Police Certificates and Form 80 for Subclass 837: Getting It Right in 2026

For the Orphan Relative visa (subclass 837), character paperwork starts at age 16 — and the Australian certificate has one rule that is easy to get wrong: it must be a National Police Certificate applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship, issued by the Australian Federal Police. On the Department of Home Affairs' Orphan Relative visa (subclass 837) official page, children over 16 must provide police certificates from every country they have spent 12 months or more in over the last 10 years since turning 16, submit military service records or discharge papers if anyone in the application has served in the armed forces of any country, and complete and lodge Form 80 (Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment).

Who has to provide police certificates for a subclass 837 application?

The threshold is age, not who is the main applicant. The Department's eligibility page states that if the child is aged 16 years or older, they must meet the character requirement; the step-by-step guide then converts that into documents: children over 16 must provide police certificates.

There is also a discretionary layer. The Department says it might also ask other dependent children who apply for the visa to meet the character requirement, and the document checklist repeats this as "character documents, if applicable" for each dependant under 18. So a family cannot assume that a younger child is automatically excluded — the 16-year rule sets the baseline, not the ceiling.

Suppose an applicant turns 16 four months before the paper application is posted. On the published wording, they are over 16, so Form 80 comes into play for them; they must provide a police certificate only for a country where they have spent 12 months or more since turning 16, which four months after turning 16 no country satisfies, while a 14-year-old sibling applying in the same package would fall into the "if applicable" category unless the Department asks.

Which countries need a certificate, and how is the 12-month period counted?

The published test is: police certificates from every country where the applicant has spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years, since turning 16. Three elements matter in practice:

Every country — not just the country of nationality or the country of current residence. Long periods spent elsewhere since turning 16 fall inside the rule.
The last 10 years — the look-back window runs from the point of application, so a stay that ended nine years ago can still be inside scope.
Since turning 16 — time spent in a country before the applicant turned 16 is not what triggers the requirement.

Because the counting depends on the applicant's own travel and residence history, the practical work is reconstructing that history country by country before lodgement, rather than ordering a single certificate from the country on the passport bio page.

Why does Australia only accept an AFP certificate under Code 33?

For the Australian certificate, the Department is explicit about what it will and will not take:

Document	Accepted for subclass 837?
AFP National Police Certificate applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship	Accepted
Standard disclosure certificate	Not accepted
Certificate from an Australian state or territory police force	Not accepted

The distinction is between the purpose code used when ordering the check and the body that issues it. Code 33 is the Immigration/Citizenship purpose code for an AFP national check; the Department lists the Australian Federal Police as the issuing authority. A certificate obtained for employment or volunteering purposes, or one obtained from a state police service, does not satisfy the requirement even though it may look similar and covers the same person.

How long does a police certificate stay valid, and when should it be ordered?

For immigration purposes, police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date. The clock runs from issue, not from the date the certificate arrives in the mail or the date the application is posted.

This interacts with the rest of the subclass 837 timeline. The visa is applied for on paper using Form 47CH (Application for migration to Australia by a child) and Form 40CH (Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia), sent together to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth, and the application charge must be paid before posting. Because assessment can extend beyond the certificate's 12-month life, the Department may ask for updated documents later — the step-by-step guide notes that applicants should provide further information as soon as they can if it was not included at lodgement. Ordering early enough to have the certificate in hand at lodgement is the part within the applicant's control; anything after that follows the Department's requests.

What military service records are required?

The rule is broad and applies to the whole application, not only to the child: if anyone in the application served in the armed forces of any country, they must provide military service records or discharge papers. There is no nationality restriction in the published wording, no minimum length of service, and no carve-out for reserves stated on the page — service in any country's armed forces triggers the requirement, and either the service record or the discharge papers satisfy it.

This is a separate obligation from the police certificates. It sits in the same character documents section, but it is not conditioned on age 16 or on the 10-year/12-month test.

What is Form 80 for, and who completes it?

Children over 16 must complete and provide Form 80, Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment. It is a personal-history form: the same character documents section pairs it with the police certificate requirement, so for anyone who has crossed the 16-year threshold, the two go together rather than one substituting for the other.

The form is completed by the person it is about, and the answers are given as part of a paper application that must be completed in English. Under the Department's accurate-information requirements, a mistake discovered later is handled through Form 1023 (Notification of incorrect answers), which the applicant can upload in ImmiAccount after importing the paper application, or attach to the Child and Orphan Relative Visa Processing Centre online form.

How do these documents fit the rest of the paper application?

Subclass 837 is a paper visa. Alongside the character documents, the package includes identity pages of the child's current passport, a certified copy of the passport or travel document used to enter Australia plus copies of any passports held since, four recent passport-size photographs (45mm x 35mm, less than six months old), evidence that no parent can care for the child, and evidence of the relationship to the sponsor.

Only certified copies should be sent — the Department instructs applicants not to send original documents with the application. If any step is incomplete, the application may be invalid, and the Department states it does not process invalid applications.

How firm is the character requirement itself?

The character requirement is set out in Australia's migration law and applied through the public interest criteria in the Migration Regulations 1994; the subclass 837 eligibility page states the requirement in general terms and links to the Department's character requirement guidance rather than restating the criteria. The document rules described above are the ones published for this visa, and the Department's published pages and current legislation remain the authoritative source; this article is general information about those published requirements and is not advice on any individual case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a subclass 837 applicant under 16 need a police certificate?

The published threshold is 16 years or older — children over 16 must provide police certificates and complete Form 80. The Department adds that it might also ask other dependent children who apply to meet the character requirement, so a younger child is not automatically outside the requirement.

Is a certificate from a state or territory police force acceptable for the Australian check?

No. The Department states that for Australia it only accepts National Police Certificates applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship, issued by the Australian Federal Police, and that it does not accept standard disclosure certificates or certificates issued by Australian state or territory police.

How long is a police certificate valid for a subclass 837 application?

Police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date for immigration purposes. Because subclass 837 is decided on paper and may take longer than that, the Department can ask for further or updated documents after lodgement.

Does military service only count if it was in the applicant's home country?

No — the published requirement covers anyone in the application who served in the armed forces of any country. They must provide military service records or discharge papers, and no minimum period of service is stated on the Department's page.

Who has to complete Form 80?

Children over 16 must complete and provide Form 80 (Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment). It sits alongside the police certificate requirement rather than replacing it, and the forms in a subclass 837 application must be completed in English.

Can the Department ask dependent children under 18 for character documents?

Yes. The eligibility page says the Department might ask that other dependent children who apply for the visa meet the character requirement, and the document checklist lists "character documents, if applicable" for each dependant under 18 in the application.

Should original police certificates be posted with the application?

No. The Department instructs applicants not to send original documents with a paper application, only certified copies, and to keep a copy of the completed application and supporting documents for their own records.