(1)(d)).

What are the Other Family visas?

The Other Family visas are three capped and queued permanent visas: Carer, Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative. They share one cap each program year and one set of queue rules under Ministerial Direction 103, which is why the Department's About other family visas page groups them.

Carer (116 or 836), for a relative who gives care you cannot otherwise get.
Remaining Relative (115 or 835), for a brother, sister or child whose near relatives all live in Australia, under regulation 1.15.
Aged Dependent Relative (114 or 838), for a single older relative who has depended on you for food, shelter and clothing for at least the last 3 years.

The same Department page also lists the subclass 461 and 151 visas, but those are not capped or queued. How the Carer visa differs from the Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative visas on who qualifies, the assurance of support and the wait is set out in a separate comparison.

Can your mother come to care for you permanently?

Your mother can come to care for you permanently on a Carer visa if your condition meets the Carer test, because a parent counts as a relative, and you sponsor her. A parent is a "close relative" under regulation 1.03. If she is overseas she applies for a subclass 116, and if she is already in Australia on a substantive visa without a "no further stay" condition such as 8503, she can apply for a subclass 836.

She must also be willing and able to give "substantial and continuing assistance" of the kind you need (regulation 1.15AA(1)(f)). A parent visa is a separate permanent route that rests on her being your parent, not on your care, and it requires her to pass the balance-of-family test.

Can your parents come to look after your children?

Your parents cannot come on a Carer visa just to look after your children, because the Carer visa is not granted for general family support; it fits only when a child in your family unit has a qualifying medical condition and you need help giving that care. Form 40 says it directly: "A person cannot be sponsored for a Carer visa to provide general family support."

Three other routes fit childcare. A parent visa is permanent. The Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa allows 3 or 5 years at a time and lists "providing care for grandchildren or other minor relatives in a domestic environment" among the unpaid work its holders may do. A visitor visa covers a stay of months. The permanent and temporary parent routes are compared in the guide to Carer visa vs parent visas.

Can a relative visit to help for a while?

A relative can visit to help for a while on a Visitor visa, generally for 3 months and at most 12 months per grant, or, if they are your parent, on a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa for 3 or 5 years at a time. The Department's Tourist stream page adds that a parent or step-parent of an Australian citizen or permanent resident may get a visitor visa valid for more than 12 months.

The choice of stream matters later. A visitor visa in the Sponsored Family stream always carries condition 8503 "No further stay", which stops your relative applying for an 836 in Australia unless the Department waives it. Every short-stay option is set out in the guide asking whether there is a temporary Carer visa.

What do you, the relative who needs care, have to do?

You, the relative who needs care, have to do three things: sponsor the carer, be assessed by Bupa Medical Visa Services, and show that care is not reasonably available in Australia.

Sponsor the carer. You, or your spouse or de facto partner who lives with you, sign Form 40. The sponsor must be 18 or over and settled, which the Department takes to mean usually at least 2 years of lawful residence, and for an 836 the law also requires the sponsor to be usually resident in Australia (clause 836.213). You undertake to give the carer support, accommodation and financial help for 2 years (regulation 1.20(2)(a)). Sponsorship costs nothing to lodge, and a sponsor usually cannot be changed once Form 40 is in. Everything you sign, prove and promise is covered in the guide to the relative's side of the application.
Be assessed. You send Bupa a signed Statement of Assistance and a signed medical report less than 12 months old, then attend an examination in a clinic or at home. The result is the Carer Visa Assessment Certificate, whose opinion on the medical questions binds the Department (regulation 1.15AA(3)).
Show that care is not available. Form 47OF asks, at questions 69 to 71, about your other relatives in Australia, whether they can help, and which welfare, health, nursing or community services have been approached.

Your relative's own criteria come on top of yours, from health and character to the Australian Values Statement, and each one is checked in order in the requirements guide.

If you cannot sign for yourself, the only alternative sponsor the law names is your spouse or de facto partner who lives with you. No provision was found for a guardian or an attorney to sign Form 40 on your behalf, which makes this a question for a registered practitioner before anything is lodged. Every part of the Carer visa, for you and for the relative who comes to care, starts from the Carer Visa Australia guide.

A registered professional makes a grant more likely

On a Carer visa most of the proof comes from you, the relative who needs care: the sponsorship, the Bupa certificate and the evidence that no one else can help, and a gap in any one of them refuses your relative's application. A registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner prepares your side of the file with the carer's, and advises when you cannot sign for yourself, which makes a grant more likely, though never certain.

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