Australian Partner Visa: Requirements, Key Criteria and Simple Cases

3 Steps to a Straightforward Partner Visa Case

1. Confirm the Right Pathway: Decide between onshore (820/801) and offshore (309/100) based on where you currently are.
2. Build the Four Pillars of Evidence: Gather financial, household, social, and commitment evidence that tells a coherent, consistent story.
3. Address Health and Character Early: Complete health examinations and police clearances well ahead of lodgement to avoid delays.

Overview

Bringing a partner to Australia – or staying here with them – is one of the most personally significant steps a couple can take. The Australian Partner Visa program exists to make that possible, but it does require a carefully prepared, evidence-rich application. This guide explains what the Department of Home Affairs looks for, how the two-stage pathway works, and what a clean, straightforward case typically involves.

The Two Main Pathways

There are two onshore and offshore pathways depending on where you are when you apply:

Subclass 820 / 801 – applied for while you are inside Australia. The 820 is granted first as a temporary visa; the 801 (permanent) follows after approximately two years.

Subclass 309 / 100 – applied for while you are outside Australia. The 309 is a temporary entry visa; the 100 (permanent) follows after approximately two years.

Subclass 300 – Prospective Marriage Visa for couples who are engaged but not yet married at the time of application. The applicant must be offshore.

Both the temporary and permanent stages are lodged together as a single combined application, and there is no second government fee for the second stage. As at the 2025-26 financial year, the primary applicant government fee starts from approximately AUD 9,365.

Who Must Be Involved

Every Partner Visa application involves two people – the visa applicant and the sponsor.

The Visa Applicant

The person applying must be either legally married to, or in a genuine de facto relationship with, an eligible sponsor. For a de facto relationship, the couple must generally have been together for at least 12 months immediately before lodging – unless they are registered in a jurisdiction that allows registration of relationships.

All applicants must also satisfy health and character requirements, and must not hold certain visa bars (discussed in our complex cases article).

The Sponsor

The sponsor must be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen. They must be at least 18 years of age and must themselves satisfy character requirements. Importantly, sponsorship is subject to limitations – the Department places restrictions on how many times and how often a person can sponsor a Partner Visa applicant. These limitations are worth understanding early.

What Makes a Relationship Genuine – The Four Pillars

The entire application rests on demonstrating that the relationship is genuine and continuing. The Department assesses this across four recognised categories of evidence:

1. Financial

Evidence of shared financial lives – joint bank accounts, shared expenses, co-signed leases or mortgages, shared bills, joint assets or liabilities. Both partners contributing to household finances is a strong indicator.

2. Household

Evidence of cohabitation and shared domestic responsibilities – a joint lease or mortgage, utility accounts, evidence of a shared routine and domestic life. The Department also considers couples who may not be permanently living together due to work or other reasons, provided there is a credible explanation.

3. Social

Evidence of a shared social life – photographs of life together, joint invitations, recognition by family and friends, travel together. Statutory declarations from friends and family members who know the couple as a couple carry real weight here.

4. Commitment

Evidence of long-term commitment – how the relationship began, its development over time, future plans, inclusion of each other in wills or as beneficiaries, knowledge of each other’s personal history, and communication during periods apart.

The Department is not looking for a perfect checklist. It wants to see a coherent, consistent narrative of a real relationship. The evidence should tell a story, not just fill boxes.

Health and Character Requirements

Every applicant – and all dependent family members included in the application – must undergo immigration health examinations arranged through the Health Assessment Portal (HAP). Applicants must also provide police clearances from each country in which they have lived for 12 months or more in the past 10 years.

Most partner visa applicants are assessed under Public Interest Criterion 4007 for health, which means a health waiver may be available in certain circumstances if the requirement is not met. We cover this in detail in our dedicated health articles.

What a Simple, Straightforward Case Looks Like

A genuinely simple Partner Visa case typically has all of the following characteristics:

The applicant holds a valid substantive visa and has no prior refusals or cancellations.

The sponsor has not previously sponsored another partner, or any prior sponsorship is well outside restriction periods.

Both parties have clean character histories and pass their health assessments without issue.

The relationship has clear, consistent evidence across all four pillars.

There are no complications with identity documents or previous immigration history in any country.

Even in apparently simple cases, the quality of the evidence package makes a significant difference to processing times and outcomes. A well-organised, persuasive application is very different from a complete but thin one.

Processing Times

Partner visa processing times are among the longest in the Australian migration program. As at early 2026, onshore applications (Subclass 820) are broadly taking between 13 and 24 months for many applicants, though this varies significantly. Offshore applications (Subclass 309) can take longer. These figures are estimates only – the Department publishes updated processing data monthly.