An overseas police certificate for an Australian visa comes from each country where you lived for at least 12 months in the past 10 years, and the Department of Home Affairs asks for it when it assesses your character. For a Carer visa, a subclass 836 applicant sends the AFP National Police Certificate and overseas certificates that the same 12-month test calls for with the paper application, while a subclass 116 applicant waits until the Department asks, and every certificate is valid for 12 months from its issue date.
Which police certificates does an Australian visa need?
An Australian visa needs two kinds of police certificate: a National Police Certificate from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for time spent in Australia, and a police certificate from each overseas country that meets the 12-months-in-10-years test. The Department of Home Affairs' character requirements page calls the overseas document "a police certificate (also called a penal clearance certificate)" and says it is usually requested if you "lived in any of the listed countries, including Australia, for at least 12 months in the past 10 years".
For a Carer visa, the test is written into the subclass pages. The Department's subclass 836 page asks for Australian police certificates "if you have spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since you turned 16", and for an overseas certificate "from every country" on the same count. The applicant, and every family member aged 16 or over who applies with them, must meet the character requirement, and the Department "might also ask that other family members meet the requirement".
Anyone who served in the armed forces of any country also sends "military service records or discharge papers".
Who needs an AFP National Police Certificate for a Carer visa?
An AFP National Police Certificate is needed by every Carer visa applicant, and every family member aged 16 or over, who has spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since turning 16. The certificate must be a complete-disclosure certificate from the AFP, because the 836 page says: "We do not accept standard disclosure certificates or national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police."
The Department's character page says that on the AFP application you "MUST select Code 33 - Immigration/Citizenship", list every name you have been known by, and give no fingerprints. The AFP's national police checks page sets the fee at A$56 per application (seen 24 September 2026), plus a card surcharge online, and says the AFP completes "most NPCs within 48 hours". The certificate arrives as a digital PDF by email, and a posted hard copy is available on request.
Each family member aged 16 or over needs a certificate of their own, which is one of the costs of including your partner and children in a Carer visa application. A subclass 116 applicant who lived in Australia before, for example on a student or visitor visa, needs one too once that time reaches 12 months.
Which overseas police certificates are needed?
An overseas police certificate is needed from every country, including your home country, where you spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since you turned 16. The Department's character page says each certificate must cover "the time you turned 16 up to the issue date" or "the whole time you were in the country", and a new certificate is needed "if you have returned to the country after your previous certificate has expired".
Each country has its own issuing authority, and the Department's Services outside Australia page shows how to apply in each one. Ship workers apply to the country whose flag the vessel sails under, and anyone who served over 12 months in a country's military needs that country's certificate as well.
Counting the months is easier with your international movement records, which list every date you left or entered Australia since 1981, though not the countries you visited.
When should a 116 applicant get police certificates?
A subclass 116 applicant gets police certificates only after the Department asks in writing, because the subclass 116 page says: "Do not arrange for police certificates until we ask you to." The 836 page works the other way and lists AFP and overseas certificates under "Character documents" to send with the application.
| Compared | At lodgement | After release from the queue |
|---|---|---|
| Subclass 836 (in Australia) | Send AFP and overseas certificates with Form 47OF | Expect a new request, because the lodgement certificates will have expired |
| Subclass 116 (outside Australia) | Do not arrange them | Get them when the Department asks |
After an application is released from the queue, the Department says it "will send you a request to undertake character checks and visa medical examination (with the HAP ID)", according to its Other Family Visa Processing Centre form page. The Department's estimate for a new Carer application is 12 years (Other Family visas queue page, as at 31 May 2026), so a certificate sent at lodgement is long out of date by the time of that request.
How long is a police certificate valid for a Carer visa?
A police certificate is valid for a Carer visa for 12 months from its issue date, and the same 12 months applies to the AFP certificate and to overseas certificates. The 836 page says "For immigration purposes, Australian police certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue", and the character page says "Police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date."
The AFP leaves the acceptance period to the organisation that asks for the certificate, so the Department's 12 months is the rule that counts. A certificate that expires before the Department decides the application needs replacing when the Department asks for it.
Do you send original police certificates or copies?
Carer visa applicants send original police certificates, uncertified, because the Department says: "Do not certify police certificates. You need to send us the originals." Every other supporting document in the paper application goes as a certified copy.
The Department has not said whether a printout of the AFP's digital certificate counts as an original for a paper file.
Asking the AFP for the posted hard copy avoids that question. Keep a copy of every certificate you send.
What if a country will not issue a police certificate?
When a country will not issue a police certificate in time, tell the Department in writing before the deadline and attach proof that you asked, through ImmiAccount or the Other Family Visa Processing Centre online form. That form's guidance says that if you need information from another organisation, you must "ask them for it before the due date" and "give us proof that you have asked them for the information using this form".
The deadline matters, because the same guidance says: "If you do not send us information in the timeframe we have given you, we can decide the application with the information we have at that time." No Department page says what evidence it accepts in place of a certificate a country will not issue, so this guide suggests no substitute; follow the Department's written instruction.
What else is checked for character on a Carer visa?
Two more things are checked for character on a Carer visa: the personal particulars forms, and the character answers in the application itself.
- Form 80 and Form 1221. An 836 applicant completes Form 80 and Form 1221, which set out 10 years of addresses and travel, a full work history and any past visa refusals.
- The character questions in Form 47OF. Part I asks whether anyone in the application has ever been charged or convicted, been subject to a protection order, or been involved in activities of concern, so those answers have to be consistent with the police certificates.
The Carer visa sets no age limit or an English test, but character sits among the applicant's own criteria with health and debts to the Australian Government. Because each certificate lasts 12 months and a Carer application waits years, plan renewals around the queue, the cap and your likely year rather than the lodgement date.
The certificates belong to the character step of a Carer visa lodged on paper, and every other step is set out in the Carer Visa Australia guide.
A registered professional makes a grant more likely
A police certificate from the wrong issuer, one that has expired, or one that arrives after the Department's deadline lets the Department decide on the information it already holds. In a queue measured in years, a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner tracks which certificates will lapse before release and answers the character request on time, which makes a smooth final assessment more likely. Neither can promise the outcome.
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Form 80 and Form 1221: personal particulars for Carer visa applicantsForm 80 maps ten years of your life for the character check.
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How to apply for a Carer visa: paper lodgement, step by stepEight steps, two checklists and one envelope to Perth: the whole paper lodgement.