Your Guide to Partner Visas in Australia (Part 1)
Are you in a de facto or married relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen?
If so, you may be eligible for permanent residency in Australia through the Partner visa programme.
Disclaimer: The information provided on our website or on any of our social media platforms is published for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information provided on our website or on any of our social media platforms about the migration regulations, policies and legislation is current as of the time it is published, and may be subject to change. Your use of the general information published on our website or our social media posts does not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and Inclusive Migration, and you should seek legal advice about your options from a legal practitioner or migration advice from a migration agent registered with the Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority before proceeding with any application.
5 things to know about Partner Visas in Australia
Note: This list is non-exclusive.
Which Partner visa should I apply for?
Broadly, there are 2 different Partner visa programmes and 4 different Partner visas that you can apply for, namely the Partner (Subclass 820/801) visa programme and Partner (Subclass 309/100) visa programme. Each of these visa applications is a single application for two (2) different visas. For instance, the Partner (Subclass 820/801) visa application is an application for the Partner (Subclass 820) visa and Partner (Subclass 801) visa, and the Partner (Subclass 309/100) visa application is an application for the Partner (Subclass 309) visa and the Partner (Subclass 100) visa.
If you are onshore at the time of application and are not barred from lodging a Partner visa application onshore (i.e. your visa is not subject to Condition 8503 - No Further Stay and you have not been refused a Partner visa in Australia), you may be able to lodge a Partner (Subclass 820/801) visa application in Australia, following which you may also be eligible for a bridging visa that allows you to stay in Australia until a decision is made on your Partner visa application.
NOTE: Persons who do not hold substantive visas in Australia, or who have been refused a visa in Australia, are subject to further requirements in order to lodge a valid Partner visa application in Australia. If either of these scenarios apply to you, we urge you to seek professional advice from an immigration lawyer or registered migration agent about your specific circumstances before proceeding with a Partner visa application in Australia, so as to avoid the lodgement of an invalid Partner visa application, or the refusal of your Partner visa application.
If you are offshore at the time of application, you may be able to lodge a Partner (Subclass 309/100) visa application outside Australia. You will not generally be eligible for the grant of a bridging visa and may need to remain offshore until the grant of your Partner visa, unless you already hold or obtain another visa to travel to Australia in the intervening time.
How does the Partner visa programme work and how long will it take for me to be granted permanent residence?
All Partner visa applicants should be aware that the Partner visa application is a 2-stage process, whereby they are first assessed for the grant of a provisional (i.e. temporary) Partner visa (first stage), and only later considered for the grant of a permanent Partner visa (2nd stage).
Additionally, Partner visa applicants are generally subject to a 2-year waiting period before they are considered for the grant of permanent residence, unless they are already in a long-term relationship with their sponsoring partner at the time of application. Only applicants who can demonstrate that they have already been in a de facto or married relationship with their sponsoring partner for at least 3 years, or who have had a dependent child with their sponsoring partner for at least 2 years, will be considered to have been in a long-term relationship at the time of application.
In practical terms, this means that 2 years after you lodge your Partner visa application, if you have only been granted your provisional Partner visa (i.e. your Partner (Subclass 820) visa or Partner (Subclass 309) visa), you must provide the Department with further information and documents through an online form, for them to process the 2nd stage of your Partner visa application. There is no separate visa application charge for this as it is not a separate visa application. It is crucial that you proceed with the 2nd stage of your Partner visa application as soon as practicable once the 2-year mark has passed, as provisional Partner visa holders who fail to do so may be refused their permanent Partner visa and thereafter lose their provisional Partner visa.
What requirements do I need to meet for the grant of a Partner visa?
Broadly, you will generally need to satisfy the following main requirements to be eligible to apply for and be granted a Partner visa, amongst other requirements:
You need to prove your identity;
You need to show that you are the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who is not prohibited from sponsoring you, both at the time of application and at the time of decision (with limited exceptions);
If you are not married to your sponsor, you have been in a de facto relationship with your sponsor for at least 12 months (with limited exceptions);
You need to hold a substantive visa or your last substantive visa must not have ceased more than 28 days ago, unless there are compelling reasons for waiving this requirement;
You must not be the holder of certain substantive visas unless you have held them for at least 2 - 3 years (depending on the visa);
Your current substantive visa (or most recent substantive visa if you do not presently hold a substantive visa) must not be subject to Condition 8503 (No Further Stay);
You must meet health requirements (or be able to demonstrate that granting you the visa would be unlikely to result in undue cost to the Australian community or undue prejudice to the access of health care or community services of an Australian citizen or permanent resident);
You must meet character requirements; and
You must not have any debt to the Australian Government.
What forms do I need to provide in support of my Partner visa application?
Generally, all Partner visa applicants must provide the following completed forms in support of their Partner visa application:
Form 47SP (or online equivalent) completed by primary applicant
Form 40SP (or online equivalent) completed by sponsor
Forms 888 (at least two) completed by persons 18 years or older with personal knowledge of your de facto/ married relationship
Form 80 completed by applicant and all secondary applicants who are 16 years or older
Form 47A completed by all secondary applicants above the age of 18
The Department may also ask certain applicants to complete additional forms during the application process, and they will generally provide a specific timeframe for applicants to respond.
What documents do I need to provide in support of my Partner visa application?
The Department of Home Affairs’ website provides a general outline of the documents they required to address each of the following requirements, including:
Identity
Birth Certificate showing the names of both parents
Pages of your current passport showing your photo, personal details and issue and expiry dates
Copy of your national identity card (if you have one)
Proof of change of name (if applicable)
Relationship
Evidence of your relationship with your spouse/ partner to show that -
you have a mutual commitment with your spouse/ de facto partner to the exclusion of all others
your relationship is genuine & continuing
you live together or do not live permanently apart
you are not related by family
Evidence of former relationships
Evidence of your relationship with any dependents included in your application
Character
Police certificates (not more than 12 months old) from all countries in which you have spent a cumulative total of 12 months or more over the last 10 years, or since you turned 16 years of age, whichever is more recent
Military service records or discharge papers if you served in the armed forces of any country
Dependents
Evidence of secondary applicants’ dependence on you
Notwithstanding the documents outlined on the Department’s website, the exact information and documents which are required ultimately depend on the applicant’s actual circumstances, and may include items which are not mentioned in the Department’s website.
As experienced immigration lawyers, we are able to advise our clients about any additional documents they may need to provide, to pre-emptively address any potential issues in their Partner visa application. This is why we always provide our clients with a personalised document checklist which is tailored to their unique circumstances.
For the purposes of this Partner Visa Guide, we will focus on the types of relationship evidence that can be provided in support of a Partner visa application (as opposed to specific identity, health and/or character documents that may be required), and this is a general summary of the relationship documents that Partner visa applicants should provide :
Relationship statements from the applicant and sponsor, each addressing (in consistent but not identical terms):
how, when and where you first met
how the relationship developed
when you moved in together, got engaged or married
how you share your finances
how you split the responsibility for housework
what you do together
time you spent apart
significant events in the relationship
your plans for the future
Marriage or Relationship Certificates (as applicable)
Personal photographs which are clearly labelled with -
the date on which the photograph was taken;
the location where the photograph was taken.
the identity of the person(s) in the photograph and how they are related to you; and
any particular event/ occasion being celebrated in the photograph.
Financial aspects of relationship
joint mortgage or lease documents
joint loan documents for major assets e.g. homes, cars, major appliances
joint bank account or credit card account statements
household bills (e.g. for utilities, mobile phone, internet, and joint subscriptions or purchases) in both names
Nature of your household
household bills in both names
copy of mail or emails addressed to you both at the same address
other documents that prove your living arrangements
documents that show joint responsibility for children (as applicable)
Social aspects of your relationship
joint invitations or evidence you go out together
proof you have friends in common (e.g. messages or letters sent to both of you as a couple)
proof you have old government, public or commercial bodies about your relationship (e.g. taxation documents, appointment of emergency contact, insurance beneficiary details)
proof you do joint sporting, cultural or social activities together (e.g. joint membership and other invitations)
proof you travel together (i.e. joint travel itineraries, booking confirmations, etc.)
Nature of your commitment to each other
evidence that you have knowledge of each other’s background, family situation or other personal details
evidence that you have combined your personal matters (e.g. appointed each other as beneficiaries of your insurance, superannuation and/or wills, obtained joint insurance, etc.)
evidence that you stay in touch when apart
As outlined above, the exact information and documents that an applicant and sponsor may be able to provide depends on their actual circumstances, which is why we always provide our clients with a personalised document checklist which is tailored to their unique circumstances. For instance, to satisfy the requirements for the grant of a Partner visa, applicants who have been living separately from their sponsor must provide documentary evidence to demonstrate their separate living arrangements are just temporary, so as to prove that their long-term intention has always been to live together on a permanent basis.
Additionally, Partner visa applicants who are including secondary visa applicants (e.g. dependent children) in their Partner visa application generally have to provide:
further evidence of their child’s dependency on them (where they are 18 years of age or older); and/or
evidence that there is permission for the child/children (where they are under the age of 18) to be granted an Australian visa for the purpose of travel to stay temporarily or permanently in Australia.
What is the application fee for the Partner visa?
The Department of Home Affairs’ visa application charges may presently be accessed at the following link: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/fees-and-charges/current-visa-pricing.
It is important to note that visa application charges are subject to change and may be increased e.g. at the start of each new financial year.
Can the Partner visa application charges and costs be paid by instalments?
To lodge a valid Partner visa application with the Department of Home Affairs, the total visa application charge must be paid in full, at the time of lodgement.
On the other hand, we offer our clients flexible payment arrangements in relation to the payment of our fixed professional fees.
What do I need to do after the lodgement of my Partner visa application?
In our experience, a lot of Partner visa applicants (both represented and unrepresented) tend to do nothing until the Department later contacts them to request further information or documents, and we strongly advise against this.
Instead, we often reach out to our clients to assist them with taking a proactive approach, such as through gathering updated relationship evidence and providing this to the Department at regular intervals. This is because when the Department is close to being ready to make a decision on a Partner visa application, the delegate will generally want to review updated evidence from the applicant, including documentation which demonstrates that the applicant and sponsor continue to be in a genuine and continuing relationship. If such documentation not available at that stage, the Department may then need to spend more time contacting the applicant to make a formal request for updated relationship evidence, before being able to review these documents. This will inevitably result in delays to the Partner visa application being finalised. In contrast, if updated relationship evidence is already available for the delegate to review at this stage, the Department would then be closer to being able to finalise the Partner visa application.
We likewise encourage Partner visa applicants to proactively check the validity of any health and police clearances that they may have provided to the Department, as health clearances and police certificates are generally only valid for 12 months. On this basis, if your health clearance and police certificates expire while your Partner visa application is still being processed, we would generally encourage you to undertake new health examinations and obtain updated police certificates in support of your application, so that this can be provided to the Department sooner rather than later. There may of course be exceptions to this approach, depending on the individual circumstances of each case.
On the same note, updated evidence of a dependent secondary visa applicant’s continued financial dependence upon the primary Partner visa applicant or sponsor, should also be provided during the processing of the Partner visa application, so as to demonstrate that they continue to be eligible members of the family unit.
By ensuring that all relevant information and documentation is updated to the best of your abilities at all stages during the processing of your Partner visa application, you are playing your part in minimising processing times for the grant of your Partner visas.
Additionally, all Partner visa applicants are also obliged to notify the Department about any changes to their personal details, contact details and/or passport details, as well as any changes to their circumstances, up until the grant of their permanent Partner visas. In this regard, if you believe that there have been changes to your personal circumstances that may affect your Partner visa application, including the breakdown of your relationship, we strongly encourage you to consult with one of our lawyers as soon as possible, so that we may pre-emptively advise you about the likely outcome and your options.
How long will it take for my Partner visas to be granted?
It is important to note that the Department’s processing times are frequently updated, will vary and will ultimately depend on the individual circumstances of each case.
As of 3 February 2025, the Department’s processing times presently indicate that 50% of Partner (Subclass 820) visa applications (i.e. the first stage of the Partner (Subclass 820/801) visa application are generally finalised in approximately 9 months, whereas 90% of Partner (Subclass 820) visa applications are finalised in approximately 18 months. The Department’s current processing times otherwise indicate that 50% of Partner (Subclass 309) visa applications (i.e. the first stage of the Partner (Subclass 309/100) visa application are generally finalised in approximately 10 months, whereas 90% of Partner (Subclass 309) visa applications are finalised in approximately 21 months.
In certain cases, total processing times can exceed those which are published by the Department.
In particular, applications which are incomplete or missing requisite documents will take longer to process, as the Department would then need to make a formal request for more information during the processing of the Partner visa application, instead of being able to proceed to the final stages of the application. A considerable gap in the provision of information and documents between the date of lodgement and a subsequent provision of more information also often results in inconsistent information being provided to the Department, which can in turn lead the Department to find that an applicant has provided false or misleading information in his or her Partner visa application.
On this basis, we strongly recommend that all relevant information and documentation is properly reviewed prior to lodgement, and promptly uploaded at lodgement.
Do I need to hire an immigration lawyer or registered migration agent for my Partner visa application?
You can certainly lodge your Partner visa application on your own without any professional advice or assistance, and many applicants often do this to save on potential professional fees, thinking that their matter is straightforward.
However, Migration Regulations and laws in Australia are complex and ever-changing, and many Partner visa applicants tend to believe that their case is “straightforward”, when this may not actually be the case. As a matter of prudence, we recommend that all prospective Partner visa applicants consult with an immigration lawyer prior to proceeding with a Partner visa application, so that they are at least aware of all potential issues before lodging a Partner visa application and submitting any information and documents to the Department.
As immigration lawyers, we are often approached when complications arise during the processing of a Partner visa application, as well as after a Partner visa application has already refused. In an overwhelming majority of these cases, we find that the initial mistakes which led to these negative outcomes would have probably been avoided if the matter had been properly handled by an experienced immigration lawyer right from the start.
To make matters worse, many Partner visa applicants who find themselves in these circumstances eventually end up spending even more money trying to resolve their immigration matters, usually significantly more than what they would have spent on hiring an experienced immigration lawyer from the get go.
If you fall into any of the following categories, we would urge you to you seek professional advice about your eligibility for the grant of Partner visas:
you do not hold a substantive visa in Australia (i.e. you hold a bridging visa);
you hold or have held a Woman at Risk (Subclass 204) visa;
you are an unlawful non-citizen in Australia or have previously resided unlawfully in Australia;
you have a complicated or adverse immigration history whether in Australia and/or overseas (including where you have previously been considered for or had a visa cancelled, held in immigration detention or where you were subject to deportation);
you previously provided the Department with incorrect information in a visa application;
you have previously been refused a visa including a Partner visa;
you have have previously applied for or sponsored someone else for a Partner visa;
your sponsor has previously sponsored someone else for a Partner visa;
you or your sponsor have prior criminal convictions or associated criminal matters to disclose;
you did not disclose your relationship with your sponsor in previous visa applications;
you are trying to include a secondary applicant (e.g. a dependent child) who is over the age of 18 years of age in your Partner visa application; and/or
you are not married to your sponsor and have not been living with your sponsor for at least 12 months.
This is because certain people are barred from applying for and/or being granted Partner visas, or subject to additional requirements before they are able to lodge a valid Partner visa application or be eligible for the grant of Partner visas, and it is crucial that you know how to address these issues before proceeding with any visa application.
As a final note, we wish you the best with your Partner visa application and should you wish to discuss your eligibility for a Partner visa in further detail, please do not hesitate to send us an enquiry at info@inclusivemigration.com.au. While we strive to provide our clients with affordable fixed rates for our services, we recognise that not everyone has the means to obtain professional assistance with their immigration matters, and we hope that this free Partner Visa Guide provides you with some clarity on the Partner visa programme in Australia.
In the meantime, stay tuned for Part 2 of our Partner Visa Guide, where we will be discussing the options that may be available to Partner visa applicants whose relationship with their sponsor ends prior to the grant of their Partner visas, and the specific circumstances where they may still be eligible for the grant of their Partner visas.
