Application, fees, times
Citizenship fee concession: who pays less, and who pays nothing
Choose the card you hold to see the fee you would pay, then check the three fee exemptions below the summary.
Independent, non-government site: tests, applications and appointments are handled only on the Home Affairs website.
Can I pay the concession fee?
Fee to pay
$85
| Concession accepted | yes |
| Only card accepted | Pensioner Concession Card |
| How to apply | online with a scan of both sides of the card (fee concessions page) |
The citizenship fee concession cuts the general eligibility fee from $595 to $85, and the other situations fee from $365 to $40, under form 1298i of July 2026. Only one card opens it: a valid, unexpired Pensioner Concession Card issued by Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs, with your name as the primary cardholder, or with you listed as a dependant if you are 17 or younger. Health Care Cards, student cards and Seniors Health Cards are refused for this purpose, however low your income. You prove the concession with both sides of the card: a scan for an online application, a certified copy on paper. Separately, three groups pay no fee at all and must apply on paper: people with at least 90 days in the permanent forces, British and Maltese former child migrants who arrived alone between 22 September 1947 and 31 December 1967, and applicants under the statelessness provision. Children under 16 on a parent's form pay nothing in any case.
Am I exempt from the citizenship fee?
Fee on form 1300t
Nil
| Exemption | yes |
| Proof to send | ADF letter or discharge papers with service dates |
| Lodging | paper form only |
Questions, dates and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How questions and dates are built
The concession in numbers
| Application | Full fee | With a Pensioner Concession Card | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 1300t, general eligibility | $595 | $85 | $510 |
| Form 1290, other situations | $365 | $40 | $325 |
| Child under 16 on a parent’s form | nil | nil | none |
The concession exists only for conferral, the route for permanent residents. Descent, adoption, renunciation, resumption and evidence applications have a single fee each, listed on the cost page.
The card: three conditions
Home Affairs sets three tests. First, the card is a Pensioner Concession Card issued by the Australian Government, through Services Australia or the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Second, your name appears on it as primary cardholder, or you are 17 or younger and listed as a dependant. Third, it has not expired. The concessions page shows examples of both issuers' cards, front and back, so you can compare yours. A partner who is not the primary holder and is over 17 does not qualify through the other person's card.
Cards that do not work
The list of refusals is short and firm: Health Care Cards, Student Cards and Seniors Health Cards cannot be used to get the reduced fee. This catches many retirees, who hold a Seniors Health Card and assume it counts. The fee form repeats the rule word for word, so there is no discretion to argue at lodgement.
How to claim it
Attach both sides of the card to the application. The fee concessions page, updated in July 2026, says eligible applicants can apply online in ImmiAccount with a scan, while a paper application needs a certified copy. Be aware that the summary box on the permanent resident page still lists concession holders among those who must apply on paper; the online or paper page sets out that contradiction. Either way the card goes in with the application, not later.
No fee at all: the three exemptions
An exemption is different from a concession: the fee is nil, and the application must be on paper, never online. Form 1298i grants it to:
- people who served at least 90 days in total in the permanent forces of the Commonwealth, with a letter or discharge papers from the Australian Defence Force giving service dates (the defence service page covers the related residence exemption);
- British and Maltese former child migrants who came to Australia without their parents between 22 September 1947 and 31 December 1967 under the Commonwealth Child Migration Scheme, with a letter from the Child Migrants Trust;
- people applying under the statelessness provision, section 21(8) of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007.
The panel under the summary tells you which of these, if any, fits, and what proof to send.
A worked example
Take a household of three: a mother of 52 who is the primary holder of a Pensioner Concession Card, her son of 17 listed as a dependant on that card, and her daughter of 11. The mother pays $85 on form 1300t instead of $595. The son applies alone on form 1290 and pays $40 instead of $365. The daughter goes on her mother's form at no charge. The family total is $125, against $960 without the card.
When the fee changes
Home Affairs warns that citizenship fees usually rise on 1 July each year with indexation, and the concession amounts move with them. Several department pages still showed older amounts in October 2026, including $40 for the concession; form 1298i, which lists $85, is the schedule we follow. Applicants aged 60 or over should also read the page for older applicants, since they use the other situations form.