870 visa police certificates in 2026: AFP vs overseas certificates

For a Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870), you need an Australian police certificate only from the Australian Federal Police — and it must be a complete disclosure National Police Certificate — if you have spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since you turned 16. Separately, you need an overseas police certificate from every country, including your home country, where that same 12-month total is reached. This is the character documents requirement published on the Australian Department of Home Affairs' Sponsored Parent (Temporary) visa (subclass 870) page, as of the official page in August 2026. Two details cause most of the trouble: the word "total", which makes the 12 months cumulative rather than one continuous stay, and the fact that no certificate other than an AFP complete disclosure certificate satisfies the Australian leg.

Which police certificates does a subclass 870 application actually require?

The 870 document list splits police certificates into an Australian leg and an overseas leg, and the two are triggered independently. Satisfying one does not cover the other.

	Australian leg	Overseas leg
Trigger	A total of 12 months or more in Australia in the last 10 years since turning 16	A total of 12 months or more in that country in the last 10 years since turning 16
What is accepted	A complete disclosure National Police Certificate issued by the Australian Federal Police	A police certificate from each country where the threshold is met, including your home country
What is not accepted	Standard disclosure certificates; certificates issued by Australian state or territory police	The visa page does not name a rejected form for overseas certificates

How is the 12-month period counted?

The counting has three moving parts, and each one changes the answer for some applicants.

The look-back window is the last 10 years.
Within that window, time counts from your 16th birthday onward.
The threshold is a total, not a single continuous stay.

The cumulative point is the one applicants most often misread. Suppose an applicant spent four months in Australia in one year, five months two years later, and four months in a more recent year. No single visit reached 12 months, but the three add to 13 months, which crosses the threshold and brings in the AFP certificate.

The age-16 starting point rarely does the excluding work for this visa. Applicants are parents of an approved Parent Sponsor, so in practice the 10-year window is what removes older residence from the count, not the age floor.

On the wording the department publishes, the overseas test attaches to each country individually: it asks for a certificate from every country in which the 12-month total was reached. Time spent in one country is not added to time in another to push either one over the line.

Why must the Australian certificate be an AFP complete disclosure certificate?

Because the department states it accepts only that product. The visa page says it accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police, and says it does not accept two things that look, to most applicants, like perfectly good equivalents:

standard disclosure certificates, and
national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police.

That makes the Australian leg stricter than "any Australian police check". An applicant who orders the wrong AFP product, or who obtains a state police certificate because it is faster or cheaper locally, ends up holding a genuine police certificate that still does not match what the visa page says it will accept.

Which countries need an overseas certificate, and what does the department point to?

The overseas requirement is written broadly: a certificate from every country, including your home country, where the 12-month total is reached. Home country residence is not exempted.

What else belongs in the character documents set?

Police certificates are one part of a bundle. The same section of the visa page also asks for:

Form 80 (Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment) — to be completed and provided.
Military service records or discharge papers, if you served in the armed forces of any country.

Form 80 is not replaced by the certificates. It is a separate item in the list, and it carries the personal particulars used for the character assessment itself.

How do the certificates connect to the character requirement?

The subclass 870 eligibility list includes meeting the character requirement, and the police certificates plus Form 80 are the evidence the department asks for to assess it.

Under the Migration Regulations 1994, clause 870.228 sets the public interest criteria for this subclass, listing PIC 4001–4004, 4010, 4019, 4020 and 4021, with PIC 4005 added where the application is made outside Australia and PIC 4007 where it is made in Australia; the character-related criteria within that set are PIC 4001–4003. Regulation text is amended over time, so the version published by the Federal Register of Legislation is the one that applies. This article explains how the published requirements fit together as general information; it is not advice on any individual application and is not a substitute for professional guidance on your own history.

What happens if the certificate type or the count is wrong?

The weak point is not a separate penalty — it is the gap left in the evidence. The department states that complete applications might be processed quicker and that incomplete ones might be delayed or refused where there is insufficient information to show the requirements are met. A standard disclosure certificate or a state police certificate leaves exactly that kind of gap on the Australian leg, even though the document itself is authentic.

Two obligations continue after lodgement. If you gave an incorrect answer, the mechanism the department lists is Form 1023 (Notification of incorrect answers), attached to the application in ImmiAccount. And if things change before a decision is made, the department asks to be told, listing a criminal conviction among the changes to report.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do several short visits to Australia add up to the 12 months?

Yes. The requirement is written as "a total of 12 months or more", so separate stays inside the 10-year window are added together. Three visits of four, five and four months cross the threshold even though none of them reached 12 months on its own.

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

No. The visa page states it does not accept national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police. The Australian leg is satisfied only by a complete disclosure National Police Certificate issued by the Australian Federal Police.

What does "complete disclosure" mean, and is a standard AFP check enough?

The visa page uses "complete disclosure" as the AFP product it accepts and states that standard disclosure certificates are not accepted. The page does not go further into how the two differ; the Australian Federal Police National Police Checks page is the reference the department links for the certificate itself.

Do I need a certificate from my home country if I lived there for decades?

Only if the residence falls inside the count. The test is a 12-month total within the last 10 years, counting from when you turned 16, so decades of home country residence that ended long ago sits outside the window. Recent home country residence that reaches 12 months inside it does require a certificate, because the home country is expressly included.

Do military service records have to be provided as well?

Yes, if you served in the armed forces of any country. The character documents section asks for military service records or discharge papers in that case, as a separate item from the police certificates.

Is Form 80 still required once I have supplied police certificates?

Yes. The visa page lists Form 80 as a form to complete and provide in its own right, alongside the certificates. The certificates cover criminal record history; Form 80 carries the personal particulars used for the character assessment.

What should I do if I am convicted of an offence after lodging?

The department asks applicants to tell it about changes after applying and before a decision, and it lists conviction of a crime among those changes. Where the problem is an answer already given that is now incorrect, the listed mechanism is Form 1023 (Notification of incorrect answers), attached to the application in ImmiAccount.