How to Apply for an Australian Child Passport and Get Parental Consent

How to apply for an Australian child passport

A child passport application in Australia requires more than completing a form. You need to prove the child's Australian citizenship and identity, provide an original birth certificate and compliant photos, arrange a guarantor and correctly obtain parental consent.

For Australian passport purposes, a child is a person under 18 who has never been married. Children aged 0 to 15 may receive a passport valid for up to 5 years. Children aged 16 or 17 may receive a passport valid for up to 10 years.

What documents are needed for an Australian child passport?

The standard child passport application requires the child's full and original birth certificate showing the child's full name at birth and the names of the parents, evidence of Australian citizenship, 2 passport-sized photos that meet the Australian Passport Office requirements, and any relevant name-change or court documents.

You must bring the original documents when lodging the application.

Australian citizenship evidence

The exact citizenship evidence depends on where and when the child was born and whether the child has previously held an Australian passport.

For a person born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986, citizenship can be demonstrated through specified evidence such as an Australian citizenship certificate in the child's name, an Australian passport issued in the child's name on or after 1 January 2000 that was valid for at least 2 years, or documents proving Australian citizenship by birth.

Where citizenship by birth is being established through a parent, the Australian Passport Office may require the child's full Australian birth certificate together with the parent's Australian birth certificate, qualifying Australian passport or citizenship certificate. Additional evidence can be required where the parent was also born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986.

A child born overseas will generally need appropriate Australian citizenship evidence. Check the Australian Passport Office citizenship requirements for the child's exact circumstances before lodging.

Who can be the child's guarantor?

A child passport application requires a guarantor to confirm the child's identity. The guarantor must be an adult Australian citizen who has known the child for more than 12 months, or since birth if the child is under one year old.

The guarantor must also either hold a current Australian passport with at least 2 years validity or have been listed on the Australian electoral roll at their current address for at least 12 months.

The guarantor cannot be related to the child or the person applying by birth or marriage, cannot have parental responsibility or legal guardianship for the child, cannot be in a de facto or registered relationship with a person who has parental responsibility, cannot live at the same address as the child or a person with parental responsibility, and cannot be an Australian Passport Officer or Australia Post employee.

What does the guarantor have to do?

The guarantor signs section 11 of the child passport application and the back of one of the child's passport photos. Using a black pen, the guarantor must write the required declaration identifying the image as a true photo of the child and include the child's full name.

The application must also contain the guarantor's full name, date of birth, daytime phone number and Australian passport details or electoral-roll address.

How parental consent works for a child passport

The simplest child passport application is one with full parental consent. Full parental consent means every person who has parental responsibility agrees to the child being issued with a passport or other travel document.

Each person giving consent must complete sections 12 to 15 of the child passport application. One person cannot sign for another parent or person with parental responsibility.

Consent signatures must be made in ink. The Australian Passport Office does not accept a digital signature as a substitute for the required witnessed signature.

Who has parental responsibility?

People with parental responsibility can include each person listed as a parent on the child's birth certificate and other people who have parental responsibility, guardianship or custody under Australian law or a relevant court order.

Because parental responsibility depends on the child's legal circumstances, provide all relevant court orders with the application rather than assuming that separation, divorce or living arrangements automatically remove another person's passport consent rights.

Who can witness parental consent?

Every parental consent signature must be witnessed by a person aged over 18. The witness must see the consenting person sign.

The witness cannot be related to the child or applicant by birth or marriage, cannot be a person with parental responsibility or legal guardianship for the child, cannot be in a de facto or registered relationship with a person who has parental responsibility, cannot live at the same address as the child or anyone with parental responsibility, and cannot be an Australian Passport Officer or Australia Post employee.

The witness does not have to be an Australian citizen. The same eligible witness can witness more than one consenting person's signature, and an eligible child's guarantor can also act as the consent witness. The witness must provide a daytime phone number.

How to give parental consent when parents are in different places

People with parental responsibility do not have to be together when they give consent. One option is for the person lodging the application to complete the online application and send the relevant form to each person providing consent. Each consenting person prints the form, completes sections 12 to 15 in front of an eligible witness, and can send a scan of the completed consent page back to the person lodging the application.

Alternatively, a person providing consent separately can obtain a child passport application form, complete the consent sections in front of a witness and submit the consent at a participating post office, a capital city passport office or an Australian embassy or consulate overseas. Photo identification is required when consent is submitted in person.

Does the child need to sign the passport application?

Yes, if the child is aged 10 or older, the child must also sign the application form.

If the child is aged 16 or 17, they must also attend when the application is lodged.

How to complete and lodge the child passport application

You can prepare the child passport application online through the Australian Passport Office application portal or complete the purple paper application form available from a participating post office.

An online application is not an entirely online passport service. After completing the online form, download and print it, then lodge the application in person with the required supporting documents and photos.

In Australia, the application is lodged at a participating Australia Post outlet. Bring the completed application, the child's passport photos, all original documents required by the application, and photo identification for the person lodging it showing their photo, signature and current address.

How much does an Australian child passport cost in 2026?

From 1 January 2026, the passport fee for a child under 16 is AUD $213. This passport is valid for up to 5 years.

A child aged 16 or 17 may receive a passport valid for up to 10 years. The applicable 2026 passport fee for a person aged 16 or over is AUD $422.

If eligible, faster processing is available for an additional fee. Priority processing costs AUD $308 and Fast Track processing costs AUD $107 in 2026.

How long does a child passport take?

The Australian Passport Office says to allow at least 6 weeks from lodging the application to get a child's new passport.

For eligible complete applications lodged in Australia with full parental consent, Priority service processes the application within 2 business days after the Australian Passport Office receives it, while Fast Track processes it within 5 business days. These processing periods do not include postage and delivery time.

Applications without full parental consent or a relevant Australian court order are outside the standard timeframe and can take considerably longer.

What if you cannot get full parental consent?

If you cannot obtain consent from every person with parental responsibility, first check whether an Australian court order permits the child to have an Australian passport, travel internationally, or live or spend time with someone outside Australia.

If such an Australian court order applies, the Australian Passport Office states that a passport can be issued without full parental consent. The application must include the originals of all court orders relating to the child, not only the most recent order, and a completed form B7.

Special circumstances without consent or a qualifying court order

If you do not have full parental consent and there is no relevant Australian court order, you can ask the Australian Passport Office to assess the application under special circumstances.

Where you cannot obtain full consent and no Australian court order permits passport issue, form B9 is generally required. Other circumstances have their own forms, including form B8 where only one parent is listed on the child's birth certificate, forms B4 and B5 for relevant surrogacy situations, and form B10 where the child is subject to an order under state or territory child welfare law.

You must provide supporting evidence relevant to your circumstances. This can include government or educational declarations, family violence orders, foreign court orders, judicial orders, medical documents or police documents.

The Australian Passport Office does not guarantee that a passport will be issued under special circumstances. If an application is refused, the application fee may not be refundable.

How long does an application without full consent take?

There is no standard processing time for a special-circumstances application. The Australian Passport Office states that these applications can take much longer because each case requires individual assessment.

Priority and Fast Track processing are not available for an application without full parental consent or a relevant Australian court order. The Australian Passport Office recommends not booking travel until the child's passport application has been approved.

What if a foreign court order applies?

A foreign court order does not automatically have the same effect as an Australian court order for passport consent purposes. The Australian Passport Office states that a foreign court order has legal effect under Australian passport law only if it has been registered under the Family Law Act 1975 or the Western Australian Family Court Act 1997, in which case it is treated as an Australian family court order.

Foreign court orders provided with a passport application must be in English or translated in full by an approved translation service.

What happens after the child passport application is lodged?

You can track the application using the application number. For routine applications, allow at least 6 weeks.

When the passport is ready, the Australian Passport Office normally sends it by Registered Post and emails when it has been dispatched. Once posted, it should generally arrive in about a week. Collection from a passport office can also be selected where the applicable collection requirements are met.