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Pathway

Australia Adoption Visa

Australia Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Subclass 102 lets an eligible child adopted, or being adopted, outside Australia become a permanent resident. The adoption must meet Australian rules, and the child must remain under 18 and outside Australia when applying and when the visa is decided. Check whether citizenship by adoption is available first.

Age
Under 18 at adoption, visa application, and decision
Sponsor
An eligible adoptive or prospective adoptive parent, approved by Home Affairs
Adoption process
Must meet a recognized intercountry, Hague, or defined private-overseas-adoption route

Summary

The Adoption visa (Subclass 102) is a permanent visa for a child adopted, or being adopted, outside Australia by an eligible adoptive or prospective adoptive parent. The child must be outside Australia when the application is submitted and when Home Affairs decides it.

This route can cover an intercountry adoption involving an Australian state or territory central authority, a qualifying Hague Convention arrangement between two countries other than Australia, or a private overseas adoption that meets the specific rules, called an expatriate adoption. It is not enough that an overseas adoption was lawful in that country; the adoption must also satisfy Australian migration rules.

Before applying for a visa, check whether a full Hague or recognized bilateral adoption finalized overseas instead allows the child to apply directly for Australian citizenship by adoption.

Applying for an Adoption visa
  1. Confirm the recognized adoption process Ask the relevant Australian adoption authority and check citizenship by adoption first.
  2. Check age, location, and sponsor requirements Gather adoption, custody, consent, identity, and parent-status records.
  3. Submit the visa application using current instructions The child must remain under 18 and outside Australia at decision.

Visa approval does not validate an adoption that fails the adoption or child-protection rules.

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Eligibility

The child must have been under 18 when adopted and must still be under 18 both when the visa application is made and when Home Affairs decides it. The child must be adopted, or in the process of being adopted, by the sponsoring parent.

The recognized adoption pathways include:

For an expatriate adoption, at least one adoptive parent must normally have lived outside Australia for more than 12 months immediately before the visa application. The residence must not have been arranged to avoid Australia's intercountry-adoption system. The adoption must follow the child's home-country law, give the adoptive parent full and permanent parental rights, and end the former parents' legal ties in the way the visa rules require.

An eligible adoptive or prospective adoptive parent must sponsor the child, and Home Affairs must approve the sponsorship. Child-protection checks apply to the sponsor and, where relevant, the sponsor's partner. The child and included family members must satisfy applicable health, character, government-debt and best-interests requirements.

What This Route Allows

Subclass 102 gives the child Australian permanent residence. The child can live, work and study in Australia indefinitely, enroll in Medicare if eligible, and later seek Australian citizenship if the citizenship rules are met.

The visa normally lets the child leave and return as a permanent resident for 5 years after approval. Permanent residence can continue after that, but returning from overseas generally requires a Resident Return visa or other valid permission to return as a permanent resident.

What This Route Is Not

Home Affairs does not arrange or approve the adoption itself and does not provide letters of no objection. A visa grant cannot repair an adoption that fails the relevant adoption law or child-protection process.

A private overseas adoption is not automatically acceptable just because the country is a Hague Convention member. Home Affairs recommends independent legal advice in Australia and in the child's country for expatriate adoptions. It also states that Adoption visa applications cannot be accepted for children adopted in Pakistan.

This visa is different from citizenship by adoption. A child adopted under a full Hague or recognized bilateral process finalized overseas may be able to obtain citizenship without first holding Subclass 102. A simple Hague adoption finalized later in Australia, or an expatriate adoption, will often need the visa route.

Next Steps

  1. Ask the relevant Australian state or territory central authority to classify the adoption process.
  2. Confirm the child will remain under 18 through the expected decision period; there is no age protection simply because the application was submitted before 18.
  3. Check whether citizenship by adoption is available before preparing a visa application.
  4. Gather the adoption order or proposed-adoption authority, adoption compliance documents, identity and custody records, and proof of the sponsor's citizenship or residence status.
  5. For an expatriate adoption, document the parent's genuine overseas residence, purpose, full parental rights and compliance with the child's home-country law.
  6. Follow Home Affairs' current paper-application instructions. Since 23 July 2025, eligible Child visa applicants can import a paper application into ImmiAccount for later management, but the official page still controls how to submit a valid application.

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Other routes in Australia.

Sources