Is Form 888 a statutory declaration? Not since the 07/23 edition
Published by Form 888 Australia · Last checked 3 October 2026 · publisher and review details
General information, not legal advice. Form 888 Australia is not a law firm or migration practice.
As at October 2026: current edition design date 08/26 (Home Affairs listing updated 27 August 2026).
Form 888 is not a statutory declaration: since the 07/23 edition (mid-2023) it has been a supporting statement whose closing declaration cites section 234(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958, not the Statutory Declarations Act 1959, and says the supporter believes its statements are true.
The supporter makes that declaration at Question 6, and a knowingly false or misleading statement can bring up to 10 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to 1,000 penalty units, or both.
Form 888 vs statutory declaration: what is different?
Form 888 and a Commonwealth statutory declaration differ in the law behind them, the form, the witness, who makes them, the penalty and where a partner visa uses them.
| Difference | Form 888 (design date 08/26) | Commonwealth statutory declaration |
|---|---|---|
| Law | Migration Act 1958: the declaration cites section 234(1)(b). | Statutory Declarations Act 1959. |
| Form | Home Affairs Form 888, “Supporting statement in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application”. | The Attorney-General’s Department’s approved form: “You cannot create your own form”. |
| Witness | None: Home Affairs Form 888 has only the supporter’s signature and date. | Under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and Attorney-General’s Department guidance, an approved witness in person or by video link, or made digitally through myGov with a Digital Identity (no witness). |
| Who makes it | Home Affairs Form 888 requires a person aged 18 or over who knows the applicant, their partner or fiancé(e) and the history of their relationship. | The Attorney-General’s Department says any person, regardless of age or nationality. Partner visa rules then limit who may make the declarations they require; see the last section. |
| False statement | Up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to 1,000 penalty units, or both, under section 234 of the Migration Act 1958. | Up to 4 years’ imprisonment under section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959. |
| Where a partner visa uses it | Home Affairs asks for statements from 2 witnesses on the social aspects of the relationship. | Home Affairs requires two declarations from some onshore applicants without a substantive visa, and a sponsor’s declaration at the permanent 801 or 100 stage. |
The Home Affairs partner visa (subclass 820) page says “Form 888 ‘Supporting statement in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application’ is not a statutory declaration.”
What was the Form 888 statutory declaration?
The Form 888 statutory declaration was the previous edition of the form (design dates 10/18, 07/19 and 10/20), titled “Statutory declaration by a supporting witness in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application” and made under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.
It reflected the Department’s policy “that these statements be provided in the form of statutory declarations”; the supporter had to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, subject to an offshore exception.
Under the previous form’s instructions, it had to be signed before a prescribed witness in Australia; the Form 888 witness requirement no longer applies to the current form. The current form has no witness section; only the supporter signs and dates it.
Home Affairs replaced it with the supporting statement in the 07/23 edition, in mid-2023. Searches for a “Form 888 statutory declaration example” or “sample” refer to that previous edition; the current form is completed as a supporting statement, not using statutory-declaration wording.
Use the current edition. Home Affairs does not clearly state whether an older signed edition remains acceptable as a social-aspects statement. An Australian migration lawyer can check an older statement before it is lodged.
What does the supporter declare on Form 888?
The supporter declares on Form 888, at Question 6, that they understand it is an offence under section 234(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 to make a false statement in connection with a visa application, and that they believe the statements in the form “are true in every particular”.
Home Affairs Form 888 gives the declaration in full:
I understand that pursuant to section 234(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 (the Act), it is an offence to make a false statement in connection with a visa application and I believe that the statements in this form are true in every particular.
Section 234(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), published on the Federal Register of Legislation, covers making, or causing to be made, a statement “that, to the person’s knowledge, is false or misleading in a material particular” to an officer or person exercising functions under the Act, in the circumstances specified by the section. The offence is not simply defined as any inaccurate sentence: the statutory wording includes knowledge and materiality.
The previous Form 888 declaration at Question 7 cited section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 but closed with the same words, “true in every particular”. That familiar ending does not make today’s supporting statement a statutory declaration. On the current Home Affairs form, the supporter signs and dates it without a witness.
What is the penalty for a false Form 888?
The penalty for a false Form 888 is up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to 1,000 penalty units, or both, under section 234 of the Migration Act 1958. These are maximum penalties, not an automatic sentence for every case.
The Crimes (Amount of a Penalty Unit) Instrument 2026 sets a penalty unit at $364. Together with section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914, this means a fine of up to $364,000 for offences on or after 1 July 2026: 1,000 × $364. The date concerns the offence, not the form’s design date.
The warning box on the current Home Affairs Form 888 still prints “10 years’ imprisonment or a fine of AUD313,000, or both”. That printed fine represents 1,000 × $313, an earlier penalty-unit value, and is out of date. The Act states the fine in penalty units; the form’s printed dollar figure should not be treated as the current maximum.
The previous editions printed “4 years imprisonment” under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and “12 months imprisonment or a fine of AUD12,000” under the Migration Act 1958. Those are quotations from the previous form, not today’s Form 888 penalty; section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 separately retains a maximum of 4 years for an intentionally false statutory declaration.
For the applicant, public interest criterion 4020 in the Migration Regulations 1994 means false or misleading information in a material particular can lead to refusal, and that refusal can affect visa applications made in the following 3 years.
Write a specific, first-hand statement rather than copying statutory-declaration wording; the example answers for Form 888 illustrate that approach.
Why is Form 888 still called a statutory declaration?
Form 888 is still called a statutory declaration for three reasons.
It was one until mid-2023. Home Affairs editions 10/18, 07/19 and 10/20 carried the statutory-declaration title until the 07/23 edition replaced it. The dates of each change are set out in the guide to Form 888 editions. The current edition is design date 08/26, with the same questions and rules as November 2024.
The closing words barely changed. Both declarations end “true in every particular”, but the law cited changed from section 11 of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 to section 234(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958. The section above explains what today’s Question 6 means.
A partner visa still uses Commonwealth statutory declarations elsewhere. Home Affairs requires them from some onshore applicants without a substantive visa and from the sponsor at the 801 or 100 stage. In November–December 2024, its 820 page added that Form 888 “is not a statutory declaration” and that “the current and any previous versions of the Form 888 are not acceptable” for the separate requirement. Home Affairs gives no reason for adding that clarification.
Why a migration lawyer checks every declaration in the file
A partner visa file can contain Form 888s and Commonwealth statutory declarations under different laws. An Australian migration lawyer can check which document each requirement calls for, its form, signatures and timing before lodgement. Home Affairs’ subclass 820 page warns that missing required statutory-declaration information at lodgement may make an application invalid.
For a review of the documents in your file, an Australian migration lawyer checks before lodgement that each declaration is the right document, made the right way. Enquiries go to an Australian migration lawyer.
Statutory declarations a partner visa still needs
A partner visa still needs Commonwealth statutory declarations in two situations, and Form 888 is neither.
Some onshore applicants who do not hold a substantive visa must lodge two Commonwealth statutory declarations. This is the separate requirement for applicants to whom section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 applies, under Schedule 1 item 1124B of the Migration Regulations 1994. Home Affairs’ 820 page says “the current and any previous versions of the Form 888 are not acceptable” for that requirement, and an application lodged without the required information “may be deemed invalid”. A migration lawyer can confirm whether this applies to you.
The sponsor at the permanent 801 or 100 stage attaches a Commonwealth statutory declaration, as required by the Home Affairs pages for those stages. It is a separate document from the friends’ or family members’ Form 888 statements.
Whether you need a partner visa statutory declaration, and who makes it, is explained on its own page.
Neither declaration replaces the supporting statement itself: the same Question 6 declaration closes every Form 888 for a partner visa or a Prospective Marriage visa.