Carer visa (subclass 116)

As the visa applicant, you must,

• be outside Australia when you apply and when DOHA decides your application
• be sponsored by your relative or their partner for your first two years in Australia
• provide care for a relative, or a member of their family who lives with them, who has no reasonable access to care in Australia

• You must be outside Australia when you apply and when DOHA grants your application.
• You must be willing and able to provide substantial ongoing care and continuing support or assistance to your relative or their family member. To show this, you should fully understand your sponsor's medical condition and what their care needs are.
• You must be sponsored by an eligible sponsor. DOHA must approve the sponsorship.
• You must meet all the health and character requirements.
• You must not have any debt to pay to the Australian government.
• ​If you are 18 years of age or older, you must: have read, or had explained to you, the Life in Australia book AND sign an Australian Values Statement that confirms you will respect the Australian way of life and obey Australian laws.

Note: If you have had a visa cancelled or previous application refused, you may not be granted a visa.

• stay in Australia indefinitely
• work and study in Australia
• enrol in Australia's public healthcare scheme, Medicare
• sponsor your relatives to come to Australia
• travel to and from Australia for five years
• apply for Australian citizenship, if eligible

• To sponsor your relative for this visa, you or your partner must be settled in Australia, 18 years of age or older, and either: an Australian citizen OR an Australian permanent resident OR an eligible New Zealand citizen.
• You must be the applicant's near relative or relative. If you are the applicant's relative's partner, you must live with the relative.
• You or your family member must have obtained or be in the process of obtaining a medical certificate from Bupa Medical Visa Services. The certificate must include a statement that you or your family member has a medical condition which: causes physical, intellectual or sensory impairment AND means you or your family member will need help with practical aspects of daily life for at least two years.
• You or a family member who lives with you must be unable to reasonably get the care you need in Australia, whether from another relative or welfare, hospital or community nursing service.
• Your sponsorship covers the main visa applicant and any family members who apply for the visa with them.
• There is no cost to apply to sponsor a visa applicant, but you must agree to financially support the main visa applicant and their dependents for their first two years in Australia.
• Sponsorship obligations last for two years from the date when the applicant first enters Australia on the visa.

• You can include members of the family unit in your application when you apply. You can also add them to your application at any time before DOHA makes a decision. For this visa, your family members are your dependent child and stepchild.
• Your relative is your partner, child, parent, brother, sister, stepchild, step-parent, stepbrother or stepsister OR your grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or step equivalent.
• DOHA assess applications for this visa in 2 stages:
  • Check eligibility and either add the application to the queue or refuse it.
  • Continue assessing the application when a place becomes available and make a decision.
• DOHA might reduce the main applicant's second instalment (AUD 2,065) to nil if you can show that paying the second instalment is likely to cause you or the person you are caring for severe financial hardship. The second instalment charge of anyone applying for the visa with you will not be reduced.