Form 956 and 956A: Appointing a Lawyer or Authorised Recipient on a 482 Application

Form 956A appoints an authorised recipient to receive the Department of Home Affairs’ letters on a visa or sponsorship matter, while Form 956 appoints your lawyer to give immigration assistance; both are lodged by attaching them to the application in ImmiAccount. Anyone can be an authorised recipient, but immigration assistance is restricted: an Australian migration lawyer may give it, and an unregistered agent who gives it breaks the law (Migration Act 1958, s 280; Form 956). Complete one form for each application or matter, have it signed by both the person appointing and the person appointed, and upload it to ImmiAccount, or send it with a paper application.

What is Form 956?

Home Affairs’ Form 956 (design date 08/22) tells the Department that a named person is giving you immigration assistance on a named application or matter. It appoints the Australian legal practitioner who gives the immigration assistance. The form asks for the lawyer’s Legal Practitioner Number.

Immigration assistance means using knowledge of migration procedure to prepare or advise on an application, or to represent someone in a proceeding, under section 276 of the Migration Act 1958. Form 956 says that simply filling in a form for someone, translating or passing on information is not immigration assistance.

What is Form 956A, and how does an authorised recipient differ?

Home Affairs’ Form 956A (design date 03/21) appoints an authorised recipient, or withdraws one. An authorised recipient has no role beyond receiving documents:

1. They receive every document the Department would otherwise send to the applicant.
2. The applicant is taken to have received what is sent to the recipient, so every deadline in a letter runs from that point.
3. The Department does not discuss the case with the recipient unless they are also the applicant’s representative or the applicant has consented.
4. There is only one authorised recipient at a time for each application or matter. The Department writes to the most recently appointed.

Form 956A warns that the documents sent to a recipient may include health and character information about the applicant. The Home Affairs Authorised recipients page (updated 23 September 2024) sets out the same rules.

Form 956A for a child or a family member

Everyone listed on one Form 956A shares the same recipient. A person aged 16 or over who wants a different recipient completes a separate Form 956A.

Who signs, and who can be appointed?

The two forms need different signatures:

• Form 956: the lawyer signs the appointee’s declaration in Part C (question 23), and the client signs the client’s declaration (question 24).
• Form 956A: the applicant, the authorised recipient, and every other person aged 16 or over who appoints the same recipient.

Both forms name the clients who can make an appointment:

• a visa applicant;
• a sponsor or a sponsor applicant;
• a nominator or a nominator applicant;
• a visa holder facing cancellation;
• a person seeking ministerial intervention.

The Home Affairs page Who can help with your application (updated 16 April 2026) explains who may give immigration assistance and who may receive letters.

How do you lodge or withdraw the form in ImmiAccount?

Sponsors and applicants who do not have an account yet need to create an ImmiAccount before they can attach either form online.

Which other forms sit beside Form 956?

Four other Home Affairs forms often travel with an appointment:

• Personal particulars: Form 80 and Form 1221, completed when Home Affairs asks for them.
• Form 1022, Notification of changes in circumstances.
• Form 1023, Notification of incorrect answers.
• Form 1229, consent for a child under 18.

On a 482: the sponsorship, the nomination and the visa application

A 482 case is three applications, and each one is its own matter for Form 956:

• Three matters, three forms. The sponsorship application, the nomination and the visa application are separate applications, and Form 956 is completed for each matter (Form 956, “Who should use this form?”).
• The sponsor stays responsible. A business that appoints a lawyer still carries its sponsor obligations itself, as the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page says under “Your obligations”.
• Who receives the letters. Requests for more information and decision letters on the nomination go to the nominator’s recipient, and those on the visa go to the applicant’s recipient. A worker whose employer’s lawyer is named on the nomination should check who is named on the visa application too.

The first of the three matters is the employer’s own approval as a sponsor, covered in the guide to business sponsorship visa Australia rules.

An immigration lawyer makes a missed request less likely because they lodge a separate Form 956 for the sponsorship, the nomination and the visa application, so every request and deadline letter on each matter reaches someone who acts on it. A letter sent to an authorised recipient counts as received by the applicant, and a request left unanswered lets Home Affairs decide on the information it already holds.

Supplementary: do you need a migration lawyer for a 482?

Giving immigration assistance on a particular case is an offence for anyone who is not an Australian legal practitioner (Migration Act 1958, s 280), and an Australian migration lawyer may give it. What a lawyer does on a 482, and when it matters most, is answered in do you need a migration lawyer for a 482 visa.