Australia visitor visa 600 checklist for Indians (2026)

How the application works

The application for the subclass 600 Tourist stream is made online in ImmiAccount. You must be outside Australia both when you apply and when the decision is made, and Home Affairs states: “We will not process your application until you pay the fee.” Secondary sources put the fee at AUD 250 from 1 July 2026; confirm it on the Home Affairs pricing page.

No label goes into your passport. “We will digitally link your visa to your passport.” Biometrics are needed only if Home Affairs asks for them.

On length of stay, the page says: “Generally, we grant a stay period of 3 months. We might grant a stay of up to 12 months in certain circumstances.” Ask for the stay your plans genuinely need, and make the evidence fit it.

What Home Affairs checks

The eligibility list for the Tourist stream is short. Every document you upload should help with one of these points.

• You meet the health and character requirements.
• You have no unpaid debt to the Australian Government.
• You “have, or have access to, enough money” for the stay.
• You are a genuine visitor who will “stay temporarily in Australia” and “obey any condition and stay period”.
• For a child under 18, that granting the visa is in the child’s best interests.

The evidence list, item by item

Home Affairs names these documents for showing that you are a genuine visitor. Note the word “itemised”: a one-line balance certificate from the branch is not an itemised statement, so download statements that list every transaction for the full three months.

Credit card statements are on this list, unlike the UK’s, where they are among the documents not to send. If you are reusing papers from another application, check each list separately.

Parents and long stays

Parents of Australian citizens or permanent residents may be granted a visa valid for more than 12 months, but they “can’t stay in Australia for more than 12 months in total in any 18 month period” and must have “adequate arrangements for health insurance”. Count the days across visits, not just the current trip.

For other visitors, health insurance is not mandatory. Home Affairs writes that “we strongly recommended you take out adequate health insurance”, and condition 8501, “Maintain adequate health insurance”, may be attached to your visa, in which case it becomes a condition of your stay.

Children under 18

• A birth certificate showing both parents.
• If one parent is not travelling: Form 1229 signed by that parent, or a statutory declaration, with a copy of identity documents showing their signature and photograph.
• If the child will not stay with a relative or guardian in Australia: a Form 1257 undertaking.

Translations, scans and police certificates

• Translations made outside Australia need not be by an accredited translator, but must give the translator’s full name, address, phone number and “qualifications and experience”.
• “You do not need to have any documents certified unless we ask you to.” Skip the notary unless Home Affairs requests certified copies.
• Scan documents in colour, and upload each multi-page document as a single file.
• “We may ask you to provide a police certificate.” An Indian Police Clearance Certificate takes up to 7 working days under the MEA Citizen’s Charter, excluding police verification, so start promptly if you are asked.

Tourist stream or Sponsored family stream?

Family in Australia can either invite you, in which case you apply in the Tourist stream with their invitation letter, or formally sponsor you in the Sponsored family stream. Sponsorship asks more of both sides.

• The sponsor completes Form 1149 and must be a “settled” Australian citizen or permanent resident, usually living in Australia for the last 2 years, and aged 18 or over.
• The sponsor must be your spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or a step-equivalent. In-laws, cousins and friends generally cannot sponsor.
• Home Affairs can ask for a security bond, “usually between AUD 5,000 and AUD 15,000 per person (but we can ask for any amount)”, paid before the decision and refunded if the visa conditions are met.
• “Generally we grant this visa with only a single entry… and with a 6 month validity period”, with condition 8503, No Further Stay.

Flights and the written grant

Home Affairs is explicit: “Do not arrange to travel to Australia until we let you know, in writing, that we have granted you the visa.” Flight and hotel bookings are not on its evidence list; your plans in Australia can be set out in a short written itinerary without buying anything.

If you want to show the dates you have in mind, a held flight reservation does that without a fare at risk. Order it for the day you lodge in ImmiAccount, and keep its dates in step with the itinerary you describe.

Questions people ask