Application, fees, times
Australian citizenship cost in 2026: every fee, and what a family pays
Pick the application and the number of people below to get the total Home Affairs will charge, then read where each fee comes from.
Independent, non-government site: tests, applications and appointments are handled only on the Home Affairs website.
Fees to pay Home Affairs
$1,190
| Conferral, general eligibility (2 × $595) | $1,190 |
| Child under 16 on a parent’s form | nil |
Form 1298i (design date 07/26). Fees are indexed every 1 July; a card payment surcharge may apply. This site takes no fee and sends no application.
Australian citizenship by conferral costs $595 in 2026 for an applicant aged 18 to 59 using form 1300t, the general eligibility application, and that fee already includes the citizenship test and any resit. The concession fee is $85, open only to holders of a valid Pensioner Concession Card. Applicants in other situations, such as teenagers aged 16 or 17 and people aged 60 or over, use form 1290 at $365, or $40 with the card. Children under 16 on a responsible parent's form pay nothing. Citizenship by descent costs $380 for the first child and $160 for each brother or sister applying at the same time, the same scale as Hague adoption. Giving up citizenship costs $320, resuming it $255, and evidence of citizenship $290. These are the amounts on form 1298i, design date July 2026; fees are indexed to the consumer price index on 1 July each year, and some Home Affairs pages still show last year's lower figures.
Conferral fee for my household
Fees to pay
$1,190
| Each adult | $595 |
| Each 16 or 17 year old | $365 |
| Children under 16 | nil on a parent’s form |
Questions, dates and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How questions and dates are built
The fee schedule, form by form
| Application | Form | Fee | Concession |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conferral, general eligibility (aged 18 to 59) | 1300t | $595 | $85 |
| Conferral, other situations | 1290 | $365 | $40 |
| Child under 16 on a responsible parent’s form | 1300t or 1290 | nil | nil |
| Descent, first child | 118 | $380 | n/a |
| Descent, each sibling at the same time | 118 | $160 | n/a |
| Hague or bilateral adoption, first child | 1272 | $380 | n/a |
| Adoption, each sibling at the same time | 1272 | $160 | n/a |
| Renunciation | 128 | $320 | n/a |
| Resumption (children under 16 on the form: nil) | 132 | $255 | n/a |
| Evidence of citizenship (certificate) | 119 | $290 | n/a |
Which conferral fee applies to you
Conferral is the route for permanent residents, and it has two forms. Form 1300t, general eligibility, is for applicants aged 18 to 59, who sit the citizenship test: $595, and the test and any resits are included. Form 1290, other situations, covers applicants who apply on another basis, such as a 16 or 17 year old applying alone, a person aged 60 or over, or someone with an incapacity: $365. On both forms a responsible parent can include children under 16 at no charge. The panel under the summary adds these up for a household; the page on children explains which child goes on which form.
Who pays less, and who pays nothing
The concession fee is $85 on form 1300t and $40 on form 1290. It needs a valid Pensioner Concession Card issued by Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs, with you as primary cardholder, or with you listed as a dependant if you are 17 or younger. Health Care Cards, student cards and Seniors Health Cards do not qualify. Three groups pay nothing at all: people who served at least 90 days in the permanent forces, British and Maltese former child migrants who came without their parents between 22 September 1947 and 31 December 1967, and people applying under the statelessness provision in section 21(8) of the Act. Fee exemptions require the paper form. Details are on the fee concession page.
Which conferral form and fee are mine?
Fee from form 1298i
$595
| Application | form 1300t, general eligibility |
| Citizenship test | yes |
| Lodging | online or paper |
Descent, adoption and the sibling rate
A child born overseas to an Australian citizen applies by descent on form 118. The first application costs $380; each brother or sister applying at the same time costs $160, so three children lodged together come to $700. Children adopted overseas under the Hague Convention or a bilateral arrangement follow the same scale on form 1272. The saving only applies to applications made together, so families planning several applications gain by lodging them on the same day. The descent page covers eligibility, including the extra residence condition for parents who were themselves citizens by descent.
Leaving, returning and proving citizenship
Renouncing Australian citizenship costs $320 on form 128. Resuming it costs $255 on form 132, with children under 16 on the same form free. A certificate, called evidence of Australian citizenship, costs $290 on form 119; it is free when it replaces one lost, destroyed or damaged in a natural disaster on the department's list, if you apply within 18 months of the date given for that disaster. The renunciation, resumption and certificate pages explain each process.
Why some official pages show other amounts
On 25 October 2026 several Home Affairs pages had not caught up with the fee form. The permanent resident page still said $285 for applicants aged 18 to 59, $40 with a concession card, $180 for 16 and 17 year olds and $20 for them with a card. The descent page showed $230 and $95 per sibling, the give up page $205 and the become a citizen again page $210. Form 1298i is the fee schedule itself, dated July 2026, and the fees it lists are the ones specified in the Australian Citizenship Regulation 2016, so this site follows the form. If in doubt, the amount ImmiAccount asks you to pay at lodgement is the one that counts.
How and when you pay
For an online application, the fee is paid in ImmiAccount when you lodge. For a paper application, you pre-pay electronically through the My Payments section of ImmiAccount (Manage Payments, then Pre-Pay Paper Service, then Pre-Pay Citizenship Paper Application) and post the receipt with the form. A surcharge may apply depending on the payment method; Home Affairs lists it on its how to pay page. Applicants claiming a fee exemption send the paper form without payment. An application without the correct charge cannot be processed: the department will tell you and may send it back, which costs time.
Three households, three totals
A couple aged 34 and 36 with two children of 6 and 9 lodges one form each, with the children on one parent's form: $1,190 in all, because the children add nothing. The same couple with a 16 year old pays $1,555, since the teenager must apply alone on form 1290. A widowed pensioner of 58 holding a Pensioner Concession Card in her own name pays $85, a saving of $510 on the general fee. An Australian citizen living overseas who applies by descent for her three children on the same day pays $700 rather than $1,140. In every case the test, the appointment and the ceremony cost nothing more.
Timing your application around 1 July
Form 1298i states that citizenship fees are indexed on 1 July each year in line with the consumer price index. The fee charged is the one in force when you lodge, so an applicant whose residence date falls in late June has a reason not to wait. Remember that applying before you meet the residence rule is not a saving: the application can be refused and the fee is not carried over. The residence calculator gives the first day you can lodge, and the application guide lists what to have ready on that day.