How to Apply for the NDIS: The Access Request, Step by Step

Before you start: what applying actually involves

Applying for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is called making an access request. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which runs the scheme, uses it to decide whether you can become a participant. It is not a request for specific supports or an amount of funding. That comes later, in planning.

The NDIA sets out five steps on its how to apply page: connect with an NDIS partner, gather evidence with your treating health professional, complete your application, submit it, and wait for a decision. This guide follows the same order and explains what each step means in practice.

Step 1: Check the eligibility requirements

The NDIA lists three main eligibility requirements. You need to meet all three.

Requirement	What the NDIA asks for
Age	You must be younger than 65 on the day you apply.
Residence	You must live in Australia and be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a Protected Special Category visa holder.
Disability or early intervention	You must meet the disability requirements, the early intervention requirements, or both.

The disability requirements apply if you have a disability related to a permanent impairment (including a psychosocial disability caused by a permanent impairment), it significantly affects your life and your ability to do everyday tasks, and you are likely to need NDIS supports for your lifetime.

The early intervention requirements apply if you have an impairment that is likely to be permanent, or you are a child younger than 6 with developmental delay, and early supports would reduce your future need for support, improve your functional capacity or stop it getting worse.

If you are 65 or over, you cannot apply. The NDIA points people in that situation towards aged care supports instead.

Step 2: Talk to an NDIS partner (or call the NDIA)

The NDIA says your first step is usually to connect with an NDIS partner, not to fill in a form. Partners are community organisations funded by the NDIA:

• Local area coordinators help people aged 9 to 64.
• Early childhood partners help families of children younger than 9. According to the NDIA, your child does not need a diagnosis for an early childhood partner to help.

A partner can explain the process, talk with you about your disability and needs, tell you what evidence the NDIA will want, help you complete the application and submit it for you. You can meet in person, by phone or by video, and you can bring a family member, friend, support coordinator or anyone else you are comfortable with.

If you do not know who your partner is, or there is none in your area, call the NDIA on 1800 800 110 or visit a local NDIA office. If you want to understand how a local area coordinator differs from a support coordinator, we explain it in Local Area Coordinator, Support Coordinator or Plan Manager: Who Does What.

One thing a partner cannot do is tell you whether you will be accepted. The NDIA says only it makes that decision.

Step 3: Gather your evidence

Evidence is the part of the application that most often causes delays, so it is worth starting early.

Evidence of disability

The NDIA wants evidence that is recent and from a treating health professional relevant to your primary disability (the impairment that has the greatest impact on your daily life). It should:

• confirm your primary disability
• describe how it affects different areas of your life
• describe previous treatments and their outcomes
• describe future treatment options and what they are expected to achieve
• be original and specific to you.

The NDIA says your treating health professional should be the most appropriate person to give this evidence, should have treated you for at least 6 months, and should be registered to practise in Australia or New Zealand. That could be a GP, paediatrician, specialist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist, psychiatrist or physiotherapist.

Evidence does not have to be a new report. According to the NDIA's examples of disability evidence, it can be existing reports, assessments or letters, a letter or email from your health professional, section 2 of the access request form, the supporting evidence form, or (for psychosocial disability) the evidence of psychosocial disability form. The same page lists the assessment tools the NDIA prefers for common primary disabilities, such as autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and hearing impairment. Show that list to your health professional before they write anything.

You, your family, carers and providers can also describe how your disability affects daily life, which helps build a fuller picture.

Evidence of identity

When you first meet the NDIA or your partner, you will need to show three identity documents: one birth or arrival document (such as a full birth certificate, passport or citizenship certificate) and two documents you use in the community (such as a Medicare card, a bank card or a utility account with your current address). Expired documents are not accepted, except an Australian passport that expired within the last 2 years and was not cancelled.

Step 4: Complete the access request form

You do not have to use the form. The NDIA says you do not need to complete an access request form to apply, because a partner can complete the application with you. If you prefer to do it yourself, you can download the form from that page.

The access request form has two sections:

• Section 1 is completed by you or your representative. It covers your details, consent for the NDIA to collect information, how you want to be contacted, details of a parent, guardian or legal representative if you have one, information about your disability, whether you have claimed compensation for your disability, supporting evidence and your signature.
• Section 2 is completed by your treating health professional. It covers their details and how long they have treated you, evidence of your disability, early intervention information if relevant, existing assessments, and your functional capacity across mobility, communication, social interaction, learning, self-care and self-management.

People such as your partner, family, friends or health professional can help you complete it.

Step 5: Submit your application

Your partner can submit the application for you. If you are sending it yourself, the NDIA lists three ways:

• through the NDIA's online service hub
• by mail to NDIA, GPO Box 700, Canberra ACT 2601
• in person at your local NDIA office or your NDIS partner.

If you send a completed application directly to the NDIA, it says it will share it with the partner in your area and ask them to contact you.

What happens after you apply

The NDIA's how to apply page says it will tell you whether you are eligible within 90 days of receiving your application and all your supporting evidence. Its Applying to the NDIS guideline explains that within those 90 days it will decide you are eligible, not eligible, or that it needs more information, and it will write to tell you the date it must decide by. If it asks you for more information, it has 14 days from getting it to decide or ask again.

If you are eligible, the NDIA tells you whether you met the disability requirements, the early intervention requirements or both, and gives you an impairment notice describing this. Your NDIS partner then becomes your "my NDIS contact" and the next stage is building your plan.

If you are not eligible, the NDIA sends a letter explaining why. You can call 1800 800 110 to talk it through, and you can ask for an internal review within 3 months of receiving the decision. The NDIA aims to complete internal reviews within 60 days. If you still disagree, you have 28 days after the internal review to ask the Administrative Review Tribunal for an external review. There is also no limit on how many times you can apply, so you can apply again if your situation changes or you have new evidence.

Is the application process changing?

Yes, but not yet. The NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Act 2026 became law on 20 August 2026. According to the NDIA's page on the new laws, access changes for new applicants begin from January 2028, including eligibility decisions based on a new standardised assessment of functional capacity and more consistent assessment of permanence. Until then, the current requirements above apply. The NDIA says it will consult on the new eligibility process first.

Once you have a plan

When you have an approved plan, the next job is finding providers with room to take you on. CareLocate is an independent directory built from the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission's public register, covering more than 6,000 businesses. You can search by suburb and support type, and where a provider has told us whether they are taking new clients, the listing shows it, with the date they last confirmed. You can also describe the support you are looking for through Find Care.