# Balance of family test

> reg-1.05 — as in force on 2026-06-01 — F2026C00497 · Compilation No. 287 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026C00497/latest/text

1.05 Balance of family test
          (1) For the purposes of this regulation:
               (a) a person is a child of another person (the parent) if the person is a child or
                    step-child of:
                      (i) the parent; or
                     (ii) a current spouse or current de facto partner of the parent; and
               (b) if the whereabouts of a child of the parent are unknown, the child is taken
                    to be resident in the child’s last known usual country of residence.








          (2) For this regulation:
               (a) a child of the parent is an eligible child if the child is:
                      (i) an Australian citizen; or
                     (ii) an Australian permanent resident usually resident in Australia; or
                    (iii) an eligible New Zealand citizen usually resident in Australia; and
               (b) any other child of the parent is an ineligible child.
        (2A) An ineligible child is taken to be resident overseas.
        (2B) The overseas country in which an ineligible child is taken to reside is:
              (a) the overseas country in which the child is usually resident; or
              (b) the last overseas country in which the child was usually resident; or
              (c) if the child no longer has a right of return to the country mentioned in
                  paragraph (a) or (b)—the child’s country of citizenship.
        (2C) A parent satisfies the balance of family test if the number of eligible children is
             greater than or equal to the number of ineligible children.
        (2D) However, if the greatest number of children who are:
               (a) ineligible children; and
               (b) usually resident in a particular overseas country;
             is less than the number of eligible children, then the parent satisfies the balance
             of family test.
          (3) In applying the balance of family test, no account is to be taken of a child of the
              parent:
                (a) if the child has been removed by court order, by adoption or by operation
                    of law (other than in consequence of marriage) from the exclusive custody
                    of the parent; or
                (b) if the child is resident in a country where the child suffers persecution or
                    abuse of human rights and it is not possible to reunite the child and the
                    parent in another country; or
                (c) if the child:
                      (i) is resident in a refugee camp operated by the United Nations High
                          Commissioner for Refugees; and
                     (ii) is registered by the Commissioner as a refugee.