Do I need a lawyer or a migration agent?

Many visa applications are lodged directly. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer helps with complex or refused matters.

What is a Section 48 bar?

It limits the visas you can apply for while unlawfully in Australia after a refusal or cancellation. A professional can map your options.

Can I appeal a refused visa?

Often yes — the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviews many decisions, but strict time limits apply.

Subclass 461 character requirements and police certificates in 2026

Which police certificates a Subclass 461 applicant needs in 2026, and how to self-check the 12 months in 10 years rule.

For a Subclass 461 (New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship) visa, the character requirement turns into a document test: you need a police certificate from every country where you have spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since you turned 16, including Australia and your home country. Three details change what you actually lodge — the Australian certificate must be a complete disclosure National Police Certificate from the Australian Federal Police, the New Zealand certificate is requested by the Department of Home Affairs on your behalf rather than by you, and if you are under 18 your New Zealand citizen family member must also supply certificates. This is taken from the Australian Department of Home Affairs Subclass 461 official page (New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship visa (Subclass 461)) as at August 2026, read with the Home Affairs character requirements page and Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994. It is general information only, not advice about your individual circumstances, so rely on the current official pages and any professional help you choose when you make decisions about your own application.

Who has to meet the character requirement?

You must meet the character requirement, and so must any members of your family unit who are 16 or over and apply for the visa with you. The official page also notes that other family members might need to meet certain character requirements, so treat "only the main applicant" as an unsafe assumption where a partner, an older dependant or a New Zealand family member is named on the same application.

In document terms, the page lists character documents as a required item for dependants aged 18 or over who apply with you, and as "if applicable" for dependants under 18. Where a person in the application is over 16 and has the required residence history, the certificate obligation follows them personally rather than being absorbed into your own paperwork.

What does "12 months or more in the last 10 years" actually count?

The test on the official page has three parts, and they do different work:

Element	What the page says	What it means for your check
Time threshold	12 months or more	The page says "12 months or more" for Australia and overseas countries, and "a total of 12 months or more" only for New Zealand, so only the New Zealand wording expressly refers to a combined total
Window	The last 10 years	The window runs back 10 years from now, not from the date you first came to Australia
Starting point	Since you turned 16	Time lived in a country before your 16th birthday is outside the test for the Australian and overseas certificates, so a childhood spent in your home country does not by itself trigger one of those certificates; the New Zealand rule and the certificates required of an under-18 applicant's New Zealand citizen Subclass 444 visa holder are expressed on the page only as 12 months in the last 10 years, without the age-16 qualifier

Only the New Zealand rule is expressed on the page as "a total of 12 months or more", while Australia and overseas countries use "12 months or more" without saying how separate stays are treated. Where your Australian time is made up of separate visits, the safe course is to count them together and provide the certificate.

How do I run the 12-month self-check before I lodge?

Work country by country, not trip by trip, and do it on paper before you order anything:

Write down the date you turned 16, and the date 10 years ago today. Your window starts on whichever of those two dates is later.
List every country you have lived in since that start date, including Australia, New Zealand and your home country, even if you now hold a passport from somewhere else.
Against each country, list every stay with approximate start and end dates, using passport stamps, visas, school or employment records, tenancy records or travel history you can retrieve.
Add the days for each country separately. A country that reaches 12 months or more needs a certificate from that country; a country that does not reach 12 months does not, on the wording of the page.
Repeat the whole exercise for each person aged 16 or over who is applying with you, using their own travel history rather than yours.
Check the armed forces question separately: military service in any country in the last 10 years calls for service records or discharge papers, which is a different document from a police certificate.

Assume an applicant turned 16 in 2010 and is applying in 2026. She lived in Fiji until 2015, then spent three stretches of about four months each in Australia across 2016, 2019 and 2023, and lived in New Zealand for a single unbroken 14 months in 2021–22. On this hypothetical, Fiji falls outside the 10-year window, Australia's three stays add up to about 12 months and so sit on the threshold, and New Zealand clearly passes 12 months. That produces an Australian certificate, a New Zealand certificate, and a decision to be made on the Australian total — which is exactly the kind of borderline count worth resolving before you lodge rather than after a case officer asks.

Which Australian police certificate is accepted?

Only complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police are accepted. The official page states that standard disclosure certificates and national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police are not accepted, so a state police check you already hold for employment or volunteering purposes will not satisfy this requirement. If you have spent 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since turning 16, order the AFP certificate specifically for this purpose.

What counts as an overseas certificate, and do military records matter?

You need an overseas police certificate from every country, including your home country, where you spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since you turned 16. Home Affairs points applicants to its offices outside Australia for guidance on overseas police certificates, which is the route to the right issuing authority and format for each country.

Separately, if you served in the armed forces of any country in the last 10 years, you need to provide military service records or discharge papers. This obligation is independent of the 12-month residence test, so it applies even where the country of service is not one you need a police certificate from.

How does the New Zealand police certificate work?

New Zealand works differently from every other country on the list. If you spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years in New Zealand, you must provide a New Zealand police certificate, but you do not apply for it yourself: the Department of Home Affairs initiates the request for a New Zealand criminal record check on your behalf, and a case officer contacts you directly to facilitate the check.

You will need to complete the Consent to Exchange of Criminal Record Check Information form (January 2024 version) so the check can proceed. You may also be asked to provide additional documentation if there are any convictions of concern, which is a separate step from the consent form.

What if the applicant is under 18?

If you are under 18, your New Zealand citizen Subclass 444 visa holder — where that person is relevant to your application — must also provide police certificates. Those certificates must come from Australia, New Zealand and any other country they have lived in for more than 12 months in the last ten years, which is the same 12-month and 10-year structure applied to a different person.

The official page strongly encourages that New Zealand citizen to undertake any character checks before you lodge, on the basis that a complete application helps achieve faster processing. Where the under-18 applicant's own character documents are noted as "if applicable", the certificate obligation for the New Zealand family member is stated as a requirement, not an option.

Which forms go with the character documents?

You must complete and provide two forms alongside the certificates:

Form 80, Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment
Form 1221, Additional personal particulars information

These sit with the police certificates, military records and identity documents in the same package. Because this visa cannot be applied for online, the completed forms travel with the paper Form 147 application, and lodging everything together avoids the department coming back for the missing piece later.

Does a complete application change what I should do first?

Yes, in ordering rather than in substance. The official page strongly encourages the New Zealand citizen Subclass 444 visa holder, where that person is relevant to an application made by someone under 18, to undertake any character checks before lodgment, in the same way it encourages health examinations before lodgment, because a complete application supports quicker processing. The practical sequence is to run the 12-month self-check first, order the certificates that the check produces, complete Forms 80 and 1221, and lodge the paper application as one package; the Consent to Exchange of Criminal Record Check Information form is signed after lodgment, when a case officer contacts you to facilitate the New Zealand criminal record check.

Timing matters for a second reason: your count is made against the last 10 years, so the same travel history can produce a different answer depending on when you apply. Rechecking the window close to your lodgment date is safer than reusing a list you made months earlier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an Australian police certificate if I only ever visited for a few months at a time?

You need one if you have spent 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since you turned 16. Only the New Zealand rule is expressed on the page as "a total of 12 months or more", so where your Australian time is made up of separate visits the safe course is to count them together and provide the certificate.

Can I use a state or territory police check instead of an AFP certificate?

No. Only complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police are accepted, and certificates issued by Australian state or territory police are not. A standard disclosure certificate is also not accepted, so check which level of disclosure you are ordering.

Do I apply for my New Zealand police certificate myself?

No. The Department of Home Affairs initiates the New Zealand criminal record check on your behalf, and a case officer contacts you to facilitate it. You complete the Consent to Exchange of Criminal Record Check Information form, and may be asked for more documents if there are convictions of concern.

Does my New Zealand partner need to provide police certificates?

If you are under 18, yes — your New Zealand citizen Subclass 444 visa holder must provide certificates from Australia, New Zealand and any other country they lived in for more than 12 months in the last ten years. If you are 18 or over, the certificates follow your own travel history rather than your partner's.

What are Form 80 and Form 1221 used for?

Form 80 covers personal particulars for assessment including character assessment, and Form 1221 covers additional personal particulars information. Both must be completed and provided with your character documents.

Do children on the application need police certificates?

Character documents are listed as "if applicable" for dependants under 18 and as a required item for dependants aged 18 or over. The character requirement itself applies to you and to family unit members aged 16 or over who apply with you, and other family members might also need to meet character requirements.

How far back does the 10-year window go?

Ten years from the time you apply, starting no earlier than your 16th birthday. Time spent in a country before you turned 16 is outside the test, and a certificate is only triggered where the total in the window reaches 12 months or more.