How to Create an ImmiAccount: Step-by-Step Guide

What is an ImmiAccount?

An ImmiAccount is the Department of Home Affairs online portal for lodging and managing Australian visa applications. It is free, it is operated by the Department, and you reach it at online.immi.gov.au.

The Department lists what an ImmiAccount can be used for. You can apply for a visa or citizenship, apply for an APEC Business Travel Card, apply for Australian Trusted Trader, access LEGENDcom, request visitor access to immigration detention facilities, create an organisation VEVO account, and access an education provider report if you are a principal executive officer.

The Department also lists two things you must not use it for. Do not use ImmiAccount to apply for an Electronic Travel Authority. Do not use it to check the status of a citizenship application lodged on form 1300t or form 1290 before 17 April 2015.

For most people reading this, one use matters. It is the place where an Australian visa application is started, paid for, evidenced and decided. It is also the place the Department can lawfully serve documents on you, which is the part almost nobody explains.

Is an ImmiAccount the same as a myGov account?

No. ImmiAccount and myGov are separate systems run by different agencies.

myGov is the Australian Government portal for services such as Medicare, Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office. ImmiAccount is the Department of Home Affairs portal for immigration and citizenship. The two do not share a login. They do not share your data. Creating one does not create the other.

You can hold both at the same time, and many people do. A myGov login will not get you into ImmiAccount, and a Home Affairs officer cannot see your myGov inbox. If you are told to check "your government account" about a visa matter, it means ImmiAccount.

Does creating an ImmiAccount start a visa application?

No. Creating an ImmiAccount only creates the workspace. It does not lodge anything, it does not reserve a place in a queue, and it does not stop any clock.

This distinction matters more than it sounds. People in Australia on a visa that is about to expire sometimes create an account, start filling in a form, and believe they have applied. They have not. A visa application is made when the application is validly lodged and the visa application charge is paid. An unsubmitted form sitting in an ImmiAccount is not an application. It gives you no bridging visa and no lawful status.

If your current visa is close to expiry, the date that matters is the date of valid lodgement, not the date you created the account or started the form.

Why does an ImmiAccount matter legally, not just practically?

Because the Migration Act 1958 treats your ImmiAccount as a place the Department can formally give you documents.

Section 494B of the Act sets out the methods by which the Minister may give a document to a person. Subsection 494B(5A) provides for a method that consists of the Minister making the document available by way of an online account of the recipient established for purposes relating to the Act or the Regulations. That is ImmiAccount.

Section 494C then sets out when you are taken to have received it. Under section 494C(6), where the document is given by making it available through an online account, the person is taken to have received the document at the end of the day on which it is made available.

Read that again, because it is the single most important sentence on this page. You are taken to have received the document at the end of that day. Not when you log in. Not when you open it. Not when your cousin translates it for you. The law deems receipt, and your deadlines start running from the deemed date.

The other methods work the same way. Under section 494C(5), a document transmitted by fax, email or other electronic means is taken to have been received at the end of the day it is transmitted. Under section 494C(4), a document dispatched by prepaid post is taken to have been received 7 working days after the date of the document if it was sent from a place in Australia to an address in Australia, and 21 days after the date of the document in any other case.

Section 494C(7) closes the obvious gap. If the Department makes an error in the way it gives you a document, but you receive the document or a copy of it anyway, the document is still taken to have been given properly. You are taken to have received it at the time the section specifies, or at a later time if you can show you actually received it later.

What deadlines actually run from your ImmiAccount inbox?

Most of the deadlines that decide a visa application run from deemed receipt, which for an ImmiAccount document is the end of the day it appears.

If the Department invites you to give additional information or comments, regulation 2.15 of the Migration Regulations 1994 prescribes the period you have to respond. For an application made by a person in Australia, the standard period is 28 days after the applicant is notified of the invitation. It is 7 days if the invitation is given at an interview or in a telephone conversation. It is 7 days for a Subclass 600 (Visitor) visa or a Medical Treatment (Visitor) (Class UB) visa. It is 5 days where the applicant is in immigration detention. For an application made by a person outside Australia it is 28 days, or 70 days if the Minister so decides in the circumstances of the case.

If a decision goes against you, the review clock is shorter and harder. For a Subclass 866 protection visa refusal, the period to apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal is 28 calendar days from the day you are taken to have received the decision. The Tribunal has no power to extend it. Other decision types carry their own statutory periods.

Each of those clocks can start on a day you were not sitting at a computer. That is the risk an ImmiAccount creates, and it is why the advice further down this page about who receives your correspondence is not administrative housekeeping.

How many types of ImmiAccount are there?

Two. The Department of Home Affairs describes two types of access to ImmiAccount: individual and organisation.

You create an individual ImmiAccount if you are an individual applicant, a family member acting on behalf of an applicant, or a friend helping with the application process. You create an organisation ImmiAccount if you are from an organisation, a registered migration agent, or from a sponsoring company.

A number of websites state that there are four types of ImmiAccount, usually listed as individual, organisation, education provider and business sponsorship. That is wrong, and it causes people to hesitate at the registration screen looking for an option that does not exist. Education provider reporting and sponsorship functions are services available within an organisation account. They are not separate account types. The registration screen itself offers exactly two radio buttons: Individual, and Organisation (including agents).

If you are applying for your own visa, or helping a partner or parent with theirs, you want an individual account. There is nothing else to decide.

What services do you need to select when you register?

None beyond the default. Applying for a visa or citizenship, including sponsorship and nomination, is included in every individual ImmiAccount.

On the services screen the Department states this in plain terms. Under "Select the online services you need", the entry for applying for a visa or citizenship is marked as included in all individual ImmiAccounts. There is nothing to tick.

The only optional service shown is LEGENDcom, which is the Department's legislation and policy database. It requires the purchase of an annual subscription. It is a research tool for practitioners. A visa applicant does not need it and should not select it.

What do you need before you create an ImmiAccount?

You need an email address you personally control, your passport or travel document, and a phone number.

The email address is the decision that matters most, and it is the one people get wrong. Use an address that is yours alone, that you check, and that you will still control in two or three years. Do not use a work address you will lose when you change jobs. Do not use an address shared with a partner, a housemate or an employer. Since multi-factor authentication became compulsory, each ImmiAccount user needs their own email address, and sharing credentials is not permitted.

Have your passport open in front of you when you register. Your name must be entered as it appears on your passport, not as you normally write it. A mismatch between your account details and your travel document causes identity problems later that are tedious to unwind.

If you are in Australia and your current visa is close to expiring, set the account up now. Do not leave registration until the week the visa ends, because an email code that does not arrive on the day you need it can cost you your lawful status. If you are in that position, get advice before you lodge anything. Our visa refusal lawyers see the consequences of rushed onshore lodgements regularly.

How do you create an ImmiAccount, step by step?

Registration is a four-step process that takes a few minutes. The Department labels each screen, so you always know where you are: Create an ImmiAccount, Step 1 of 4, through to Step 4 of 4.

Step 1 of 4: enter your email address

Go to online.immi.gov.au and select the option to create an ImmiAccount. The first screen asks for one thing only.

The screen states that the address is used for account notifications such as password resets, that a verification code will be sent to it, and that you will need to enter that code on the next screen. Enter your own address. Have your inbox open in another tab.

Step 2 of 4: enter the verification code

Check your email, copy the code, and enter it on the next screen. If nothing arrives, check your junk or spam folder before requesting a new code. Corporate and university email systems are the most common cause of a missing code, which is another reason to use a personal address.

Step 3 of 4: choose your account type and enter your details

This is the screen where people hesitate, and there is no reason to.

Under "Services Required", the screen asks what type of online services you need. There are two choices: Individual, or Organisation (including agents). If you are applying for your own visa, or helping a family member with theirs, select Individual.

Below that, the screen confirms that applying for a visa or citizenship, including sponsorship and nomination, is included in all individual ImmiAccounts. The only other option is a LEGENDcom tick box, which requires a paid annual subscription and which you do not need.

Under "New User Details", enter your family name, your given names, and a phone number. Family name and phone number are marked as required. Mobile phone is optional.

Enter your name exactly as it appears in the machine-readable section of your passport. If your passport shows your full name in the surname field and nothing in the given name field, which is common for applicants from Indonesia, Myanmar and parts of India, put the whole name in the family name field and leave given names blank. Do not invent a given name to make the form look tidy. Include the country code with your phone number.

Step 4 of 4: set your account details and accept the terms

The final screen asks you to create a username and password, choose secret questions and answers, and accept the ImmiAccount terms and conditions.

Choose secret question answers you will still remember in three years, and record them somewhere safe. This is not generic security advice. Those answers are the only thing standing between you and a locked account if you lose your phone, which is explained below.

Once you submit, the Department sends a confirmation email. Open it and follow the link to activate the account.

How do you set up multi-factor authentication for ImmiAccount?

Multi-factor authentication has been compulsory for every ImmiAccount user, new and existing, since 18 June 2025. You set it up with either an authenticator app or an emailed code, and you use it at every login and whenever you change your account.

The Department gives two options.

Option 1, an authenticator app. Install a reputable authenticator app on your phone or computer. The Department names Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator and Duo Mobile as examples, and states plainly that it does not have its own authenticator app. Anything calling itself an official Home Affairs authenticator app is not. Log in to ImmiAccount, add a new account in the app, then either scan the QR code on the ImmiAccount screen or enter the shared secret key manually if you cannot scan it. On a personal computer the Department points to KeePass and publishes a setup guide for it.

Option 2, an emailed code. If you do not have a mobile device, or do not want to use an authenticator app, you can receive a six digit code at your verified ImmiAccount email address. The Department is direct about the trade-off. It says email-based authentication is less secure than an authenticator app because email accounts can be compromised, and to select this option only if absolutely necessary. It also warns that email notifications can be affected by your email routing or organisation security settings.

The codes behave differently. An authenticator app produces a time-based one-time password, a six digit code that changes every 30 seconds. An emailed token stays valid for 15 minutes.

Choose the authenticator app if you can. The 15 minute email window sounds generous until a spam filter eats the message on the afternoon a deadline falls due.

How do you log in to ImmiAccount once multi-factor authentication is set up?

You log in with your username and password, then enter a six digit authentication code.

The Department sets out the sequence. Go to the ImmiAccount login page, enter your username and password, select Login, enter the six digit code from your authenticator app or your verified email, then select Submit.

Your username is not automatically your email address. It is whatever you chose at Step 4. Write it down.

What do you do if you forget your ImmiAccount username or password?

Use the "I have forgotten my ImmiAccount username or password" links on the login page.

The username recovery process sends the usernames registered to your email address to that inbox. The password recovery process starts with your username and requires you to answer your secret questions correctly.

This is why the order matters. If you have lost both, recover the username first, then use it to reset the password. Guessing repeatedly at the login screen will lock you out and waste hours you may not have.

What happens if you lose access to your authenticator app?

You use the "I no longer have access to my multi-factor authentication app" link on the login page.

The Department requires you to enter your password and correctly answer your secret questions to get back into the account. You are then required to set up your multi-factor authentication options again from scratch.

There are two consequences worth absorbing. First, a lost or replaced phone does not, by itself, lock you out permanently, but it does mean you must have your password and your secret question answers. Second, if you cannot produce those, you are relying on the Department's technical support while a statutory deadline may be running. If you are on an organisation account, the Department notes you can ask your Organisation Account Administrator to help reset your password or multi-factor authentication before contacting the Department.

Back up your authenticator entries when you set up a new phone. Do it before you factory reset the old one.

Can someone else create or manage your ImmiAccount for you?

Yes, in a limited way. The Department expressly contemplates a family member acting on behalf of an applicant, or a friend helping with the application process, creating an individual ImmiAccount.

There are limits that matter. Each person should have their own account and their own email address. Sharing ImmiAccount credentials is not permitted under the Department's terms, and since multi-factor authentication became compulsory the practical position hardened further, because shared email addresses break the login process.

A registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner does not need your login at all. They work from an organisation account and are appointed formally, which is dealt with below.

If someone who is not a registered migration agent, an Australian legal practitioner or an exempt person is charging you a fee to fill in your ImmiAccount forms, stop. Giving immigration assistance for a fee without registration is an offence, and the person doing it has no professional obligations to you and no insurance.

Should you create more than one ImmiAccount?

No. One person, one ImmiAccount.

Applicants sometimes create a second account because they cannot log in to the first. The result is that applications, messages and correspondence end up split across two accounts, and the account the Department is using is not the one you are checking. That is exactly the scenario section 494C(6) punishes. Recover the original account instead.

What happens to your ImmiAccount when you appoint a migration lawyer?

You keep your own ImmiAccount, and the lawyer lodges and manages the application through the firm's organisation account after a formal appointment is notified to the Department.

The appointment is made on Form 956, Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person. The Department's own form sets out who may use it: a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person. An Australian legal practitioner is a lawyer holding a practising certificate granted under a law of a State or Territory.

Form 956 is often confused with Form 956A, Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient. They do different jobs. Form 956 records who is giving you immigration assistance. Form 956A appoints, or withdraws, a person who only receives documents on your behalf and who is not thereby authorised to advise you. The Department's instructions say that if you have only been appointed to receive documents, use Form 956A rather than Form 956.

Exempt persons are a narrow category. The Department lists a close family member, being a spouse, child, adopted child, parent, brother or sister of a visa applicant, a sponsor or nominator, a member of parliament or their staff, certain public officials acting in the course of their duties, and a member of a diplomatic mission, consular post or international organisation. An exempt person must not charge a fee. In Australia, charging a fee for immigration assistance without being registered is an offence carrying penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment.

Who does the Department write to after you appoint a representative?

Your authorised recipient, and what is given to them is treated in law as given to you.

Section 494D(1) of the Migration Act 1958 provides that where a person gives the Minister written notice of the name and address of another person authorised to receive documents in connection with specified matters, the Minister must give the authorised recipient, instead of the first person, any documents in connection with those matters that would otherwise have been given to the first person.

Section 494D(2) is the part that catches people. If the Minister gives a document to the authorised recipient, the Minister is taken to have given the document to you. The Department may also send you a copy, but it does not have to.

You may appoint only one authorised recipient at a time for a particular matter, and the Department sends documents to the most recently appointed one. You can vary or withdraw the appointment at any time.

There is a limited exception. Under section 494D(5), the Minister need not send documents to an authorised recipient who is not a registered migration agent, where the Minister reasonably suspects that person is giving immigration assistance and has notified you that documents will not be sent to them.

The practical point is simple. Once you appoint someone, their inbox is your inbox as a matter of law. Appoint someone who will actually read it.

What does an ImmiAccount not do?

Three things, and all three cause avoidable damage.

It does not store your documents for you. The Department states that you will not be able to access your supporting documents through ImmiAccount after uploading them, and asks you to keep your own copies. Keep a complete, dated folder of everything you lodge. If your application is refused and you go to the Administrative Review Tribunal, you will need it.

It is not the record of your visa entitlements. Visa Entitlement Verification Online, or VEVO, is the system that shows what visa you hold and what conditions attach to it. An ImmiAccount status label is an administrative indicator of where a file sits. It is not a legal statement of your status, and it is not what you show an employer or a landlord.

It is not a substitute for reading the decision. The status changing to a finalised state tells you a decision was made. It does not tell you what the decision says, what your review rights are, or when they expire. Those are in the decision record, and the time limits run from the day you are taken to have received it.

Two further Departmental rules are worth stating plainly. Do not email documents to the Department. You cannot attach documents to a finalised application.

What are the most common ImmiAccount mistakes?

The mistakes we see are rarely technical. They are about who reads the inbox and whose details are in the file.

A name that does not match the passport. An abbreviation, a middle name dropped, a transliteration changed. This creates identity problems at exactly the wrong moment.

An email address the applicant does not control. An employer's address, an ex-partner's address, an address belonging to someone who has since stopped taking your calls.

Not checking the account. Section 494C(6) does not care whether you were travelling, in hospital, or unaware. The document was made available, so you received it.

Assuming an attached document is a lodged application. It is not. Nor is an uploaded document the same as a submitted response to a request for information.

Leaving an old address in the application. Section 52(3A) of the Act requires a visa applicant to tell the Minister the address at which the applicant intends to live while the application is being dealt with. Under section 52(3B), if the applicant changes address for a period of 14 days or more, the applicant must tell the Minister the address and the period of proposed residence.

Communicating in the wrong way. Section 52(3) provides that if an applicant purports to communicate something to the Minister in a way that is not the prescribed way, the communication is taken not to have been received unless the Minister in fact receives it. A message sent to the wrong channel may count for nothing.

Should you lodge your own application through ImmiAccount?

Sometimes, and it depends far more on the visa than on your confidence with the portal.

For a straightforward temporary visa where you clearly meet the criteria and there is no history to explain, many people complete the process themselves. ImmiAccount is designed to be used directly by applicants.

Get advice before lodging where any of the following apply. You are applying for permanent residence. You are applying onshore without a substantive visa, which engages Schedule 3. You have a previous refusal or cancellation. You are making protection claims. You have a criminal history, an adverse information issue, or a prior adverse finding. Your relationship evidence is thin or unconventional. There is a bar in the Act that may or may not apply to you.

Be clear-eyed about the consequences of getting it wrong. A refusal is not always fixable. Review rights depend on the decision and on where you were when you applied. Offshore applicants often have none. Where review is available, the deadline is short and, for a Subclass 866 protection visa refusal, the Tribunal cannot extend it.

How does My Migration Lawyers work on applications lodged through ImmiAccount?

We lodge and manage applications through our own organisation ImmiAccount, after a Form 956 appointment is notified to the Department, so that departmental correspondence comes to us and is answered inside the statutory period.

That means we read the requests for information, we diarise the deadline from the deemed receipt date rather than the date anyone happened to log in, and we prepare the response. You keep your own ImmiAccount and your own copies of everything lodged.

We act in partner visa and protection visa matters, and in visa cancellations and refusals. If you have already lodged through your own ImmiAccount and something has arrived that you do not understand, bring it to us early. The deadline in that document started running before you read it.

To discuss your matter with an Australian migration lawyer, book a consultation. If you would prefer to send us the details first, contact My Migration Lawyers and a lawyer will reply.