Child Visa 101

Finally I am able to put together some sort of information about Child Visa application. This is not comprehensive guide, this is just what I did for my daughters visa last year. 

Introduction:

Child Visa is a permanent residency visa for the children of Australian permanent residents. This is a paper application and cannot be done online at the moment. The process and documentation required are quite simple. I am just listing out what I did and what documents I submitted. This does not cover complex cases like divorce or non migrating parent cases. People who have information about the same can contribute to the thread.

Forms Required to be filled out:

1. 47CH - Application for migration 

This is a straightforward form where you enter all the information about your child. Answer the questions as you understand. Don't over complicate things.

2. 40CH - Sponsorship for a child to Migrate

This form as the name indicates is the information about the parent who is sponsoring the child. 

3. Form 1229 - Consent to grant an Australian visa to a child under the age of 18 years

This form needs to be submitted along with the above two application forms even if both the parents are migrating along with the child. Both migrating parents have to sign this form.

If you have complex cases like divorce etc, you might need to include other documentation such as proof of legal custody, Stat declaration from the non migrating parent etc. I don't have much information on that so will not be including that information as part of this instruction. People with experience can share their thoughts on the same.

Supporting Documents

1. Two passport size photograph of the child (Please follow the instructions on the immi website for instructions) - This is the hardest bit if you have an infant. Our daughter was just two weeks old when we tried to take her picture. It was really difficult as she wouldn't open her eyes for the camera (understandably so  ). The best method is put a white cloth on a table or a bed, make him/her lie down and take a picture. This is what we did. I don't think immigration could be too strict about a photograph of a few weeks old baby.

2. Copy of Baby's passport - So after the baby is born you would need to apply for the passport obviously. This is needed before you can apply for the child visa.

3. Payment for the visa - This is the tricky part. This differs by the country, so you would be better off looking at the following page to see what type of payment Australian high commission accepts. In India it was either cash or Demand Draft.

4. Birth Certificate - This is required for the application as a proof that you are the legal parent of the child. Copy of the birth certificate needs to be submitted along with the application.

5. Proof that the sponsor is a permanent resident/Photo ID of sponsor and spouse - This can be proved by copy of your passport. I included the grant letter also along with the passport copies of my wife and I.

6. Proof of Funds - Included 3 months of bank statement. There isn't any specific amount mentioned on the DIBP website.

There may be other documentation required if your child is adopted or step child etc. Please review the DIBP requirement for the same.

You need to submit all the above documentation along with the required payment to DIBP and then wait for the VO to contact you for further instructions. 

Depending on which country you are applying in you need to find out the application submission process. In India we needed to go to the VFS location to submit the application in person. In India, postal submission is not accepted, so we needed to go to our local VFS office to personally submit the documents.

Once the VO picks up your application you will be asked for the following:

1. Police checks for both you and your spouse - This will be for any country you resided for more than 12 months in the last 10 years. We lived int he USA, so had to provide the FBI clearance. 

2. Medicals for your child - This is very simple process, you can find panel physicians from the DIBP website and provide the HAPID to book an appointment. It took just few minutes to complete the process at the doctor's office. 

Once we submitted all the required documents, the grant was immediate. The day when we sent the final document, we got the grant notice on the same day. The overall process took just over a month for us. The delay was only from our side as we had to try and get FBI check done from overseas and it took some time. Getting appointment with a panel physician took time and then there was Christmas/New Year break. So I would consider the overall process to be less than a month for us. This is from my experience and what I did for my daughters Child Visa, people can correct or add anything I may have missed out. It has been 7 months since I did this and I am trying to recollect as much I could in putting this up.