Bringing your child to Australia on a partner visa — subclass 101/802 and what to know

You’re about to lodge a partner visa to join your husband or wife in Australia — and you have a child from a previous marriage. The immediate questions: can the child come, by which route, and at what extra cost?

The short answer: yes — through two routes: adding the child to your partner application as a dependant, or lodging a separate child visa (subclass 101/802) after your own visa is sorted. But before comparing routes, let’s name the biggest obstacle plainly — usually not the money, not the forms, but the consent of the child’s other biological parent in Vietnam.

Route 1: adding the child as a dependant on the partner application

The child can be included as a dependant in your 820 or 309 — the whole family travels on one application, one timeline. This is usually the cleanest route if the child qualifies as a dependant at lodgement.

• Dependency conditions: under 18; a child over 18 generally has to show ongoing dependency on you (typically considered up to a prescribed age limit where financially dependent and not married — check the current rules for the detail).
• Fees: each dependant adds to the main application charge — indicatively around AUD 4,685 for a dependant aged 18+ and around AUD 2,345 for a child under 18 (check the Department’s current fee tables before lodging; fees adjust each 1 July).
• Children can sometimes be added after lodgement at certain processing stages — but including them from the start is always cleaner.

Route 2: a separate 101/802 child visa — once the parent has a visa

If the child can’t come in the first wave (paperwork with the other parent unresolved, mid-school-year, circumstances not ready), they can be sponsored later on a child visa: 101 lodged outside Australia, 802 lodged inside.

• Fees: from AUD 4,040 (2026–27 rates).
• Conditions: under 18, or 18–25, still dependent, studying full-time and not married; the sponsor is the parent holding a valid visa/PR or their partner — details per the official pages.
• This route isolates risk: your partner application proceeds without being held up by the child’s unfinished paperwork.

The most important issue: the other parent’s consent

This is where files get stuck most often, and it deserves planning before you even lodge the partner application. Australia does not grant a visa for a child to leave a country while the other parent’s rights remain legally unresolved. You need one of these document sets:

• Written consent from the other biological parent for the child to migrate to Australia — properly executed and certified;
• A divorce judgment or court order granting you custody and the right to determine the child’s place of residence;
• A death certificate, or other legal evidence that no one else holds decision-making rights.

Plan early for the hard scenarios: the other parent is uncontactable (gone for years, whereabouts unknown) — you’ll need legal advice in Vietnam to resolve it through the courts first; the other parent is uncooperative — negotiation or court procedures both take months. Without this piece of paper, everything else in the child’s file simply waits.

The child’s health — PIC 4007 has a waiver door

Children undergo health examinations like the adults in the file. The key point: partner and child visas apply the PIC 4007 health standard — which has a waiver mechanism. If your child has a condition or disability assessed above the cost threshold, the file is not automatically finished — there is an opportunity to present your circumstances and seek a waiver. We cover this in detail in Australian visa health examinations and the health waiver. Don’t self-reject your child’s application over a diagnosis — it is assessed case by case.

Schooling once the child arrives

• Children on partner/child applications can attend school in Australia; public school fees differ by state and by the visa held while waiting — during the bridging visa stage some states charge fees, some waive them; check with the education department of the state you’ll live in.
• Once the child holds PR (the 100/801 stage, or a granted 101/802), they attend public school as a permanent resident.
• Plan enrolment around the Australian school year (starting late January) — mid-year school transfers are normal in Australia, but have translated school records ready.

Which route — a quick decision frame

The bottom line

Bringing a child from a previous marriage to Australia alongside a partner visa is done all the time — the key is not the fees or the forms but consent/custody paperwork prepared early and the right file structure (together or staged). Every family is different — a cooperative or uncooperative other parent, the child’s age, how urgent your timeline is. Book a free assessment with VisaAffairs to map the route for both parent and child before lodging anything.

References

• Department of Home Affairs — Child visa (subclass 101) — official offshore child visa requirements.
• Department of Home Affairs — Child visa (subclass 802) — official onshore child visa requirements.
• Department of Home Affairs — Fees and charges — current fee tables.

This article is general information current at publication. Australian migration rules change regularly — check the date and contact VisaAffairs before relying on it for your own case. Book a consultation for advice on your specific circumstances.