If you’re experiencing hardship, you can ask the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages (‘the Registrar’) not to charge the fee for certain certificates or registrations. This is called a fee waiver.
The Registrar may decide to waive fees in circumstances such as:
- Financial hardship
- Natural disasters
- Identified community needs
- Where the fee exceeds reasonable cost recovery.
Not what you’re looking for?
For fees already paid, refunds are available in some circumstances.
Products or services included in fee waiver
You may apply for a fee waiver if you are applying to:
- Register a life event that requires a fee (a registered relationship, change of name and alteration of sex)
- Get your own certificate
- Get your child’s certificate (child under 18 years), if their birth certificate names you as a parent
- Get a child’s certificate (who you are not the parent for, but are the carer for) under:
- A guardianship order
- A permanent care order
- Another relevant court order
- Kinship care informal arrangements
- Get another person’s certificate, if you have a letter of authority and meet the third party application requirements
- Get another person’s certificate, if you have a power of attorney for that person. ‘Power of attorney’ in this case means:
- Enduring power of attorney
- Enduring power of attorney (financial)
- Enduring power of guardianship.
Legal certificates
A legal certificate certifies the details of a person’s life event, such as their birth. A legal certificate may be used as proof of identity and for purposes such as claiming government benefits, enrolling a child in school or getting a passport.
The Registrar may waive the fee for a legal certificate. These include:
- Birth
- Death
- Marriage
- Registered relationship
- Change of name (formerly known as "deed poll")
- Affirmation of sex or recognised details
- Single status (also known as "no record of marriage").
How to apply
Online
The fastest way to apply for a certificate or registration is online.
To request a fee waiver with your online certificate and/or registration application:
- Apply for the certificate and/or registration online
- Fill out the relevant fee waiver form below, then sign and save it electronically
- Upload this form to your online application
- Upload the evidence outlined below
- Pay the normal fee to submit the application.
To apply for a fee waiver within four weeks of applying online for a certificate and/or registration:
- Log into 'My items' using your existing account details
- Click 'Upload supporting documents'
- Choose a 'Requirement type' and 'Document name' from the dropdown lists
- Click 'Browse' to find the document/s
- Select the document/s
- Click 'Attach all' to save them.
Paper applications
To request a fee waiver using a paper application form:
- Apply for the certificate and/or registration using a paper application form. These are available at Justice Service Centres(opens in a new window) or by contacting our call centre
- Fill out the relevant fee waiver form below, print and sign it
- Attach this form to your paper application
- Attach the evidence outlined below.
- No payment is required to submit the application.
- Post the forms to:
Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria
GPO Box 4332
Melbourne Vic 3001
or visit a Justice Service Centre.
What happens after you apply
- The Registrar will assess your eligibility under the BDM's:
- Access policy
- Financial hardship and fee waiver policy.
We may ask you for additional information.
The Registrar may refuse applications that do not meet these requirements.
- If your request is:
- Approved, we will process your application. You won’t have to pay the fee. If you paid online, you will receive a refund.
- Declined, we will let you know the reasons. You will have to pay the normal fee to get the certificate or register the event.
What we need from you
You will need to provide evidence of your or the child’s circumstances, as outlined below.
Adult application
To apply:
- Complete the application for fee waiver (adult). You will need to confirm that the cost would cause you significant hardship.
- Attach evidence that shows you are experiencing difficult circumstances, as follows:
| Circumstance | Evidence you must attach |
|---|---|
You are:
| Certified copy of your current:
|
You are:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming these details, from either a:
|
You are:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming homelessness, from either a:
|
You are:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming your refugee status, from either a:
|
You are:
The disaster:
| A letter on official letterhead, confirming your loss, from either:
|
Child application
To apply:
- Complete the application for fee waiver (child). You will need to confirm that the cost would cause you or the child significant hardship.
- Attach evidence showing that you or the child are in one of the circumstances listed below
- Attach evidence that you are entitled to apply for the child’s certificate. Refer to Applying for birth certificates or information. (You do not need to do this if you are the child, or the birth certificate names you as a parent.)
| Circumstance | Evidence you must attach |
|---|---|
You are/the child is:
| Certified copy of your/the child’s current:
|
The child:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming these details, from either a:
|
The child:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming homelessness, from either a:
|
The child:
| A letter on official letterhead confirming your/the child’s refugee status, from either a:
|
You are:
The disaster:
| A letter on official letterhead, confirming your loss from either:
|
The child:
| A letter on official letterhead from the child’s Youth Justice case manager confirming this care or supervision |
The child:
| A letter on official letterhead from the child’s Youth Justice case manager or coordinator confirming these details. |
The child is:
| A relevant care order confirming these details |
The child is:
| A relevant care order confirming these details |
The child is:
| A statutory declaration explaining the events that resulted in the informal care arrangement. The statutory declaration must include:
A letter from one of the following professionals who knows the family well, who can:
Examples of professionals are:
|
Identified community needs
The Registrar may offer a fee waiver on the basis of community needs. A fee waiver may relate to a community identified as experiencing significant disadvantage or vulnerability through:
- Government initiatives or priorities
- Recommendations of inquiries and reports, such as:
- Parliamentary and Victorian Law Reform Commission inquiries
- Royal Commissions.
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
The Registrar may waive fees for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander prisoners to get a birth certificate.
The Registrar recognises the over-representation of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander prisoners. The Registrar has historically assumed financial hardship and provided free certificates to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander prisoners.
You do not need to prove financial hardship in this case.
To apply:
- Complete the application for fee waiver (Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander prisoner). You will need to confirm that
- You are currently on remand or in prison, and
- You are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
- Attach the evidence in the table below:
| Circumstance | Evidence you must attach |
|---|---|
You are:
| A ‘Certificate of authority form’ which includes:
A letter from the Assessment and Transition Coordinator (or equivalent) confirming:
|
Fee exceeds cost recovery
BDM’s fees are calculated based on full cost recovery. The fee covers BDM’s costs to process the application. However, the Registrar may waive a fee when it costs much less to process two applications together than separately.
When someone makes:
An application that incurs two separate fees, actioned at the same time. For example, you need to make a ‘double’ change of name to ensure that your certificate lists:
- a deed poll change of name, and
- your most recent change of name.
or
Two related applications at the same time, that incur two separate fees.
For example:
- You change your record of sex (sex affirmation) and your name at the same time
then one of the fees will be waived.
For the fee waiver to apply, the application(s) must:
- Relate to the same person
- Relate to the same life event
- Incur two separate fees, and
- Cost less to process together than separately.
You do not need to apply for a fee waiver in these circumstances. BDM will apply it automatically. The fee waived will be the fee for the cheaper application.
Exclusions and limitations
Fee waiver for certificates is limited to one certificate per life event per year.
Fee waiver is not available for:
- Commemorative certificates – these are decorative keepsakes only and are not legal identity documents
- Family history certificates or images.
Factors that may affect your request
The Registrar may consider any relevant factors. For example, these may include:
- The need to ensure that the registration and/or application requirements are met
- The reasons for your request
- The need to ensure applications are dealt with consistently and fairly
- The need to balance a fee waiver with operational costs and considerations
- Any previous requests for fee waiver that a person may have made.
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