An important feature of Australia’s Family migration program is the Child visa. There are two forms of Child visas – the offshore subclass 101 Child visa, and the onshore subclass 802 Child visa. In the 2026-27 Permanent Migration program planning levels, 3000 places have been allocated for Child visas, including both onshore and offshore visas. It is listed as a footnote to the planning levels table that “Delivery of the Partner and Child visa categories are demand driven, with indicative planning levels only”. The reference to “demand driven” reflects the constraints of section 87 of the Migration Act 1958, which prevents a limit being placed upon the number of Child visas granted to dependent children each financial year, at least until the dependent child turns 20 years old.

Current processing times for the onshore and offshore Child visas are:

Onshore: 50% of applications processed in 21 months, 90% of applications processed in 30 months
Offshore: 50% of applications processed in 23 months, 90% of applications processed in 33 months

These processing times are shockingly long. They are also incongruous with the concept of a “demand-driven” visa subclass. Conceptually, something that is “demand-driven” should not have long processing times, because supply will be increased or decreased based on trends in demand. Supply is reactive to demand in a “demand-driven” system. Assuming these processing arrangements are categorised according to publicised processing times and not divided by the age of a Child visa applicant, these processing arrangements are inevitably an unlawful limit upon the grant of Child visas.

Yet, multi-year processing times for Child visas have persisted since at least 2022. Since that year, the number of places allocated to Child visas has been stable at 3,000, until it was increased this financial year to 3,500 (which is not nearly enough to clear the backlog). Ongoing caseloads for Child visa applications before the Department have consistently exceeded the number of places that the Department offers to process.

The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Australia is a signatory, states that the best interests of a child is the paramount consideration in all actions concerning children, including those taken by administrative authorities. The Convention further states that signatories shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from their parents against their will unless that separation is necessary for the best interests of the child.

It is difficult to see how Australia’s system of child visas is anything but in blatant breach of these Convention provisions. Long processing times for offshore applicants can mean a prolonged period of separation between parent and child. It is hard to see any good policy purpose behind long processing times, especially one that would outweigh Australia’s obligations under the Convention. It means Australia is accepting a cohort of children each year who have suffered from the stress of separation for no apparent reason. Long onshore processing times creates uncertainty and unnecessary stress for parents. In both instances these unconscionably long processing times mean that some children are denied their right to live with their family because, even though they are dependent children at the beginning of the visa process, they grow up and are no longer dependent by the time a decision is made on their visa application.

These matters are of fundamental importance, as is recognised by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 16(3) of the Universal Declaration states that “The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

While the severe and lasting adverse impacts of these processing arrangements are evident, it is difficult to conceive of a benefit that is being achieved. Child visas do not currently form a large cohort of applicants in terms of number, and applicants must be dependent children with Australian parent sponsors so their impact upon housing supply in Australia would be negligible.

Despite this, the recent policy address of the Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Tony Burke, made no commitment to address processing times for Child visas. Rather, the Minister’s announcement that visitor visas will be subject to Condition 8503 “No Further Stay” is likely to adversely impact future Child visa applicants. The reason for this is that a significant cohort of onshore Child visa applicants apply after arriving in Australia on a visitor visa. In all but extraordinary cases, this will no longer be possible once the announced change of Condition 8503 – “No Further Stay” being imposed on visitor visas comes into effect. We are likely to see a significant drop in the number of onshore Child visa applications in the future, and an increase in the number of offshore Child visa applications. This is concerning, as more people are being pushed into a visa subclass that has been de-prioritised under Ministerial Direction No. 117, creating additional stress and hardship for Australian families.

Christopher Shen, Solicitor

Kinslor Prince Lawyers

Child Visas and Australia’s Breach of Human Rights