Partner Visa Australia: Complete Guide + Get Matched With a Registered Partner Visa Lawyer

What Is the Partner Visa and Which Pathway Applies to You

The partner visa program is the main route for couples where one partner is Australian, or already holds Australian permanent residency, and the other partner is not. It exists to keep genuine relationships together rather than forcing a foreign partner to leave the country or remain apart from their sponsor for years at a time. The Department of Home Affairs does not issue a single "partner visa." Instead it runs three related pathways, and which one fits your situation depends on where you are physically located when you apply, and how far along your relationship already is.

Onshore: Subclass 820 to Subclass 801

If you are in Australia when you lodge your application, and you remain in Australia for the first decision, you apply for the Subclass 820, temporary partner visa. You lodge a single combined application covering both the temporary and permanent stages, and pay one government charge that covers both. Once the 820 is granted, you can live, work and study in Australia without restriction while the department works through the permanent stage. Roughly two years after lodgement, the department reassesses whether the relationship is still genuine and ongoing, and if it is satisfied, grants the Subclass 801, permanent. From that point you hold permanent residency, with a pathway to citizenship down the track.

Offshore: Subclass 309 to Subclass 100

If you are outside Australia when you apply, and you need to remain outside Australia for the first decision, the equivalent pathway is the Subclass 309, temporary, leading to the Subclass 100, permanent. The evidence requirements are essentially the same four pillars used for the onshore pathway. The practical difference is where you are physically located at each decision point, and typically a longer wait before you can move to Australia and start your life together.

Prospective Marriage: Subclass 300

Couples who are engaged but have not married, and have not lived together as a couple for 12 months, generally cannot yet meet the marriage or de facto evidence thresholds for the 820 or 309. The Subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa is designed for exactly this situation. It allows the applicant to travel to Australia, marry their sponsor within the visa's validity period, and then apply onshore for the Subclass 820/801 before the 300 expires. It suits couples who have met in person, are genuinely planning a wedding, but are not yet married or living together long enough to qualify under the other pathways.

De Facto and Same-Sex Couples

The partner visa program treats married and de facto relationships equally, and treats same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally. De facto applicants generally need to show at least 12 months living together immediately before applying, unless the relationship is formally registered with an Australian state or territory relationship register, in which case the 12-month rule is waived. Couples from countries where a same-sex relationship carries legal or social risk can raise this directly as part of their evidence, since the department recognises that some couples cannot document their relationship the same way others can.

Fast-Track for Long-Term Relationships

Couples who have been together for at least three years by the time they apply, or two years if they have a dependent child together, may have both the temporary and permanent visas granted at the same time, skipping the usual two-year wait between the 820 and the 801 decision. This does not remove the need for strong evidence, but it does remove the waiting period for those who already have a long, well-documented relationship history.

Eligibility Requirements

Every partner visa pathway is built around the same core test: is this a genuine, ongoing relationship between two people who intend to share a life together. To satisfy the department, most applicants need to be at least 18 years old, be legally married or in a de facto relationship with an eligible sponsor, and meet standard health and character requirements. The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen, and must be willing to formally sponsor the application. There are also limits on how many times a person can sponsor a partner, generally capped at two lifetime sponsorships with at least five years between them, unless compelling circumstances apply.

Relationship evidence is assessed across four categories, often called the four pillars: financial (joint accounts, shared bills, joint debts), social (how the relationship is presented to friends, family and the community), household (shared living arrangements and domestic responsibilities), and commitment (long-term plans, wills, and the nature of the commitment itself). A strong application has consistent, dated evidence across all four categories rather than a large volume of evidence in only one.

Not sure which pathway fits your situation? Check your eligibility with a free assessment.

Partner Visa Pathways at a Glance

Schedule 3 and Family Violence Provisions

Two situations deserve extra attention because they change how an application is assessed. The first is Schedule 3. If you are applying onshore but you are not holding a substantive visa at the time you lodge, for example if your visa has already expired, additional criteria under Schedule 3 apply. Meeting them requires showing compelling reasons why the usual requirements should be waived. This is a genuinely higher bar, and it is worth getting advice before lodging rather than after.

The second is family violence. Ordinarily, if a relationship breaks down before the permanent stage is decided, the application can no longer succeed on relationship grounds. There are exceptions: if the relationship ended because of family violence committed by the sponsor, if the sponsor has died, or if there is a dependent child of the relationship with ongoing needs, the applicant may still be eligible for the permanent visa. Each exception carries its own evidence requirements, and this is exactly the kind of situation where speaking to a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer before responding to the department matters.

What the Partner Visa Gives You

Once the temporary stage is granted, you can live, work and study anywhere in Australia without restriction, and you gain access to Medicare, Australia's public healthcare scheme. You can also access a set number of hours of free English language tuition through the Adult Migrant English Program if you need it. When the permanent stage is granted, those rights become indefinite. You can sponsor other eligible family members in the future, travel in and out of Australia freely for five years from the date of grant, and begin working towards Australian citizenship once you meet the residence requirements under the Australian Citizenship Act. Children born to the relationship, or already part of the family, can generally be included in the same application.

Step-by-Step: How the Application Process Works

1. Build your evidence file. Gather documentation across the four pillars, financial, social, household and commitment, along with identity, health and character documents. This is where most applications either get built on a solid foundation or run into trouble later. A registered agent can tell you early whether a category is thin before it becomes a problem at decision time.
2. Lodge the combined application through ImmiAccount. The temporary and permanent stages are lodged and paid for together. The sponsor lodges a separate sponsorship application alongside it.
3. Bridging Visa A is granted (onshore only). Once your current substantive visa expires, a Bridging Visa A takes effect automatically, allowing you to remain in Australia lawfully with work rights while the application is decided.
4. The department assesses the temporary stage. A case officer reviews your evidence against the four pillars. Many case officers now issue only one request for further information before deciding on the file in front of them, which is why a decision-ready application matters more than it used to.
5. The temporary visa is granted. The 820 or 309 replaces your bridging visa, or confirms your status offshore, and you move into the waiting period for the permanent stage.
6. The department reassesses roughly two years later. You provide updated evidence that the relationship is still genuine and continuing before the permanent decision is made.
7. The permanent visa is granted. You become an Australian permanent resident, with the rights and pathway to citizenship that come with it.

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Costs and Processing Times

The partner visa carries one of the highest government charges in the Australian migration system. From 1 July 2026, the base application charge for the primary applicant on the Subclass 820/801 or Subclass 309/100 pathway is AUD 11,710. This single charge covers both the temporary and permanent stages, so there is no second government fee when the permanent visa is later granted. A secondary applicant aged 18 or over adds AUD 5,860, and a secondary applicant under 18 adds AUD 2,935. Applicants who previously held a Subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa pay a substantially reduced charge at the 820/801 stage, since the bulk of the fee was already paid when the 300 was lodged. Beyond the government charge, budget for health examinations, typically AUD 300 to 500 per person, police clearances for any country lived in for 12 months or more, generally AUD 50 to 200 per country, and translation of any non-English documents.

On processing times, the department reports the Subclass 820 temporary stage as taking roughly 16 to 17 months for half of all applications, and up to around 24 months for the slower 90 percent. The permanent 801 stage is generally not assessed until at least two years after lodgement, with a further 6 to 18 months from that point once the case is reassessed. These are cohort figures rather than guarantees, and a complete, well-evidenced application lodged from the outset tends to sit closer to the faster end. For the current government charges and processing bands, the Department of Home Affairs publishes both on its partner visa page.

Common Mistakes That Lead to Refusal

Why Get Matched Through Us

AussieMigrationGuide is an independent information and referral platform. We are not a law firm and not a registered migration agency, and we never provide immigration advice ourselves. What we do is help you understand the partner visa system in plain language, then connect you with a MARA-registered migration agent or immigration lawyer from our network who can review your specific situation and represent you directly with the Department of Home Affairs. There is no cost to you to be matched, and no obligation to proceed. The goal is simply to save you the time of searching for a registered professional who actually handles partner visa cases, including complex ones like Schedule 3 waivers or family violence exceptions.

How Our Matching Works

1. Submit your free assessment. Tell us about your relationship, your location, and where you are in the process.
2. We review your situation. We look at which pathway and which specialist experience fits your case, including complex scenarios.
3. We connect you with a MARA-registered agent or immigration lawyer. They contact you directly to discuss your case and provide advice specific to your circumstances.
4. You decide how to proceed. There is no obligation, and the advice you receive comes from the registered professional, not from us.

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