How to apply for the NDIS
The application asks you to prove things you already live with every day. This guide covers who can apply, who can help, the evidence that counts and how to describe your day so the person reading it understands.
- Free PDF with a printable checklist
- Checked against official NDIS pages, October 2026
- From a registered NDIS provider (4-GWVHCEY)
General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. Image is illustrative.
Can you apply?
There are three main requirements. You need to meet the age and residence requirements, plus the disability requirements, the early intervention requirements, or both.
Younger than 65 when you apply
You must be aged 0 to 64 on the day you apply. Families of children younger than 9 apply with help from an early childhood partner.
Living in Australia
You must live in Australia and be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a Protected Special Category visa holder.
Disability or early intervention
Your impairment is, or is likely to be, permanent and substantially reduces your ability to do everyday tasks. Or early supports now are likely to reduce your need for support later.
The disability requirements look at six areas of daily life: communicating, socialising, learning, moving around, looking after yourself and managing your life. Your evidence needs to show a substantial impact in at least one. Read the NDIA’s eligibility requirements.
Changes coming in 2028
New laws passed in August 2026 change how access is decided, but not yet. The NDIA says eligibility changes will not occur until 1 January 2028. Until then, the requirements above apply. See the official timeline.
Five steps to apply
This is the order the NDIA sets out on its How to apply page.
Connect with an NDIS partner
NDIS partners help people aged 9 to 64, and early childhood partners help families of children younger than 9. Not sure who yours is? Call the NDIA on 1800 800 110. You can meet in person, by phone or on Microsoft Teams, and bring a support person.
Gather evidence with your treating health professional
Your GP, specialist or allied health professional describes your disability, the treatments you’ve had and how it affects your daily life. It helps if they’ve treated you for at least 6 months.
Complete your application
Your NDIS partner can complete it with you. Or fill in the access request form yourself. Section 1 is about you. Section 2 is completed by your treating health professional.
Submit it
Your partner can submit it for you. Or use the NDIS service hub online, post it to NDIA, GPO Box 700, Canberra ACT 2601, or hand it in at a local NDIS office.
Wait for the decision
The NDIA says it will let you know within 90 days once your application and all your supporting evidence are submitted. Its letter tells you the date a decision is due.
What happens after you apply →Evidence that does the work
Good evidence is recent, written by a treating health professional relevant to your primary disability (the one with the biggest impact on your daily life) and specific to you. According to the NDIA, it should:
- confirm your primary disability
- describe how it affects different areas of your life
- describe the treatments you’ve had and what happened
- describe future treatment options and what’s expected from them
- be original and specific to you.
Letters, emails, assessments and reports all count. You, your carers and your providers can add information about the day-to-day impact too. The professional who completes section 2 should be registered in their field, for example with AHPRA, or the NDIA may ask for more and that can slow things down. How to gather evidence, from the NDIA.
Worth knowing
Only the NDIA decides who is eligible. Your NDIS partner, GP or anyone else helping you gather evidence can’t tell you whether you’ll be accepted.
How to describe the impact on your day
The person reading your application has never met you. These four habits help them see a normal day.
Describe a typical hard day
If your needs go up and down, say so and describe the harder days too. The NDIA’s own guidance says it understands the impact of an impairment can come and go in episodes.
Be specific
‘Needs help to shower’ says little. ‘Needs someone with me to get in and out of the shower each morning because of falls’ says what and why.
Use the six areas
Go through communicating, socialising, learning, moving around, looking after yourself and managing your life. For each, note what help you need: hands-on help, prompting, supervision or equipment.
Count the help you already get
Write down what family and friends do now, how often, and what happens when they can’t. That help belongs in the picture.
If you’re 65 or older
You can’t apply for the NDIS if you’re 65 or over. Government-funded aged care is the path instead, starting with My Aged Care: apply for an assessment online or call 1800 200 422.
Turning 65 on the NDIS
If you’re already a participant, you can choose to keep your NDIS supports or move to aged care. You can’t use both at the same time, and nothing changes if you stay.
Aged care from 50
First Nations NDIS participants can choose to access aged care supports from 50 years of age, or continue as an NDIS participant.
What we can offer
Kinship provides CHSP domestic assistance in Northern Sydney and the Southern Highlands only. We’re applying to deliver Support at Home and can’t take Support at Home clients yet.
Aged care at Kinship →Your NDIS application checklist
Tick these off as you go. The PDF version has boxes you can tick on paper.
- Check you’re younger than 65 and meet the residence requirements
- Find your NDIS partner, or call 1800 800 110 to be connected
- Book an appointment with your treating health professional
- Collect existing reports, letters and assessments
- Write down the impact on each of the six areas of daily life
- List the help family and friends give now, and how often
- Decide whether the NDIA can use your Centrelink record to confirm residence, or gather documents
- Complete the application with your partner, or the access request form yourself
- Keep a copy of everything you send
- Note the date you submitted and the decision date in the NDIA’s letter
Questions people ask
How long does an NDIS application take?
The NDIA says it will let you know within 90 days once your application and all your supporting evidence are in. Its letter gives the date a decision is due, so go by that date.
Do I need a diagnosis to apply?
You need evidence of your disability, such as a diagnosis or treatment information. But the NDIA focuses on your impairments and how they affect your daily life, not on a diagnosis by itself.
Who can complete the health professional section?
A treating health professional who is the most appropriate person to give evidence about your disability, and who is registered in their area of practice, for example with AHPRA. The NDIA says it’s helpful if they have worked with you for at least 6 months.
What if I’m told I’m not eligible?
The NDIA sends a letter explaining why. You can call 1800 800 110 to talk about it, and ask for an internal review within 3 months. There’s no limit to the number of times you can apply, so you can also apply again if your situation changes or you have new evidence.
I’m 65 or older. Can I still apply?
No. You must be younger than 65 on the day you apply. Aged care supports may suit you instead. Contact My Aged Care online or on 1800 200 422.
Can I apply for my child?
Yes. Early childhood partners help families of children younger than 9 to apply, and children younger than 6 with developmental delay may be eligible under the early intervention requirements. Thriving Kids, a new program for children aged 8 and under with developmental delay and/or autism and low to moderate support needs, began rolling out on 1 October 2026. The NDIA says there will be no change to NDIS access or eligibility until 1 January 2028.
What if my situation is urgent?
Tell your NDIS partner or the NDIA. Its guideline says it can make decisions faster in urgent circumstances, for example if you’re about to leave hospital.
We can’t lodge it for you. We can talk it through.
Kinship is a registered NDIS provider (4-GWVHCEY), not an NDIS partner, so we don’t submit applications or make decisions about them. If you’d like to talk through what the forms are asking before you meet your partner, call us. We’ve been operating in disability and aged care since 2017.
Once you have a plan, these are the supports we deliver from Colebee to Blacktown, Rouse Hill, Riverstone and Windsor:
Daily living and personal care
Help at home with the routines that make a day work.
Daily living support →Community participation and life skills
Getting out, trying things and building skills, with the same worker every visit.
Community participation →High intensity support
Complex bowel care, catheter care, wound care, PEG feeding, medication management, dementia and behaviour support.
High intensity support →More plain-English guides
Each one has a free PDF you can print, save or send to family. Swipe to see them all.
After you apply for the NDIS
Decision timeframes, your first plan, and what to do if the answer is no.
Read the guide →Preparing for your planning meeting
Goals, a typical week, informal supports and the questions worth asking.
Read the guide →Understanding your NDIS plan
Support budgets, flexible and stated funding, and the 2026–27 rule changes.
Read the guide →Changing your NDIS plan
Variations, reassessments, reviews and where complaints go.
Read the guide →Choosing an NDIS provider
What to ask, how to check registration and what a service agreement should cover.
Read the guide →Aged care help at home
How government-funded aged care at home works, starting with My Aged Care.
Read the guide →Continence support
Plain-English information on continence support and products.
Read the guide →Complaints and your rights
How to raise a concern with a provider, the NDIA or the NDIS Commission.
Read the guide →Looking after yourself as a carer
Practical ideas and where carers can find support of their own.
Read the guide →Sources
Every rule, timeframe and phone number on this page was checked against these official pages in October 2026. NDIS rules are changing under the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act 2026, and some ndis.gov.au pages are still being updated. If anything here differs from what the NDIA tells you, the NDIA’s advice for your situation wins.
- NDIS: How to apply (current as of 27 August 2026)
- NDIS: What are the NDIS eligibility requirements
- NDIS: What are the age requirements
- NDIS: What are the residence requirements
- NDIS: What are the NDIS disability requirements
- NDIS: What is an access request form
- NDIS: How to gather evidence
- NDIS: What is supporting evidence
- NDIS: What is an NDIS partner
- NDIS: Applying to the NDIS guideline (PDF, 26 August 2026)
- My Aged Care: How to get assessed
- NDIS: How to request a review of a decision
- NDIS news: New NDIS laws pass (19 August 2026)
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Securing the NDIS for future generations timeline (updated 15 September 2026)
Not sure where to start?
Call us and we’ll talk it through. No forms and no pressure.
Registered NDIS provider 4-GWVHCEY. General information only — check ndis.gov.au for your situation. How to check any provider’s registration.