Family visa lawyer: when a parent, child or relative visa needs an Australian migration lawyer
A family visa lawyer is an Australian migration lawyer who checks eligibility and prepares a parent, child or relative visa application. Enquiries from this site go to Australian Migration Lawyers. This site does not compare law firms.
The Australian family visa list starts from the relationship and shows which visa applies.
What a migration lawyer checks on a family visa
The checks differ by visa. A lawyer works through the ones that apply:
- The relationship and the visa it opens, before any other rule.
- The sponsor: status, age and, for the 870, the income test.
- The balance of family test, for the six parent visas that carry it.
- Assurance of Support, for the visas that need it.
- Fees and the queue for the visa chosen.
Preparing before the first enquiry helps: who the applicant is, where each person is now, the visa in mind and any earlier refusal.
When a family visa needs a lawyer
No law makes a lawyer compulsory for a family visa application. These are reasons to ask before acting:
- an earlier refusal or cancellation;
- a sponsorship that was refused;
- a health or character issue;
- no valid visa at the moment.
Parent visa matters
See the seven parent visas for the routes. Each has a different sponsor, fee and queue.
Estimates are Home Affairs figures as at 31 August 2026, on a page updated 6 October 2026. Fees are as at 19 October 2026. Other applicant categories pay different amounts.
Child and relative visa matters
- Child visa (subclass 101): the child must depend on a parent who is a citizen, eligible New Zealand citizen or permanent visa holder.
- Relatives visa Australia: Remaining Relative and Aged Dependent Relative each have their own tests, and the Home Affairs estimate for both is 26 years.
- A guide to who can sponsor a family member covers the sponsor side.
What it costs and how fees are set
There are three separate costs: the government visa charge, the lawyer’s fee, and other expenses such as biometrics, police certificates, translations and medical examinations.
The website of Australian Migration Lawyers states that professional fees are a fixed fee or milestone billing, with government charges and those expenses paid separately (read 19 October 2026). It also mentions a free initial consultation with terms and conditions. Its terms limit that offer to onshore protection visas, family visas and section 501 character matters. They say the offer applies only where the request genuinely considers engaging the firm, that requests are qualified first and that it depends on lawyer availability.
Unregistered agents: illegal, and uninsured
Giving immigration assistance without being registered is an offence under section 280 of the Migration Act 1958, unless an exemption applies. An Australian lawyer acting in legal practice is one of those exemptions.
An unregistered agent carries no professional indemnity insurance. If their mistake costs a reader a refusal, lost fees or a closed pathway, there is no insurer to claim against. A practising Australian lawyer must carry that insurance.
Australian Migration Lawyers
Enquiries from this site go to Australian Migration Lawyers, a law practice: Australian Legal Partnership Pty Ltd (ACN 656 815 539), trading as Australian Migration Lawyers. The enquiry form is on this site. The practice is named here in plain text and is not linked.
Before you lodge
An application prepared by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed, because one missed criterion refuses a family visa application and the sponsor, fee and queue rules differ for each visa.
Questions about a family visa application go to an Australian migration lawyer.
Ask an Australian migration lawyer