Building a 2026 Subclass 102 Evidence Pack: Certified Copies, Photos and Adoption Papers

According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs "Adoption visa (Subclass 102)" official page (as of the August 2026 official page), the 2026 evidence pack for this visa is a paper bundle in which original documents are never enclosed: you send certified copies, keep the originals, and retain your own copy of the completed application and supporting documents. The photograph item is four recent 45mm x 35mm prints covering the child and any dependent child included, and the adoption item is the child's adoption papers or an adoption compliance certificate—except that an expatriate adoption must additionally prove the adoptive parent has full and permanent parental rights with no remaining legal ties between the child and the birth parents. Read together with Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994, what follows is general practice commentary rather than advice on any one family's case, because an outcome still turns on the papers actually lodged and, where adoption validity is contested, on qualified professional input.

Do you post originals, or certified copies?

The visa itself must be applied for on paper. Form 47CH Application for migration to Australia by a child and Form 40CH Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia are completed in English and lodged together by post with correct prepaid postage, or by courier, to the Department of Home Affairs Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth. The application charge has to be paid before the bundle is posted, and evidence of payment goes in with the supporting documentation; the department does not process the application until payment is made.

Because everything travels by post, the same page carries a blunt instruction: do not send original documents with the application, only send certified copies. It also asks you to keep a copy of the completed application for your own records, including any supporting documents. In other words, the originals stay with you, while the department decides from the certified copies in front of it. After lodgement you can use the acknowledgement letter to import the paper application into ImmiAccount with the application ID, date of birth and identity document number, which later lets you attach further documents online; nothing in that later step changes the rule that originals are not posted.

How do certified copies get made, and why keep the originals?

The Home Affairs certified copies guidance page is the department's own explanation of how a copy must be certified for paper lodgements, so that page controls the method. What the Subclass 102 page adds is the non-negotiable consequence: every supporting document should be a certified copy, while the original stays in your possession. Where the method is later restated, the newest official page governs, so certification should always be checked against current guidance rather than against an earlier practice.

This split matters for three practical reasons. Originals are frequently needed later for passport, citizenship, schooling or identity purposes outside the visa process; a "for your own records" version of the whole application protects you if documents are questioned; and if the department later asks for more information, you are responding from originals you still hold rather than from papers you posted away. A certified copy is therefore the travelling evidence, while the original is the master document you keep.

Which other documents belong in the same certified-copy bundle?

Document group	What the August 2026 official page requires	Original or certified copy?
Identity	Passport pages showing the child's photo, personal details and issue/expiry dates; national identity card if held; proof of change of name from an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages or the relevant overseas authority, or documents showing other names the child has been known by	Certified copy; keep originals
Travel	Certified copy of the passport or travel document the child used to enter Australia, and of any passports the child has held since then	Certified copy explicitly required
Photographs	Four recent photos (45mm x 35mm) of the child and of any dependent child included	Actual photographs, not laser copies
Adoption	Adoption papers or an adoption compliance certificate; route-specific evidence for Australian state or territory central authority, expatriate or Hague scenarios	Certified copy of the papers or certificate
Character	For a child over 16: police certificates from every country they have spent 12 months or more in during the last 10 years since turning 16; Australian National Police Certificate applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship only; military service records or discharge papers if applicable; Form 80	Certified copy
Dependants under 18	For each dependant under 18 applying with the child: identity documents, travel documents, and proof of the relationship with the child such as a birth or marriage certificate	Certified copy

The same adoption documents described below are also required for any other dependent child included in the application. Identity documents should be current enough to evidence the child's age, because eligibility requires the child to be under 18 at the time of adoption, at lodgement and at decision.

What photographs are required, and what makes one unacceptable?

The photograph requirement is four recent photos measuring 45mm x 35mm for the child and for any dependent child included in the application. Each print has to be less than six months old, in good quality colour, a view of the full face, and taken against a plain light-coloured background. Laser copies are not accepted.

The child may wear untinted prescription glasses. If the child wears a head covering for religious reasons, the photo may show only the face. Suppose a dependent child is also included in the application: the same four-print requirement applies to that child as well, because the photographs are requested for both the child and any dependent child in the same application.

Must the adoption papers show full and permanent parental rights?

For an expatriate adoption, yes. The official page asks for evidence that at least one adoptive parent resided outside Australia for more than 12 months immediately before the application was lodged; that the adoptive parent did not arrange to reside overseas in order to avoid Australia's intercountry adoption laws; that the adoptive parent has full and permanent parental rights, with no remaining legal ties between the child and the birth parents; and that the child was adopted in line with the adoption laws of their home country. A plain care or custody arrangement therefore does not answer this item.

The same page also distinguishes the routes. Where an Australian state or territory central authority has found the adoptive parent suitable and there is a written undertaking to adopt, the evidence comes from the central authority of the child's country showing the child can leave for adoption in Australia, or can leave in the adoptive parent's custody; if an Australian central adoption authority was involved, a supporting letter from that authority belongs in the pack. Where the adoption is an expatriate one, note that the Australian Government has no role in the overseas process and does not issue letters of support or certificates of no objection, so no such document should be expected in the bundle.

Departmental procedural materials summarising PAM3 guidance are explicit that "full and permanent parental rights" means the adoption transfers all parental authority, including decisions about where the child lives; an order that grants only guardianship or day-to-day care does not meet the standard, because it leaves the legal relationship short of a permanent transfer. The adoption documents—whether adoption papers or an adoption compliance certificate—must therefore be read for that rights outcome, not merely for the existence of a court or administrative act.

One further fork should be checked before the pack is assembled. If an intercountry adoption is finalised outside Australia under the Hague Adoption Convention or a recognised bilateral arrangement, the child may instead be eligible for Australian citizenship by adoption and enter Australia on an Australian passport; in that situation there is no Subclass 102 visa to prepare for, because a granted citizenship removes the need for the visa.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to post the original adoption or birth documents?

No. The official page instructs applicants not to send original documents with the application, and to send certified copies instead. You should keep a copy of the completed application and supporting documents for your own records, while the originals stay outside the postal bundle.

How many photos does a Subclass 102 application need?

The pack requires four recent photos measuring 45mm x 35mm for the child, and the same for any dependent child included. Each photo must be less than six months old, colour, full-face and taken against a plain light-coloured background.

Can the photos be laser copies?

No. The department states that photographs must be good quality colour and that it does not accept laser copies. Prints meeting the size, age and background rules are required.

Is a guardianship order enough for an expatriate adoption?

No. For an expatriate adoption, the evidence must show full and permanent parental rights with no remaining legal ties between the child and the birth parents. Departmental procedural guidance treats guardianship-only or day-to-day care orders as falling short, because they do not transfer full parental authority.

Which Australian police certificate is accepted for a child over 16?

Australia accepts only National Police Certificates applied for under Code 33 – Immigration/Citizenship, issued by the Australian Federal Police. Standard disclosure certificates and certificates issued by Australian state or territory police are not accepted, and certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date.

Does every adoption need an adoption compliance certificate?

Not always; the official page asks simply for the child's adoption papers or an adoption compliance certificate, and the correct one depends on the route. A compliance certificate is tied to Hague Convention or recognised bilateral scenarios, while completed adoption papers may evidence other pathways, including expatriate adoptions alongside the rights evidence already described.