Top reasons subclass 114 applications are refused in 2026

Subclass 114 refusals almost always come back to one of six gates: dependency that is not proven for the required three years, an applicant below the Australian age pension qualifying age, the existence of a spouse or de facto partner, a sponsor who is not eligible or not settled, a failed health or character check, and an assurance of support that is never accepted. That list comes straight from the eligibility criteria published by the Australian Department of Home Affairs on its official Aged Dependent Relative visa (subclass 114) page, together with the visa criteria set out in Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994. If you are trying to work out why these applications fail, the answer is rarely a single dramatic defect — it is usually that one of these six elements was never properly evidenced, or stopped being true while the case was waiting.

Refusal area	What the rules require	What commonly goes wrong
Dependency	Reliance on the Australian relative for basic needs — food, shelter and clothing — for a period before applying	Short gaps in money transfers, no rent or household records, or income of the applicant's own that suggests self-support
Age	Old enough to receive the Australian age pension	Assuming 65 is the threshold without checking the current qualifying age
No partner	Must have no partner	A spouse or de facto relationship existing at application, or formed during processing
Sponsor	Eligible relative or that relative's partner, aged 18 or over and settled in Australia, with approved sponsorship	Sponsor's own residence or status not evidenced, or sponsorship not approved and still in force at decision
Health, character, identity	Public interest criteria, plus identity proof	Unresolved health costs, police certificate issues, or inability to prove identity
Assurance of support	Accepted assurance covering the applicant and accompanying family	No assurance provided when requested, or second instalment left unpaid

What does "dependent" actually mean, and why is unproven dependency the most common refusal ground?

For subclass 114 the dependency test is narrow and financial. Clause 114.211 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires the applicant to be the aged dependent relative of an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, and regulation 1.03 is where those defined terms live. On the Department's official page, dependency is expressed as having been dependent on that relative in Australia for basic needs like food, shelter and clothing over a period before applying.

That framing matters. Dependency is not about emotional closeness, and it is not about the sponsor "helping out". It is about whether the applicant's everyday survival costs were being met by the Australian relative, and whether that pattern is visible in documents. The same official page lists the kind of material that can carry this: bank statements, money transfers and rent receipts. A file built around occasional gifts, or around transfers that started shortly before lodgement, does not answer the question being asked.

Suppose an applicant receives a small overseas pension, occasional help from another adult child who lives nearby, and a monthly transfer from the Australian sponsor. On paper that looks like family support. In assessment terms it raises a harder question: does this person rely on the Australian relative more than on anyone or anything else, or does the money merely supplement an income of their own? Dependency that is partial, recent, or shared tends to be read as not established.

A practical complication is time. Because the criterion attaches both when you apply and when the decision is made (clause 114.221 continues the 114.211 requirement), a dependency position that was true on day one has to remain true years later. An applicant whose finances improve materially during processing can talk themselves out of the visa without intending to.

Do you have to be 65 to satisfy the age requirement?

You have to be old enough to receive the age pension in Australia. That is the wording on the Department's official page, which points readers to the Australian Government's age pension material for the qualifying age itself. In practice the qualifying age has been discussed in terms of 65 or 67 depending on date of birth, but the number is set by the age pension rules rather than by the visa criteria, so the current figure should be read off the official age pension source rather than assumed from memory.

Two failure modes follow from this. The straightforward one is applying while still below the qualifying age, which is why families are generally advised to check the pension-age threshold against the applicant's exact birth date before lodging. The second is administrative: age has to be provable through identity documentation, and weak or inconsistent civil records can make an otherwise eligible applicant look unqualified. Neither problem is curable by argument — it is either evidenced or it is not.

Why does having a spouse or de facto partner end the application?

The subclass 114 criteria are built around a single aged person whose support comes from an Australian relative. The Department's official eligibility list includes the requirement that the applicant must have no partner. Where a spouse or de facto partner exists, the case no longer fits the visa.

This trips people up in two situations. The first is a long-standing marriage or partnership in the home country that the family did not think was relevant. The second, and harder to catch, is a relationship formed after lodgement. Because clause 114.221 keeps the relationship criterion alive up to the time of decision, entering a partner relationship during processing can remove eligibility at the very end of the wait — which is one reason families are told to keep their circumstances under review rather than treating lodgement as the finish line.

What disqualifies a sponsor?

The sponsor requirement sits at clause 114.212, and the Department states it plainly: the sponsor must be aged 18 years or older, settled in Australia, and be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. The sponsor must be the applicant's Australian relative, or that relative's spouse or de facto partner, and the Department must approve the sponsorship. Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia is the designated form, and status is evidenced through documents such as a citizenship certificate, a passport, or a valid visa in the case of eligible New Zealand citizens.

"Settled" is itself a defined term in regulation 1.03, and this is where many refusals quietly originate. What "settled" requires should be read from regulation 1.03 and current policy rather than assumed. What is not in doubt is the sequence problem: the sponsorship has to be approved and still in force when the decision is made (clause 114.222). A sponsor whose own residence is recent, whose status evidence is incomplete, or whose circumstances change mid-processing leaves the application without one of its load-bearing elements.

There is also a narrower category worth checking early. The Migration Regulations 1994 contain sponsorship limitation provisions, including reg 1.20LAA, which can bar a person whose own migration was supported through certain welfare arrangements from sponsoring this visa. If anything in the sponsor's immigration history looks unusual, verify the current wording of those provisions in the Migration Regulations 1994. Because the criteria tie the sponsorship to the specific eligible relative identified at application and require it to remain approved at decision, a sponsor who dies or loses capacity mid-processing is not something the application can simply route around.

Can health, character, identity or unpaid government debt cause a refusal?

Yes, and these criteria apply beyond the main applicant. Clause 114.223 requires the applicant to satisfy a list of public interest criteria, including PIC 4001 (character), PIC 4005 (health), PIC 4010 and 4019 (police certificates) and PIC 4020 (no bogus documents or false and misleading information). The Department's page extends the health and character requirements to family members who apply with the applicant, and says other non-migrating family members can also be asked to meet the character requirement. Health assessments look at whether the applicant's condition would create a significant cost or burden for Australian health and community services, so unresolved medical issues tend to stall rather than pass quietly.

Two points deserve separate emphasis because they are frequently overlooked:

Identity failure has teeth. The Department states that if an applicant cannot prove their identity, the application will be refused, another visa may be refused for 10 years, and family members listed on the application may be refused for 10 years as well. Weak identity documentation is not merely inconvenient.
Unpaid government debt is a live criterion. Any debt owed to the Australian Government by the applicant or a family member must have been repaid or be subject to an approved repayment arrangement. Immigration history also counts: a previously cancelled visa or refused application is something the Department says it will consider, and can make a person ineligible.

What happens if the assurance of support is never accepted?

Assurance of support is a separate criterion, not a formality that follows a successful assessment. It assures the Department that the applicant will not have to rely on government assistance after entering Australia, and it covers the applicant plus any family members travelling on the visa. Clause 114.225 puts it in strict terms: the Secretary of the Department of Social Services must have accepted the assurance for the grant to proceed, and clause 114.325 does the same for secondary applicants. The Department asks for it when it asks for it, so timing gates — a family that has not prepared evidence of the sponsor's financial capacity — can lose its place in the queue.

Assurance of support amounts and validity periods are set by Services Australia and change from time to time, so read the current assurance of support requirements on the official government page rather than working from remembered amounts. The same caution applies to the second instalment of the visa application charge: the Department invoices it once other requirements are met and states plainly that the visa cannot be granted unless it is paid. Non-payment produces a refusal on an otherwise approveable case.

Do these requirements hold all the way to the decision date?

They do, which is the structural reason subclass 114 cases fail late. Several key criteria — the relationship under clause 114.221, the sponsorship under clause 114.222, health and character — are expressed as time-of-decision criteria. The applicant must also be outside Australia when the application is decided, consistent with clause 114.411. And where family members are included, dependency for an adult dependent is itself a documented test: the Department requires proof that the person has been financially dependent on you for at least 12 months before you apply, supported by materials such as proof they live with you, their tax records, or proof they are currently studying.

None of this is personalised advice. This article describes published criteria and how they tend to be applied; whether they are met depends on the documents in a particular case and the version of the rules and forms in force at the time, and anyone relying on it should check the official sources listed below or get advice from someone who is lawfully able to give it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I need to have been dependent before applying for subclass 114?

The Department's published criterion is that you have been dependent on your Australian relative for basic needs like food, shelter and clothing for at least 3 years before you apply. Evidence of bank statements, money transfers and rent or household records is what usually carries this, and the pattern needs to be continuous rather than assembled close to lodgement.

Is 65 the right age threshold for the subclass 114 visa?

The legal test is being old enough to receive the Australian age pension, not a fixed number written into the visa criteria. Because the pension qualifying age depends on birth cohort, check the current figure on the official age pension page instead of assuming an age of 65.

My parent remarried after we lodged. Will that affect the application?

Yes. The no-partner requirement must be met at the time of decision, not only when you apply, because the relationship criterion continues to apply up to the decision. A partner relationship formed during processing can remove eligibility even where every other requirement is met.

Can I change sponsors if my original sponsor loses capacity?

The criteria tie sponsorship to the specific eligible relative identified at application and require that sponsorship to be approved and still in force when the decision is made. There is no mechanism in those criteria for substituting a new sponsor partway through, so a sponsor's death or loss of capacity generally puts the application in serious difficulty.

Does a subclass 114 application get refused if the identity documents are weak?

The Department states that an applicant who cannot prove their identity will be refused, may be barred from another visa for 10 years, and the same bar may extend to family members listed on the application. Identity evidence should therefore be settled before anything else in the file.

Is the application fee refunded if the visa is refused?

No. The Department says that if it refuses a visa it will notify the applicant in writing of the reasons and of any review rights, and that the application fee will not be refunded.