Subsequent Entrant Visa – A Guide to Stay in Australia With Your Family
A subsequent entrant visa allows you to live, study and work in Australia with your family members who are already immigrating. This type of visa allows you to join your family who is the main primary applicant for any visa and has already established themselves in Australia at a later date. A subsequent entrant visa has specific processing times that could differ on primary applicants.
Subsequent entrant visa allows the main primary applicant to add their parents or another family to their application; it’s not available to any temporary visas that already had their pathway to any condition of another permanent resident visa.
There are some subsequent entrant visas for students and workers that want to study and live in Australia. Check below if you are eligible for the Subsequent entrant visa.
What is a Subsequent Entrant Visa?
Subsequent entrant visa is a type of visa that is specifically designed for you as a family member of an eligible temporary visa holder. Family member here refers to:
- De facto partner/ spouse
- Children (biological/adopted) between age 18-23
- Dependent of the children above
Your initial plan might be to not join your family to migrate to Australia. However, due to some changes in your circumstances, you must migrate with your family member but at the same time your family member is only a temporary resident in Australia.
In this case, you may be able to lodge a Subsequent Entrant Visa for yourself. The subsequent entrant visa is available for below visa subclasses:
- Student Visa (subclass 500)
- Temporary Graduate Visa (subclass 485)
- Temporary Skill Shortage (subclass 482)
- Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494)
If your family member holds one of the visa above, you may join your family members to migrate to Australia.
We will explain in detail the requirements for each visa below.
Requirements and Cost for 500 Visa Subsequent Entrant
You can apply for a subsequent entrant visa 500 to join your family in Australia. Before applying for this visa, you must make sure that your family member has declared you in the application.
But what if I was not planning to migrate with them in the first place?
Even though your initial plan is to not migrate with them, they must still declare yourself as their family member in the application. You can’t apply for this visa if they did not declare you in their application.
You are considered a member of the family unit if you are:
- the spouse or de facto partner of the main applicant
- dependent child of the main applicant’s spouse or de facto partner. You must be below 18 years old.
Other than meeting the above condition, you must also meet the health and character requirements as well as showing yourself as a genuine temporary entrant.
The cost for visa 500 subsequent entrants is AUD 700. The cost might change in July every year.
Subsequent Entrant Visa 485 Requirements and Cost
Subsequent entrant visa 485 is for the family members of the visa 485 main holder. It allows you to stay in Australia for as long as the validity period of your family member’s visa.
There are no specific requirements for the 485 visa subsequent entrant. To lodge this application, you can be in or outside Australia, but you must not be in the immigration clearance.
You can still be granted the visa even after your family member’s visa 485 is granted
There is no additional cost for the Subsequent Entrant visa 485.
482 Visa Subsequent Entrant Requirements
482 Visa is a temporary work visa with a basis of sponsorship from eligible Australian companies. If you plan to join your family member who holds a valid 482 visa, you can consider applying for a subsequent entrant visa. Before applying for the visa, make sure you have met the following requirements:
- have a partner (spouse or de facto partner) or parent who holds valid 482 visa or 494 visa
- be nominated by the sponsor of the main applicant
- have adequate health insurance
- meet health and character requirements
- hold a valid visa if you are onshore
The cost for 482 visa subsequent entrants would depend on the main applicant’s visa stream (short term, medium term or labour agreement stream).
However, if the main applicant holds 457 visa, then the subsequent entrant visa cost would be:
- base application charge – AUD2,690
- additional applicant charge for applicants 18 and over – AUD2,690
- additional applicant charge for applicants under 18 – AUD675
494 Visa Subsequent Entrant Requirements
The requirements for 494 visa subsequent entrant are as follow:
- be under 45 years old
- have a family member who holds a valid 494 visa
- be nominated by the sponsor/employer of the family member
- have at least Functional English level
- meet the character and health requirements
The cost for the 494 visa subsequent entrant is AUD 4,240. However, if you could not meet the Functional English level, you will be required to pay an additional cost of AUD 4,890.
The cost might change in July every year.
How do I know that I am eligible for subsequent entrants?
It usually depends on you as the subsequent entrant applicant and your relationship with the main applicant, like your spouse or parent. It is required that;
- The dependents may be legally married or in a de-facto relationship with the primary applicant or be the child of the primary applicant.
- You will also need to meet standard visa application requirements, including health and character checks (such as a police clearance certificate), English language proficiency test results (such as IELTS or TOEFL) and any other documents required by the department or requested during the visa application process.
If you wish to check your eligibility, please get in touch with us via email at visa@onederland.com.au or phone at 1300 827 159.
You have prepared enough, then what do you need to do more?
Actually, the critical thing is to prepare to demonstrate your relationship with the main primary visa applicant; we all know it is such a long journey to go, as described below:
- The physical evidence of your relationships with your primary main applicant,
- You also need proof of financial support for the applicant (such as bank statements or a letter of undertaking from the main applicant)
What if I’m in a de facto relationship?
You also need to prepare the evidence documents. If you are in a de facto relationship with the primary visa holder, you will need to provide documents such as joint bank statements, lease agreements, utility bills, or other evidence of cohabitation.
- Prepare other documents: Depending on the circumstances of your relationship, you may be asked to provide additional documents, such as divorce papers, death certificates or other relevant documents.
You must be a holder of your valid passport or other travel documents. This is the basic but the most important one whenever you apply for any visas in Australia (even in other countries).
It’s important to keep in mind that the requirements and process for demonstrating your relationship with the primary visa holder can change and vary.
