In a move long-awaited by migration lawyers and frequent travellers alike, the Department of Finance confirmed on 19 July 2026 that Australians can now create and lodge Commonwealth statutory declarations entirely online through the myGov portal. The new service lets users authenticate their identity with a government-issued Digital ID, complete the declaration on-screen and submit it electronically—no ink signature or witness required. While statutory declarations cover a wide range of legal matters, they are ubiquitous in global-mobility workflows: from confirming a de-facto relationship for partner-visa purposes, to replacing lost passports, to certifying documents for children’s travel consent. Until now, applicants had to print the form, find an authorised witness, sign in wet ink and scan the pages before uploading them to ImmiAccount or lodging them at an Australian mission. Those manual steps were not only inconvenient for people offshore but also a persistent cause of incomplete applications—and therefore processing delays—inside the Department of Home Affairs. Under the new system, travellers and expatriates can generate the declaration in minutes, attach it directly to a pending visa application or share it securely with a migration agent via a one-time download link. The digital form embeds a cryptographic seal that border agencies and consular posts can verify instantly, removing the need for secondary certification. According to Services Australia, the platform complies with the Electronic Transactions Act and meets “PROTECTED”-level cyber-security controls, giving airlines and overseas posts confidence to accept the digital document at check-in counters and immigration desks. For employers, the change is equally significant. Companies sponsoring foreign staff under Subclass 482 or 186 visas often rely on statutory declarations to evidence genuine position requirements, company structures or non-availability of Australian workers. Being able to generate compliant declarations without the logistics of wet signatures is expected to shorten nomination lead-times and reduce courier costs—particularly for regional sites that lack ready access to authorised witnesses. Migration advisers caution that not all jurisdictions will immediately recognise the digital format; some foreign governments and courts still insist on ink signatures. However, as more countries move toward electronic apostilles and mutual recognition frameworks, the Australian system sets a precedent for paperless legal attestations. Travellers are advised to check the destination country’s documentary requirements before relying solely on the digital declaration.
