Subclass 445 health assessments in 2026: permanent-standard exams and PIC 4007

Subclass 445 is a temporary visa, but its health requirement is not assessed on a temporary basis: the child is examined against the permanent visa standard, under Public Interest Criterion (PIC) 4007. The Australian Department of Home Affairs' Dependent Child visa (subclass 445) page states that the child and any of their dependent children applying with them must meet the health requirement; the criterion itself is listed at clause 445.225 of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the Department's PAM3 guidance records the health assessment as a permanent-standard assessment. That mismatch — temporary visa, permanent health bar — is the single most useful thing to explain to a client before anyone books an appointment.

What standard applies to subclass 445 health exams?

Clause 445.225 sets the public interest criteria for the primary applicant, and health sits in that list as PIC 4007 rather than a temporary-visa equivalent. In practice this means the examination is conducted to the standard the Department applies to someone seeking to stay permanently, even though the 445 grant itself is tied to the parent's temporary visa, which may be a Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309), a Partner visa (subclass 820) or a Dependent Child visa (subclass 445).

The official visa page does not spell out the standard; it simply requires the child to "meet our health requirement" and links to the Department's general health requirement material. The permanent-standard characterisation comes from the PAM3 guidance. Where the two could be read differently, the wording currently published on the official page governs what the applicant is told to do, and the regulation text governs which criterion is applied.

These notes describe how the criterion is structured; they are general information rather than advice on an individual case, and the outcome in any given application depends on the Department's own assessment, so the officially published requirements should be treated as the reference point.

Who has to be assessed — and can one person's result affect everyone?

Health is not limited to the child named as the main applicant.

Person	Health requirement	Where it comes from
The child applicant	Must meet the health requirement	Department of Home Affairs visa page
The child's dependent children applying with them	Must meet it as well	Department of Home Affairs visa page
Family members not travelling with the child	May also be required to meet it	Department of Home Affairs visa page; clause 445.227

Clause 445.227 extends the public interest criteria to members of the applicant's family unit whether or not they are included in the application, which is why a non-migrating family member's health can still be in scope. Practitioners commonly describe this as "one fails, all fail": a covered family member who does not satisfy the criteria can compromise the application even though that person never intended to travel. The official page expresses the same risk in softer terms — family members who are not coming to Australia "might also have to" meet the requirement — so the practical advice is to identify the full family unit early rather than at the point a case officer asks.

When should the exams be arranged?

After lodgment, once the Department asks. The step-by-step section of the official page is explicit: "We will tell you when to arrange the child's health examinations." Nothing in the published process requires, or rewards, booking in advance.

A subclass 445 application is a paper application — Form 918, sent by post or courier to the Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth — and the Department says it will not process the application until the application charge is paid. Health examinations are handled in the "after you apply" stage, not as a lodgment attachment. Anything arranged before that request is outside the published process and does not replace the examinations arranged when the Department asks.

What should be checked about earlier health exams?

Whether they can still be used at all. The PAM3 guidance notes that where health and character material has already been provided — for example, when the child was listed as a non-migrating family member on the parent's Partner visa application — its validity has to be confirmed rather than assumed.

Two checks follow from that:

Scope. The earlier exam must have been done at the right standard. An assessment taken for a visitor or student purpose will not satisfy a criterion applied at the permanent standard, so "already had a medical" is not the same as "already had the right medical."
Currency. Exam results age out. The published 12-month validity rule on the official page applies to police certificates, not to health examinations, and the official page does not state a general validity period for health results here — which is exactly why the question has to be put to whoever is assessing the file rather than answered at the intake interview.

A useful hypothetical: suppose a child was examined two years ago as a non-migrating family member on the parent's subclass 309 application, and the parent has now been granted the temporary visa and is lodging Form 918. The prior result is evidence that an exam happened; it is not evidence that the criterion is currently met. The applicant should expect to be told to arrange fresh examinations and should budget for that possibility rather than treating the old report as a completed step.

What runs alongside the health requirement?

Health is one criterion among several, and the ones most often missed at intake are adjacent to it:

Character. The child must meet the character requirement if aged 16 or over, and the Department may also ask other dependent children applying with them to meet it. Police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date, and for immigration purposes the Department accepts only National Police Certificates applied for under Code 33 — Immigration/Citizenship.
Other public interest criteria. Clause 445.225 also lists PIC 4001, 4002, 4003, 4004, 4009, 4020 and 4021; a child aged 18 or over at application also faces PIC 4019, and a child under 18 faces PIC 4017 and 4018.
Refusal consequences. If the visa is refused, the Department states it will give the reasons and whether there is a right to review, and that the application fee is not refunded.

Who is allowed to charge for help with a 445 application?

Only three categories of person may lawfully give immigration assistance: a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person. Anyone can be appointed to receive documents on the applicant's behalf, which is a different and narrower role — receiving correspondence is not the same as giving advice, and the two are appointed on separate forms (Form 956A for an authorised recipient, Form 956 for a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person).

For an agent, the health requirement is a workflow item rather than a medical question. The job is to tell the client to wait for the Department's instruction, to map the family unit so a non-migrating member does not surface late, and to flag that any previous examination has to be re-validated instead of carried forward on assumption.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is subclass 445 assessed against the permanent health standard even though it is a temporary visa?

Yes. The health criterion applied at clause 445.225 is PIC 4007, and the Department's PAM3 guidance records the assessment as being at the permanent visa standard. The visa's temporary nature affects how long the grant lasts, not the standard of the health examination.

Does the subclass 445 child's own child also need to meet the health requirement?

Yes, if that child is applying with them. The official visa page states that the child and any of their dependent children who apply for the visa with them must meet the health requirement, and clause 445.228 addresses additional applicants under 18 in a combined application.

Can a family member who is not travelling affect the outcome?

Potentially. Clause 445.227 applies the public interest criteria to members of the applicant's family unit whether or not they apply, and the official page says family members not coming to Australia might also have to meet the health requirement. This is the basis of the "one fails, all fail" concern that agents raise at intake.

Should health examinations be booked before lodging Form 918?

No. The Department's published process places health examinations in the post-lodgment stage and says it will tell the applicant when to arrange the child's examinations. Booking earlier is not required by the published process and does not replace the examinations arranged after the Department asks.

If the child had a medical for the parent's Partner visa application, is that enough?

Not automatically. PAM3 guidance requires the validity of previously provided health and character material to be confirmed, and an exam done for a different purpose may not have been conducted at the permanent standard. Treat any earlier report as something to be re-checked, not as a step already completed.

What happens if the health requirement is not met?

The application can be refused, and the official page states that the application fee is not refunded where an application is refused. If the affected person is a member of the family unit covered by clause 445.227, the failure is not confined to that person's own position in the application.

Does a 16-year-old applicant need a police certificate?

A child aged 16 or over must meet the character requirement, and police certificates are required from every country where they have spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16. For immigration purposes the Department accepts only National Police Certificates issued under Code 33, and those certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date.