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Some websites offer to help you apply for an Australian passport, but they’re not official.  

They may charge unnecessary fees or collect your personal information without your consent.

Only apply for an Australian passport through the official government website: passports.gov.au

Protect yourself online by following these tips: 

• only use the official government website passports.gov.au to apply for a passport
• never share personal information on third-party websites
• check the URL ends in ‘.gov.au’ to ensure it’s legitimate.

If you’ve already used an unofficial site, contact IDCare for more advice. 

Child applications can take longer to process, particularly in cases without full parental consent. 

Not sure what we mean when we talk about parental responsibility and full parental consent? 

We have helpful videos that explain the child application process and the consent requirements. Watch them on our child passport video guides page.

It's important that you get a good quality passport photo.

A poor-quality photo can slow down your passport application. It can also cause difficulties when crossing borders.

We have a helpful video that gives some great tips on making sure you get your photo right the first time. You can find the video on our photo guidelines page.

Make sure you check that your family’s passports are travel ready, this means that each passport:

• is free from damage
• has some blank visa pages
• is valid for at least 6 months after your trip ends.

If you need a new passport, you should allow at least 6 weeks to receive it.

Need a passport quickly? You might be eligible for one of our faster processing services for an extra fee.

Our status tracker lets you check the progress of your passport application. You’ll need your application number to use it.

Not sure where to find your application number? There are a few different places you can find it, such as:

• on the Australia Post payment receipt from when you paid the passport fee
• in the confirmation email we sent when you created your online application
• in the ‘Applications created’ section when you log into your AusPassport account.

For more information, including helpful images, see where can I find my application number?