On 482 or 485 visas? The childcare 3 Day Guarantee can leave your family out

Since Monday 5 January 2026, every family eligible for the Child Care Subsidy can get at least 72 hours of subsidised care a fortnight for each child, about three days a week. The catch is in one word: eligible. The guarantee left the Child Care Subsidy visa rules where they were, and a parent on a 482 skilled worker visa or a 485 Temporary Graduate visa does not meet them. Unless the other parent does, the family gets no subsidy, barring a discretionary exception for hardship or special circumstances.

Indian citizens are among the largest groups on both visas. Home Affairs data shows that at 31 August 2026 they made up 21,592 of the 143,442 primary holders of 482 visas in Australia (a count that includes the residual 457 program), second only to citizens of the Philippines. In the 2025-26 program year they received 49,673 of the 144,063 Temporary Graduate visas granted, more than a third and more than citizens of any other country.

Three days for every family that qualifies

On 5 January the activity test was replaced. The floor now sits in one short clause of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999, which says the guarantee, “in relation to any child, is 72” hours for each fortnight.

Some families get 100 hours. They are those caring for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child, those with an exemption or exceptional circumstances, those receiving certain Additional Child Care Subsidy payments, and those in which the parent, and any partner, each do more than 48 hours a fortnight of recognised participation, such as work or study.

Two other things did not change. Families still pay a gap fee, except in certain circumstances. And the Department of Education spells out the second: “Families are not guaranteed a place with a provider.” The guarantee counts subsidised hours. A vacancy at a centre is a separate search.

Who is missing from the Child Care Subsidy visa list

The residence rule is in section 85BB of the same Act, and it looks at the household. The person claiming or their partner must be living in Australia and hold Australian citizenship, a permanent visa, the Special Category visa that New Zealand citizens hold, or one of a short list of temporary visas. A couple who both hold 482 visas fall outside the rule; if one of them held a permanent visa, the family would be inside it.

The temporary visas are named by the Minister for Social Services, most recently in a determination registered on 18 September 2025. The list has the 820 and 309 partner visas, the 785 Temporary Protection and 790 Safe Haven Enterprise visas, the 786 and 449 humanitarian visas and two bridging visas, the 060 and 070. Separate provisions cover workers on 403 visas in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme who are approved to bring their families, and students who receive financial assistance directly from the Commonwealth for their study. A university scholarship that the Commonwealth funds only indirectly does not count.

The 482 is not on the list. Neither is the 485, the regional 491 or 494, or the 500 student visa. Nor is the Bridging A visa, which lets a person stay after a visa ceases while a new application is processed.

These are Commonwealth rules. Kindergarten in Victoria runs on a separate track. The state says a family needs neither Australian citizenship nor eligibility for the Child Care Subsidy to receive Free Kinder, which means a free program for three- and four-year-olds at participating standalone kindergartens and a yearly fee offset at participating long day care centres.

A door marked hardship

Section 8 of the Act opens one more route. Officials may treat someone who is not an Australian resident as one, for the subsidy, if hardship would otherwise be caused or special circumstances exist. The Family Assistance Guide published by the Department of Social Services puts the central point in five words: “This is a discretionary decision.” Its examples of hardship are traumatic events, among them the death of a partner and a separation. Decision makers are told to weigh how recently the event happened, whether it was foreseeable and its ongoing effect on the family.

The day the permanent visa comes through

A permanent visa meets the rule, so the grant settles the question from then on. Care provided before the grant stays unsubsidised, because the Act tests residence at the time each session of care is provided. The claim has a clock of its own. Under the companion Family Assistance Administration Act, eligibility can start only on the Monday that opens one of the subsidy’s fixed fortnights, no more than 28 days before the day the claim is made. The guide says that “eligibility for CCS can only be backdated up to a maximum of 28 days.”

From there the amount depends on income. For 2026-27, a family with a combined income of up to A$88,520 has 90 per cent of the fee covered, with the fee counted only up to an hourly cap that, for a child below school age in a centre, is A$15.19 from Monday 6 July 2026. The percentage falls by one point for each A$5,000 of income above that and reaches zero at A$538,520. Families with more than one child aged five or under may get a higher rate for the second and younger children, if their income is below A$370,727.

Seventy-two hours a fortnight is now the floor for every family the law counts as eligible. For a household on 482 or 485 visas, barring a discretionary exception, that floor arrives with a permanent visa, and the subsidy reaches back no further than the grant.