Relationship Ended After the 820 Grant but Before the 801
You Still Hold a Visa. That Does Not Change Because the Relationship Did.
A granted 820 stays in place until a delegate of the Department cancels it. There is no automatic process, no switch that flips when you separate. Your former partner cannot cancel it, cannot withdraw it, and cannot make you unlawful, whatever they may have told you.
You hold a temporary partner visa. You have probably been here a year or two, you have work rights, and the permanent stage has not been decided yet. The relationship has ended. That is not the same as your visa ending, and the useful thing is to understand the difference before you touch any form.
You Have Work Rights, Lawful Status, and a Process You Can Still Win.
Holding the 820 already is an advantage, not a disadvantage. The exception provisions that keep the permanent visa open are at their clearest at this stage. The letter you may receive gives you time. The response you lodge is where the actual decision gets made.
None of that is true if you let the status question sit without acting. It is true if you work out your position, gather evidence, and respond with a claim rather than a confession.
The Notification Obligation, and the Trap Inside It
You have to tell the Department that the relationship has ended. There are two ways.
- The Notification of Relationship Cessation form, in the Update Details tab of your ImmiAccount.
- Form 1022, the change of circumstances form, by email.
People hesitate here for an obvious reason. Telling the Department feels like ending your own case. In practice the choice is between disclosing it yourself and having it emerge later, and the second is substantially worse. If you do not notify and the relationship is later found not to have been genuine, the visa can be cancelled without you being given a chance to explain anything.
The Part People Get Wrong
A notification that says only "my relationship has ended" is complete, honest, and can lead to cancellation immediately. There is nothing in it for a decision maker to work with.
The Letter, and the 28 Days
Whether you notify or someone else reports it, the usual next step is a letter from the Department asking you to comment. It can take weeks or months to arrive, and it generally gives you 28 days.
That letter is the decision point. Three outcomes follow from how you handle it.
| What you do | What generally happens |
|---|---|
| Respond within the period with an exception claim and evidence | The claim is assessed. This is the only path that leads to the 801. |
| Respond confirming the relationship has ended, with nothing else | Cancellation of the 820, or refusal of the 801 if it has been lodged, can follow promptly. |
| Respond late, or not at all | The Department can cancel or refuse without further notice. Silence is read as having nothing to say. |
If you have received one of these letters and want to understand what it is and how the deadline is counted, we go through both at partner visa request for information.
Tell Us Where You Are Up To Before You File Anything.
Send us what you hold, when it was granted, whether you have notified the Department yet and whether any of the three exceptions might apply. We will tell you plainly what is still available and in what order to do things. If you have not notified yet, that is usually the most useful conversation to have first.
The Three Exceptions, and Why Your Position Is Better Than It Looks
There are recognised circumstances in which the permanent visa can still be granted even though the relationship has ended. Holding the 820 already is an advantage here, because at the permanent stage these provisions are at their clearest.
Family Violence
If you or a member of your family unit experienced family violence committed by your sponsor, the permanent visa can still be granted. For an 820 holder this is the most established of the three routes.
One detail decides many of these cases and almost nobody states it.
The Violence Must Have Occurred During the Relationship.
The provisions are directed at violence committed while the relationship existed. Conduct that began after you separated is generally not relevant to this claim, however serious it is and however frightening it is to live with.
A Child of the Relationship
Where you and your sponsor have a child together and you have ongoing parental responsibility, the permanent visa can still be granted. The usual material is a birth certificate naming both parents, Family Court orders or a parenting plan showing how care is shared, evidence of financial contribution including any child support, and records showing your involvement in the child day to day.
This route applies to 820 and 801 applicants, and to 309 holders seeking the 100. It is not automatic and it turns on the parental responsibility being real and continuing, not on the child existing.
The Death of Your Sponsor
If your sponsoring partner died, the permanent visa can still be granted. What has to be shown is that the relationship would have continued had they not died, along with the death certificate. This is a different situation from a separation and it is worth saying plainly that it is treated differently.
The Evidence, and a Format Requirement That Catches People
For family violence there are two routes, and they work differently.
| Type | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Judicial evidence | Court orders, apprehended violence orders and police records. Where you have one of these the Department is required to accept that family violence occurred. |
| Non-judicial evidence | Medical and hospital reports, and reports from social workers or registered psychologists. These are assessed rather than automatically accepted. |
The Format Matters More Than People Expect
A report from a psychologist or a social worker generally has to be in the form of a statutory declaration, not a letter on letterhead. A supportive, detailed letter in the wrong format can fail to do the job it was written for, and the person who wrote it usually has no idea that is the case. If you are asking a professional for support material, tell them the format it has to take.
If None of the Exceptions Applies
Then the partner route is closing and the useful thing is to look sideways rather than forward.
- Another substantive visa. Student, skilled and working holiday visas are the common alternatives, and which of them is open depends entirely on your age, occupation, qualifications and English.
- A bridging visa. Once you lodge another visa application you can generally be granted a bridging visa to stay while it is decided, which is why the order of operations matters.
- Review. If the 820 is cancelled or the 801 is refused, there are review rights, and the deadline is shorter than the bridging visa period. We set out both clocks at partner visa refused onshore, the bridging visa deadline.
The reason to work this out before you respond to the Department rather than after is simple. Lodging another application while you still hold a substantive visa is a much better position than lodging one after the 820 has been cancelled.
Once the 801 Is Granted, This Is Over
Worth Stating, Because People Carry the Anxiety Long Past the Point Where It Applies
If the permanent visa has already been granted, a relationship ending afterwards does not affect it. You are a permanent resident. Your former partner has no standing in your immigration status and there is nothing for them to report.
What to Do Before You Respond
- Confirm what you actually hold and when it expires. Check VEVO rather than relying on memory.
- Work out whether any of the three exceptions applies to you, and be generous with yourself about the first one. People routinely conclude that what happened to them does not count.
- Gather evidence before you notify, particularly anything that will be harder to get once you have less contact with your former partner or their family.
- If you are asking a professional for a report, tell them it needs to be a statutory declaration.
- Work out what other visa you could lodge, and whether you could lodge it while still holding the 820.
- Then notify, and get advice on what goes in that notification. It is a short document that does a lot of work.
- Do not leave Australia before someone has looked at your position.
If what happened is that your sponsor withdrew their sponsorship rather than a mutual separation, the process and the deadlines differ and we cover that at your sponsor has withdrawn sponsorship. For the general picture across every stage, our breakdown page is at 820 partner visa relationship breakdown options.
Frequently Asked Questions
If You Have Not Notified Yet, That Is the Most Useful Conversation to Have First.
Send us what you hold, when it was granted, and whether any of the three exceptions might apply. We will tell you plainly what is still available and in what order to do things.
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.