How Do I Prove My Relationship to My 115 Sponsor in 2026?

Plain-language guide · general information, not immigration advice

You prove your relationship to a Subclass 115 sponsor with civil registration records, not with photos, letters or money transfers. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Remaining Relative visa (Subclass 115) page, as of July 2026, the documents the department asks you to give for this purpose are a birth certificate, marriage certificates, death certificates, adoption certificates, and — where officially issued and maintained — family status certificates or family books. Which of these you actually need depends entirely on the shape of your family: a sibling link is built from birth records, a step link needs a marriage record in the chain, and a link that runs through someone who has died needs a death certificate to close the gap.

This article is general information drawn from that official page, not advice tailored to your situation; where your records are unusual or incomplete, the current official requirements and a professional opinion on your own facts should decide what you lodge.

Which relationships can be sponsored for the 115 visa?

The relationship has to fall inside the categories the visa recognises. The eligibility criteria state you must be sponsored by an eligible parent or step-parent, sibling or step-sibling, or an eligible partner of your relative, and the sponsorship itself must be approved.

Two things follow from that. First, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews are not sponsors for this visa — the "remaining relative" concept is built around the narrow band above. Second, the sponsor also has to be aged 18 or over and be a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, and must complete Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia. Proof of the relationship and proof of the sponsor's status are separate tasks, even though both sit in the same document bundle.

What documents does the department actually list?

The step-by-step document list for the sponsor relationship is short:

Birth certificate — the baseline record for parent-child and sibling links.
Marriage certificates — used when the link runs through a marriage, for example a step-parent or step-sibling relationship, or the sponsor's status as your relative's partner.
Death certificates — used when a person in the chain has died, so the record can still be completed.
Adoption certificates — used where the parent-child relationship was created by adoption rather than birth.
Family status certificates or family books — accepted only if they are officially issued and maintained.

The practical reading of that list is that these documents are meant to be read as a chain. A sibling application typically shows both children on birth records sharing a parent; a step-sibling application needs the birth records plus the marriage record that created the step relationship; an application through a deceased parent needs that parent's death certificate alongside the birth record. Nothing on the official page replaces this with statutory declarations, witness statements or photographic evidence.

What if the names on my documents don't match?

Name mismatches are the most common reason a relationship document looks weak, and identity rules give you a defined way to fix them.

Alongside your passport pages showing your photo, personal details and issue and expiry dates, the department asks for a national identity card if you have one, and for proof of change of name. The documents it accepts as proof of a change of name are a marriage or divorce certificate, change of name documents from an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages or the relevant overseas authority, and documents that show other names you have been known by.

If your birth certificate carries a name you no longer use, the fix is a name-change record from the issuing authority plus, where the change came from marriage or divorce, that certificate. The same page warns that failing to prove identity brings heavier consequences than a missing relationship document: the application will be refused, and the department might not grant you another visa for 10 years, and might not grant a visa to family members listed on your application for 10 years.

What if a certificate is missing or was never officially issued?

The honest answer is that the list is closed: the department names those five document types, and a document that was never officially issued does not become acceptable because it is old or detailed. That said, the list leaves two openings worth understanding.

The first is the family status certificate or family book, which the page accepts when officially issued and maintained. Where a country maintains a household or family register as an official record, that record is the substitute the list contemplates rather than a workaround invented for the application.

The second is timing. The official page tells applicants that if they did not include all necessary documents when they applied, they should provide them as soon as they can, and the department may also ask for more information. So a gap identified early is not automatically fatal — it is something you are expected to close. Being told later that a document is missing is treated as a request to supply it, and the page is explicit that incomplete applications may be invalid, so the cheapest outcome is to close gaps before lodgement rather than after.

Where a gap genuinely cannot be closed with an official record, the realistic consequence is a relationship the department will not accept for this visa, not a substitute document you have not yet found.

Does my sponsor's citizenship certificate prove our relationship?

No. The citizenship certificate, passport, or — for eligible New Zealand citizens — valid visa, prove that your sponsor is an eligible citizen or permanent resident. They say nothing about how you are related to each other. A complete application therefore contains two separate proofs: your relationship chain, and your sponsor's status.

For context on what the department treats as relationship evidence outside civil registration records, the same page's partner section lists joint bank account statements, billing accounts in joint names, joint leases or mortgages, and documents showing shared address as proof of a de facto relationship of at least 12 months. Those examples belong to the migrating-partner context rather than the sponsor-relationship list, but they show the pattern: where the department cannot rely on a birth or marriage record, it looks for records created by institutions, not for personal accounts of the relationship.

How do these documents get lodged?

The 115 is a paper application. You complete Form 47OF Application for migration to Australia and your sponsor completes Form 40, you must be outside Australia when you apply, and you send everything by post or courier to the Parent, Child and Other Family Processing Centre in Perth at the address on the form.

Send certified copies, not originals — the page says plainly not to send original documents with the application. Keep a copy of the completed application and supporting documents for your own records.

After lodgement, applications made outside Australia on or after 25 June 2020 can be imported into ImmiAccount using your application ID, date of birth and identity document number, which lets you attach supporting documents, view messages and update your details. If you later realise an answer on the form was wrong, the page directs you to Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers. You must also remain outside Australia when the decision is made.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the single most important document for proving a 115 sponsor relationship?

For most applicants it is the birth certificate, because parent, sibling and step relationships are all traced back through birth records. Marriage certificates come in when the link runs through a marriage, and death or adoption certificates close the specific gaps those events create.

Can I use photos, chat records or money transfers as proof?

The official list does not include them. The department asks for birth, marriage, death and adoption certificates, plus family status certificates or family books where officially issued and maintained — all records produced by an issuing authority rather than evidence created by the people involved.

My sponsor is my sibling's husband or wife. What do I need?

The eligibility criteria allow sponsorship by an eligible partner of your relative. In practice that means proving two links: your relationship to the relative, and the marriage or partner relationship that makes that person an eligible partner.

I don't have a birth certificate. Can a family book replace it?

Yes, if the family book or family status certificate is officially issued and maintained. That qualifier is on the official page and it is the whole test — an unofficial or privately compiled record does not meet it.

Should I post my original certificates to Perth?

No. The department instructs applicants not to send original documents, only certified copies, and to keep a copy of the completed application and supporting documents for their own records.

What happens if I can't prove the relationship at all?

The application cannot succeed on an unproven relationship, and the department does not refund the application fee if it refuses. The harsher 10-year consequences on the official page are tied specifically to failing to prove identity, which is a separate requirement from proving the relationship.