Home Affairs Sent a Request for Information on Your Partner Visa: How to Respond
Work Out Which Letter You Have Before You Write Anything.
Two very different letters get called a request for information, and people respond to the wrong one all the time.
A letter from the Department of Home Affairs about a partner application is one of the few moments in the whole process where a short, correct response changes the outcome. It is also one of the few where a polite reply, sent too early, can quietly end your own chances. Which letter you have decides which risk is yours.
Which Letter Have You Got?
| Section 56 request | Section 57 letter | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The Department needs more material to finish assessing your application | The Department holds information that would be the reason, or part of the reason, for refusing you |
| Is it adverse? | Often not. It can simply be a gap in the file | Yes. By definition |
| Where the decision is up to | Usually still being assessed | Refusal is being considered |
| What the letter does | Asks you for something | Puts something to you and invites you to comment |
| What a good response does | Fills the gap, and more | Answers the specific allegation with evidence |
What Section 57 Obliges the Department to Do
Where the obligation applies, the Department must give you the particulars of the information, explain why it is relevant, and invite you to comment before it decides. It does not apply to information you supplied yourself, or to non-disclosable information.
Your Deadline, and How It Is Actually Counted
The period is set by regulation rather than by the officer, and it depends on how the invitation reached you.
| Your situation | The usual prescribed period |
|---|---|
| Written request, you applied in Australia (for example an 820) | 28 days from notification |
| Invitation given at an interview | 7 days after the interview |
| Invitation given by telephone | 7 days from when it is given |
| Visitor and medical treatment visitor classes | 7 days from notification |
| You are in immigration detention | 3 working days from notification |
| You applied offshore (for example a 309) | Go by the date in your letter. The usual onshore period is not the governing rule here |
Now the Counting, Which Is Where Days Quietly Disappear
A letter made available in your ImmiAccount or sent by email is generally taken to have been received at the end of that same day.
Whatever this page says, your letter states your own date. Diarise it the day it arrives, and work backwards from it.
Send Us the Letter Before You Answer It.
If you have received one of these and you are not sure which it is or how long you have, send us the date on it and what it asks. We will tell you which section it was issued under, what your actual deadline is, and whether an extension is worth requesting. That is usually a short conversation and it is worth having before you reply rather than after.
The Reply That Gives Away Your Remaining Days
This is the part almost nobody is told, and it is the easiest mistake to make because it feels polite and organised.
The Department Generally Cannot Refuse Your Application Until the Earliest of Three Things Happens.
One. You give the information.
Two. You tell them you will not or cannot give it.
Three. The period runs out.
So if you reply on day four saying you have sent everything you have and there is nothing further to add, you have triggered the second of those three. The remaining twenty four days stop protecting you and the file can be decided straight away.
If you genuinely have nothing more to send, that is a different matter, but make it a decision rather than a throwaway sentence at the end of an email.
Extensions Exist, and Almost No Page Says So
A Lot of Guidance States Flatly That These Deadlines Cannot Be Extended. That Is Not Right.
An extension can be requested, and the regulations provide for one. For an applicant in Australia the extension period is generally 7 days. For an applicant outside Australia it is generally 7 days, or 28 days in some circumstances.
Two conditions, and the first is absolute.
- It has to be requested before the period ends. Once the time has run out there is nothing to extend.
- It is not guaranteed. A request supported by evidence that you are actually doing something, a booking confirmation for a health examination or a receipt for a police certificate, is far stronger than a request that simply asks for more time.
If It Is a Section 56 Request: Send More Than They Asked For
The instinct is to answer narrowly, attach the one document named, and be done. That is usually a mistake, because the letter tells you what the officer is uncertain about, and the uncertainty is rarely confined to the single item.
The Things Commonly Asked For on a Partner Application
- Relationship evidence covering a particular period
- Form 888 statements from people who know you as a couple
- Police certificates, for you and sometimes your sponsor
- Health examinations
- Sponsor documents (citizenship or residence)
- Translations of documents not in English
- Biometrics
- Evidence the relationship has continued (second stage)
If the request is about your finances for a particular year, send the year asked for and the surrounding period. If it is about cohabitation, send the lease and the utilities and the mail and the statutory declarations. A well organised body of evidence answers the question behind the question. Our page on what that evidence looks like is at proving a genuine relationship.
If It Is a Section 57 Letter: Answer the Point, Not the Fear
A natural justice letter is frightening to receive and the fear tends to produce the wrong response: long, defensive, and addressed to everything the reader imagines rather than to what was actually put.
- State the concern in your own words, then answer it directly. If the letter says your Form 80 and your application give different employment dates, the response addresses those dates. Not your whole life story.
- Support the answer with something other than your word. Official documents, statutory declarations, expert or medical reports. A denial on its own rarely moves an officer who already has material pointing the other way.
- If you made a genuine mistake, correct it properly. There is a form for notifying incorrect answers, Form 1023, and using it reads very differently from an explanation that minimises the error.
- Be completely honest in the response. A reply that contains further false or misleading information creates a second and worse problem under Public Interest Criterion 4020, which carries exclusion periods. We cover how that operates at PIC 4020.
Common Triggers for Section 57 Letters on Partner Applications
Inconsistencies between forms, allegations about documents, character matters, and concerns about whether the relationship is genuine. The letter will tell you which one you have, and the response addresses that one specifically rather than defending everything else.
If You Miss the Deadline
The application is not automatically refused, but the protection you had disappears.
The Department May Decide on the Information It Already Holds, Without Waiting and Without Asking Again.
If the thing you did not provide goes to a criterion, a decision on the file as it stands is very likely to be a refusal.
If that has already happened, the next clock is shorter than you expect and the bridging visa period is not your deadline. We set out both numbers at partner visa refused onshore.
The Second Stage Works Differently
People expect a matching request at the permanent stage and wait for one that may never come.
The 801 and 100 documents are generally not a request at all. You submit them yourself once you reach the eligibility point, which is two years from the date the combined application was lodged. There is no response period because there was no invitation.
The practical consequence is that nothing prompts you. If you do not lodge the second stage material, the permanent assessment simply waits, sometimes for years. If the Department does later write to you about it, that follow up is an ordinary section 56 request and the usual periods apply.
For what to do if the permanent stage has been sitting for a long time, see 801 partner visa pending for years. For current processing figures, 820 partner visa processing time.
Before You Send Anything
- Identify which letter you have, section 56 or section 57. The response differs completely.
- Write down the deadline from the letter and count from the day it was made available, not the day you read it.
- Decide now whether you need an extension, and request it before the period ends if you do.
- Do not write that you have nothing further to add unless you mean to end the period.
- Answer the specific point, and send supporting material rather than assertions.
- If anything you previously submitted was wrong, deal with it properly rather than hoping it is not noticed.
- Use the channel the letter specifies. A response sent the wrong way can be treated as no response at all.
- Get advice before sending a section 57 response. It is the last substantive chance to influence the decision and there is no second attempt.
For the general requirements and how the two stages fit together, our main guide is at the Australian partner visa guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Send Us the Date on Your Letter and What It Asks.
We will tell you which section it was issued under, what your actual deadline is, and whether an extension is worth requesting. Short conversation, before you reply rather than after. There is nothing to pay for an initial review.
Written by
Founder and Editor, Aussie Migration Guide
Karan Rawat is the Founder and Editor of Aussie Migration Guide. With nearly 4 years of experience in SEO and digital content, including work with Australian migration law clients, he specialises in turning complex Australian visa rules, fees and eligibility criteria into clear, practical guides. Every article is checked against current official sources such as the Department of Home Affairs before it goes live. Karan is not a registered migration agent, and the content on this site is general information, not migration advice.