Intercountry adoption

Citizenship certificate

Make sure you have evidence of your child's Australian citizenship. Only Australian citizens can get an Australian passport.

You can apply for citizenship for your child or check for evidence of their citizenship at the Department of Home Affairs(Opens in a new tab/window).

Evidence of adoption

If your child doesn't have an Australian birth certificate, you’ll need to show us evidence of adoption.

This can include an:

• adoption order
• adoption compliance certificate
• equivalent document showing the full names of the child and adoptive parents.

You generally won’t need to provide evidence of adoption for future passport applications unless there are changes to:

• who has parental responsibility for your child
• your child's details such as name, gender, date of birth or place of birth.

Parental responsibility

To process a child passport application, we need to confirm who has parental responsibility for the child.

If your child doesn’t have an Australian or foreign birth certificate listing their adoptive parents, an adoption order, adoption certificate, or an equivalent may be acceptable.

Foreign documents

Any foreign documents you provide need to be in English or translated in full by:

• an approved translation service
• an official of the relevant Australian state or territory central authority
• the foreign adoption agency.

You can also provide an Information Letter. It must be on the letterhead of the relevant Australian state or territory central authority. The letter must also include the:

• child's name and date of birth
• full names of the adoptive parents.

Guarantor

When applying for a child passport in Australia, you need to find someone to be the child’s guarantor. This usually needs to be someone who has known the child for at least 12 months or since birth if the child is under one year of age.

The first time you apply for a passport for a child adopted through intercountry adoption, you may not be able to find a guarantor who meets these requirements.

In this case, you can use a guarantor who has known the child since the date of adoption or the date they arrived in Australia.

If your child is overseas and there’s an urgent need for them to travel before we can issue a full-validity passport, you can apply for an emergency passport. You must have the  consent of every person with parental responsibility for the child.

Emergency passports are only valid for up to 12 months and don’t have a passport chip. This means there are restrictions on using them in some countries. Check the visa and passport requirements of any country you plan to enter or transit through.

You can continue to apply for a full-validity child passport at the same time as you apply for an emergency passport. You can collect the full-validity passport when you return to Australia.

Intercountry Adoption Australia (IAA) is an information and referral service for people wanting to adopt a child from overseas.

IAA can connect you to resources and services and guide you through any stage of the intercountry adoption process.

For more information, contact us or visit Intercountry Adoption Australia(Opens in a new tab/window).

If you're an Australian citizen or permanent resident living overseas, and you've adopted a child without the involvement of Australian authorities, or you're in the process of doing so, see the Expatriate Adoption Factsheet (PDF 97 KB)(Opens in a new tab/window) for more information.