A IT consultant in Melbourne, MBA from Monash Business School 2019 (originally arrived as a student in 2017), moved through a Subclass 485 post-study work permit and then onto a Subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa in 2022, applied for a Subclass 309 offshore partner visa in February 2026 to bring his wife from Bengaluru. The marriage had been registered at the Bengaluru Sub-Registrar in November 2025 after a December 2024 traditional wedding in his wife's family home in Hubballi. The Subclass 309 file at the Australian High Commission Delhi needed apostille on the marriage certificate, MEA apostille on his wife's class-twelve Karnataka State Board certificate, MEA apostille on her BSc Architecture from Bangalore University (she is also a working professional), MEA apostille on her birth certificate from the Hubballi Municipal Corporation, and a fresh PCC from the Bengaluru Passport Seva Kendra Lalbagh. Australia has been a Hague apostille destination for Indian documents since 1995, so the route stayed clean through the authorised MEA service-provider route. The Karnataka HRD step ran through the State Higher Education Department Multistoreyed Building Bengaluru. MEA apostille at the authorised MEA service-provider route. Roughly three weeks end to end in India. The Department of Home Affairs Australian processing window for partner visas was running at 18 to 24 months in 2026. She used the time to complete her IELTS and AHPRA equivalent recognition while waiting for the partner visa grant. The documentation in India was the smallest part of the timeline.
That timing-against-Australian-side rhythm is the pattern most Indian families heading to Australia run through. Most Indian families in Australia did not start with a family visa. They started with a student visa. One member of the family arrived to study at the University of Melbourne, UNSW, Sydney, Monash, RMIT, the University of Queensland or one of the polytechnic colleges in Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide. After graduation they moved onto a Subclass 485 post-study work permit, then onto a skilled migration visa, and only after that did they sponsor their spouse and children to follow. By the time the family papers reach our Noida desk, the route is usually a partner visa (Subclass 309 offshore or Subclass 820 onshore) along with a dependent child visa (Subclass 445 or Subclass 101, depending on the partner-visa stage).
Australia has been a Hague apostille country for Indian documents since 1995. The in India route is therefore quick and predictable. It runs through a state-level stamp, MEA apostille in Delhi, and tracked return of the originals. The slow parts of an Australia file do not sit in India. They sit on the Australian side, where the Department of Home Affairs is taking 12 to 30 months to read partner visas in 2026, plus the time for medical exams, police checks and language tests.
This page is for the spouse and children following a sponsor in Australia, and for families landing as new permanent residents through the skilled migration stream with dependants attached to the main applicant. It is written for the spouse putting documents together in India, and for the sponsor in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide or Canberra planning the timing from the Australian side.
The 18-to-30-month DHA partner-visa queue, and what that means for the in India timing
The partner visa queue itself is the dominant fact on an Australia family file. Subclass 309 offshore partner visas are taking 12 to 24 months to grant in 2026. Subclass 820 onshore is taking 12 to 30 months for the temporary stage. This is not a fact you can change. It is a fact that shapes when you put the in India documents together.
PCC freshness rule. The PCC has to be dated within twelve months of submission. Order the PCC after the rest of the route is moving, not before. If you order it too early, it expires before DHA reads the file and you pay for a fresh one.
Name mismatches. DHA reads names against the passport, the marriage certificate, the birth certificates and the application forms. Different spellings produce a request for additional information that stalls the file. The fix is a name-change affidavit signed before a Sub-Registrar, added to the apostille set.
Genuine Student (GS) requirement for student-visa applicants. If your family's pathway runs through a student visa for the principal applicant, the GS requirement (which replaced the older Genuine Temporary Entrant test in late 2023) means a detailed statement from the candidate about their intent, prior education, English ability and reasons for studying in Australia. A weak GS statement is a common refusal reason in 2026. The GS statement is the candidate's own writing.
IELTS and PTE language tests. Since April 2024, the IELTS bar for Subclass 500 (student) is 6.0 overall, and for Subclass 485 (post-study graduate) is 6.5 overall. Partner-visa applicants have a separate Functional English requirement (typically IELTS 4.5 overall, with the alternative of paying for a bonded English course on arrival in Australia).
Health and character requirements. DHA panel physicians in your city handle the medical exam (eMedical through Bupa Medical Visa Services in most Indian cities). The character requirement reads the PCC and the application forms for criminal history. Any prior conviction has to be declared. Non-disclosure is treated as misrepresentation and is a refusal ground.
The apostille bundle for the Subclass 309, 820 or 445 file
The marriage certificate from the right Indian authority. The Registrar of Marriages, the Sub-Registrar office, or the Marriage Officer who registered the marriage under the relevant marriage law (Hindu Marriage Act 1955, Special Marriage Act 1954, Christian Marriage Act 1872, Muslim Personal Law, Parsi Marriage Act). The certificate has to be the typed, registered version with the registrar's seal. The Department of Home Affairs takes a strict line on handwritten marriage certificates from rural Sub-Registrar offices. If yours is handwritten, ask the Sub-Registrar office for a typed re-issue before the apostille work begins.
The full long-form birth certificate of each dependent child. The Municipal Corporation or the Registrar of Births and Deaths issues this with both parents' names visible. Pre-2000 short-form certificates that only list the child's name and date of birth are not accepted by DHA.
A Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) from India for every adult in the family. The Regional Passport Office (RPO) issues the PCC in most cases. DHA accepts the RPO version, dated within twelve months of visa submission.
The sponsor's Australian documents (PR Card or citizenship certificate, evidence of the relationship, tax or income evidence if the file is going through the Assurance of Support route) never move through India. The sponsor uploads them directly to ImmiAccount.
Passports for every family member, with at least twenty-four months of validity on the day you submit the application. Short-validity passports produce short-validity visa labels.
If the principal applicant is still on a temporary visa rather than PR, the dependants' visa class changes (Subclass 445 instead of Subclass 101 or 802). The documents are similar, but the visa form changes.
If the principal applicant is also putting through a skilled visa or a graduate visa, their academic transcripts, internship completion certificates and any professional registration documents need to be apostilled on the same set of steps. For many professions a skills assessment is needed from ACS (for IT), Engineers Australia, AHPRA (for medical and nursing), VETASSESS (for a range of professions) or CPA Australia. The apostilled credentials are what those bodies will ask for.
The in India timing windows
Australia has been a Hague Apostille destination for Indian documents since 1995. The route runs through two main steps on the India side.
State-level stamp. Maharashtra Mantralaya Mumbai, Karnataka SHED Multistoreyed Building Bengaluru, Tamil Nadu DTE Guindy, Telangana SHED Tarnaka, AP SHED Mangalagiri, Kerala SHED Thiruvananthapuram and several other states route personal documents through SDM or the State Home Department. Other states accept a stamp from a registered notary public. Three to seven working days.
MEA apostille at the authorised MEA service-provider route counter. Three to five working days through the standard MEA channel.
Certified English translation only if the marriage certificate is in a regional Indian language. For most English-medium Indian civil documents this is not needed.
PCC has its own timing. Seven to fourteen working days at the RPO. Once issued, MEA apostille adds another three to five working days.
Tracked return courier from Delhi: three to seven working days inside India, seven to fourteen working days for delivery in Australia.
Whole work in India runs three to six weeks. If a certificate needs re-issue or names need to be reconciled, add one to three weeks.
What we run from Noida on an Australia family file
When you first send us photos of the certificates on WhatsApp at +91 9220161774, we read them with a DHA eye. We tell you what needs to be re-issued, where names need to be reconciled, and the order to take the steps in. We share the realistic timeline and the cost end to end before you pay anything.
Once the originals reach our Noida office at C-25, C Block, Sector 8, we run the work in India. State-level stamp where needed, MEA apostille at the authorised MEA service-provider route, PCC apostille after the RPO issues the PCC, certified English translation when the certificate is in a regional Indian language, and tracked return courier to you in India or directly to your sponsor in Australia. Named SiZA staff carry the documents between offices in Delhi NCR. We do not hand originals to a bike-aggregator app.
We do not file DHA applications. The partner visa, the dependent child visa, the student visa, the post-study graduate visa and the skilled migration visa are filed by you or by a Registered Migration Agent in Australia. We do not run skills assessments (ACS, Engineers Australia, AHPRA, VETASSESS, CPA Australia and the other assessing bodies do that). We do not book DHA medical exams at Bupa Medical Visa Services. We do not write Genuine Student statements. We do not handle Medicare registration, school admissions, banking or anything inside Australia after the family arrives.
For a free scan-review on your Australia family file, send a WhatsApp message to +91 9220161774 with photos of the marriage certificate, the children's birth certificates and the sponsor's Australian visa or citizenship document.
Two related pages on the SiZA site: Australia country documentation guide, apostille services, certified translation services, families-moving-abroad audience guide.
