Proving You Are a Relative for a Carer Visa

You prove you are a relative for a Carer visa with a chain of full birth certificates running from you to the Australian relative, plus a marriage certificate wherever a step-relationship or a change of name sits in the chain. A parent or child needs 1 certificate, a brother or sister 2, a grandparent 2, and an aunt, uncle, niece or nephew 3, because each document must name the person who links to the next.

Relationship	Documents	The link that must appear
Parent and child	The child's full birth certificate	The parent named on it
Brother or sister (full or half)	Both siblings' full birth certificates	At least one parent in common
Step-brother or step-sister	Both birth certificates, plus the parents' marriage certificate or de facto evidence	The marriage between the two parents
Step-parent and step-child	The child's birth certificate, plus the parent's marriage certificate or de facto evidence	The current marriage or de facto relationship
Grandparent and grandchild	The grandchild's and the linking parent's birth certificates	The middle generation
Aunt or uncle and niece or nephew	The niece's or nephew's birth certificate, their parent's, and the aunt's or uncle's	The grandparent the two siblings share
Adoptive relationships	Adoption papers, plus the birth certificates for the rest of the chain	The adoptive parent, treated as the parent (reg 1.14A(2))
Spouse or de facto partner	Marriage certificate or de facto evidence	The relationship itself

How do you prove you are a relative for a Carer visa?

You prove you are a relative for a Carer visa by sending certified copies of the civil documents that connect you, generation by generation, to the Australian relative. The carer's side is in Form 47OF (design date 07/26), whose Part M checklist asks for "evidence of your relationship to your sponsor". The relative's side is in Form 40 (design date 09/21). It asks for official documents such as birth certificates "showing full names of parents", marriage certificates, death certificates and adoption certificates.

The Department's subclass 836 page adds family status certificates and family books, if they are officially issued and maintained.

The chain always ends at the Australian relative, because regulation 1.15AA(1)(a) requires that "the applicant is a relative of the resident". That holds even when the person who needs care is a member of that relative's family unit, or the sponsor is the relative's cohabiting partner. The citizenship or residence status of the person needing care is proved separately.

Which documents prove each Carer visa relationship?

Each Carer visa relationship is proved by the documents that name the shared parent, or the marriage that creates it. The table at the top of this page sets out every relationship regulation 1.03 allows.

Two rules decide whether a chain works. First, every birth certificate must be the full version that names both parents, not a short extract that gives only the child's details. Second, each certificate must name the person who appears on the next one, so the reader can follow the line from you to the relative without a gap.

Form 47OF Part G treats half, step and adopted brothers and sisters as brothers and sisters, so a half-sibling chain needs only one parent in common. Cousins are not relatives for a Carer visa, so no chain of documents helps a cousin qualify.

What if names differ across your Carer visa documents?

If names differ across your Carer visa documents, send a certified copy of the evidence for each change of name and list every other name on Form 47OF (question 14). The Department accepts:

a marriage or divorce certificate;
change-of-name documents from an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages or the relevant overseas authority;
documents showing other names you have been known by.

Different spellings produced by transliteration from another script need the same care. Form 47OF asks for your name in your own language or script (question 12), which helps the Department match the documents.

The stakes are high. The Carer visa pages warn that if you cannot prove your identity, the Department will refuse the application and may not grant you, or the family members listed on it, another visa for 10 years.

What if a birth certificate is unavailable for a Carer visa?

If a birth certificate is unavailable for a Carer visa, say so in writing and send the identification pages of a document the Department accepts instead. Form 47OF Part M lists a passport, a family book showing both parents' names, a government identity document, or a court document that verifies your identity. Failing those, it asks for "other acceptable evidence".

Substitutes when a birth certificate cannot be obtained

A written statement that your country of birth does not issue birth certificates, or that yours cannot be obtained.
A family book or family census register showing both parents' names.
A secondary school certificate.
Passport identification pages or a government identity document.
A court document verifying your identity.

The Department's evidence of birth guidance names the school certificate, family book extracts and family census registers.

Where documents are unreliable or missing, the Department may suggest DNA testing. Form 1259i (design date 10/24) states that DNA testing is not mandatory, is not required by law, and is paid for by applicants for migrant visas. Only tests arranged to the Department's requirements are accepted.

Do step-relationships need a marriage certificate?

Yes, step-relationships need a marriage certificate or evidence of the de facto relationship, because regulation 1.03 defines a step-child as the child of the parent's current spouse or de facto partner. The only exception is narrow. It covers a former partner's child under 18 for whom the step-parent holds a parenting order, or guardianship or custody.

A step-relationship therefore generally depends on the marriage behind it. If that marriage has ended, the step-relationship usually ends with it for Carer visa purposes. The chain must show the relationship still exists, not only that it once did.

Does a birth certificate need an English translation?

Yes, a birth certificate in another language needs an English translation, and both the original-language document and the translation go in as certified copies. A translator in Australia must be accredited by NAATI, the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters. A translator outside Australia needs no accreditation. Each translation they make must give, in English, their full name, address and telephone number, and their qualifications and experience in the language.

For an Australian-born relative, the Department does not accept a commemorative birth certificate. Use the standard certificate issued by the state or territory registry.

Which relatives can be the carer in the first place?

The relatives who can be the carer are the close relatives, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews listed in regulation 1.03, with their step equivalents. The documents on this page prove the relationship. They do not make an ineligible relationship eligible.

The Australian end of the chain has its own evidence, covered in proving the sponsor's status as a citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. Being a relative is only half of the carer test: the carer must also be willing and able to give substantial and continuing assistance, which the family-member criterion page explains. The relationship documents travel in the same envelope as Form 47OF and the rest of the application. The rest of the visa is mapped from Carer Visa Australia.

A registered professional makes a grant more likely

A chain with a missing link, such as a sibling's certificate that does not show the shared parent or a step-relationship without the marriage behind it, leaves the relative criterion unproved and the application open to refusal. A registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner maps the chain before lodgement, which makes it more likely the relationship is accepted the first time. No adviser can guarantee the result.

Ask about your case

Proving you are a relative for a Carer visa: birth certificates and the chain