Family Migration Planning 2026: Including Dependants in a Subclass 300 Application

Yes — you can include members of the family unit in a Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) application when you lodge it, and you can add a dependent child after lodging but before the Australian Department of Home Affairs decides your application. Once the visa is granted, however, you cannot add family members to it. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official page for the Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300), as of July 2026, family members who apply with you must be members of the family unit, meet the health requirement, meet the character requirement, and be outside Australia. For anyone planning a family's residence and identity pathway as one coordinated move, the practical lesson is to include the accompanying family in the original application, because a later addition is either available only before the decision (for a dependent child) or unavailable altogether after grant, which forces a separate visa search. This article is general reference material rather than personalised professional advice, so where your family's facts differ, the official publication and a registered professional's opinion should govern.

Who counts as a family member for a Subclass 300 application?

The official page allows you to include "members of the family unit" in your application when you lodge it, and it separately refers to a "dependent child" whom you may add after lodgement but before a decision is made. The accompanying people are therefore those who satisfy the family unit concept used by the Department and, in the case of children, the dependency test. The official page does not set out the full legal definition of "member of the family unit"; the Migration Regulations 1994, as reflected in the Department's PAM3 guidance, treat a family member as someone who is a member of the family unit and is covered by the sponsorship. Because definitions can turn on details such as dependency, age and custody, check the official page or the Regulations for the precise test and treat the latest official information as controlling.

If the primary applicant holds a valid passport from an eligible Pacific Island country or Timor-Leste, a lower visa application cost has applied from 1 July 2026, and family members are also eligible for that lower cost based on the primary applicant's passport. The official page lists the specified countries, which include Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

What conditions must accompanying family members meet?

Each family member who applies with you must satisfy the same core conditions described on the official page:

• be a member of the family unit (and, where added later, be a dependent child);
• meet the health requirement, which means completing health examinations — the results are valid for 12 months and the Department cannot grant a visa without a valid health assessment;
• meet the character requirement, which includes police certificates from every country where the person spent a total of 12 months or more during the last 10 years since turning 16, together with Form 80, and an Australian police certificate if they spent 12 months or more in Australia in that period;
• be outside Australia when they apply, and, for a child added before decision, be outside Australia at that point;
• have a sponsor, because "you and anyone who applies for the visa with you must have a sponsor when you lodge your application and when you are on this visa," and the sponsorship must cover the family member.

The official page also states that family members who are not coming to Australia might still have to meet the health and character requirement. From the Migration Regulations 1994 and PAM3 guidance, a family member under 18 may additionally need to satisfy public interest criteria on custody and the best interests of the child (PIC 4017 and 4018).

Can you add a dependent child after lodging, but before a decision?

Yes, but only up to the point of decision. You can add a dependent child after you lodge your application and before the Department decides your temporary visa. The required step is to complete and attach Form 1436 (Adding an additional applicant after lodgement) in ImmiAccount, then let the Department know through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. The child must be outside Australia, and the Department can grant the child the Subclass 300 visa only if they are a member of the family unit and meet all other criteria for grant.

Timing matters in another way. If you marry before the Department decides your application, you are no longer eligible for the Subclass 300 visa. In that situation, the official page directs you to update ImmiAccount, provide a registered marriage certificate, request consideration for a Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309) and Partner (Migrant) visa (subclass 100), and ask to withdraw the Subclass 300 application; if you do not withdraw, the application will be refused because you no longer meet the eligibility requirements.

What happens if a child is born while the application is pending or after grant?

If a child is born after you apply but before a decision, you must tell the Department. The official process is to update ImmiAccount and notify the Department using the Partner Processing Enquiry Form, and to follow the "You had a baby" guidance. The birth of a child is one of the changes you are required to report while the application is being decided.

If a child is born after the Subclass 300 visa has been granted, you still need to let the Department know, but the newborn cannot be added to the granted visa. More broadly, the official page states that you cannot add family members to your visa application after the Subclass 300 visa is granted; to find a visa for a family member, you must explore visa options. Suppose an applicant lodges the application without including a relative who is only identified later — after grant, that relative's migration becomes a separate visa matter rather than joining the original family application.

Why is one family, one application the safer planning assumption?

The Subclass 300 visa is temporary: it lets the holder live, work and study in Australia for 9 to 15 months from the visa grant date, with travel in and out as often as wanted while it is valid. To settle in Australia, the main applicant applies for a Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) after marrying and before the Prospective Marriage visa ends, and the official page notes you pay less for that Partner visa if you apply before the Subclass 300 visa expires. If a family member was not granted the Subclass 300 visa because they were not included, they cannot be added later, so their pathway becomes a separate application with its own timing and cost — the "split" that family planning at the outset is meant to avoid.

There is also a risk dimension on the main application itself. PAM3 guidance summarising the Migration Regulations 1994 (subclause 300.226) describes an "all-or-nothing" outcome: if an included family member does not meet the family unit or public interest criteria, the main applicant cannot be granted the visa. While the official page is the controlling source for current requirements, this means including someone whose position is uncertain can put the main applicant's own grant at risk, which is a further reason to confirm each person's eligibility before lodging rather than adding people without checking. On cost, the official page confirms there is a fee for each family member who applies with you, and the Visa pricing estimator is the tool for working out the total; health checks, police certificates and biometrics are additional, and the application fee is not refunded if the application is refused.

How do you actually include family members when lodging?

You must apply online and while outside Australia, selecting "Family" and then "Stage 1 – Partner or Prospective Marriage Visa" in ImmiAccount; family members who apply with you must also be outside Australia. Each person needs identity and relationship documents, such as a birth certificate showing the names of both parents, the photo and personal details pages of a current passport, and evidence of any dependants. Documents must be translated into English where needed and scanned or photographed in colour, and you can attach up to 100 documents for each person on the application — a limit that cannot be increased, although further documents can be attached to other applicants on the same application.

Each family member must be included in the sponsorship, and you give your transaction reference number (TRN) to your sponsor so the sponsorship can be lodged. You then organise health examinations and character documents such as police certificates and Form 80 for every accompanying person, and pay the correct visa application charge for the main applicant and each family member, because the Department cannot process the application if the correct charge is not paid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I include my child in my Subclass 300 application?

Yes, if the child is a member of the family unit, you can include them when you lodge the application. You can also add a dependent child after lodging but before the Department makes a decision, by attaching Form 1436 in ImmiAccount and notifying the Department through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. The child must be outside Australia and meet all other grant criteria.

Can I add a family member after my Subclass 300 visa is granted?

No. Once the Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) is granted, you cannot add family members to that visa application. If a family member still needs a visa, you have to explore other visa options for them, which means their migration is handled separately from your original application.

Do accompanying family members need to be outside Australia?

Yes. The official page states that family members who apply with you must be outside Australia, and a dependent child added before decision must also be outside Australia. The main applicant must equally be outside Australia when applying for this visa.

What health and character rules apply to family members?

Each family member must meet the health requirement and the character requirement. In practice, this means health examinations, with results valid for 12 months, and police certificates from countries where they have spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, together with Form 80. Family members who are not coming to Australia might still have to meet these requirements.

What should I do if my child is born while my application is still being processed?

You must tell the Department about the birth by updating ImmiAccount and letting the Department know through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form, and by following the "You had a baby" guidance. If the child is born after the visa is granted, the newborn cannot be added to the Subclass 300 visa, but you still need to notify the Department.

Does including a family member put my own application at risk?

According to PAM3 guidance summarising the Migration Regulations 1994 (subclause 300.226), if an included family member does not meet the family unit or public interest criteria, the main applicant cannot be granted the visa — an "all-or-nothing" outcome. Because the official page controls current requirements, confirm each person's eligibility and the latest official information before lodging.

References

Australian Department of Home Affairs — Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300) Federal Register of Legislation — Migration Regulations 1994