Partner Visa (820/801/309/100)

What this visa is

Partner visas let the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen or permanent resident live in Australia permanently. The two-stage 820/801 is for couples already in Australia; the 309/100 is for offshore applicants. Both stages assess whether the relationship is genuine and continuing.

Where applications go wrong

Partner visa refusals usually come from thin relationship evidence, gaps in cohabitation, or sponsor eligibility issues. A migration agent helps you build the four pillars of relationship evidence (financial, household, social, commitment), prepare statutory declarations, and respond to s.359A requests properly. Refused Partner cases are slow and expensive to fix — worth getting right the first time.

Can you lodge this yourself?

Honestly, some people can. A partner visa is not legally complex — it is evidentiary. If your relationship is straightforward, you have lived together with documentation, neither of you has a visa refusal or cancellation history, and you are not caught by a bar, then the work is assembling and organising evidence rather than arguing law. Plenty of couples self-lodge successfully.

Where an agent genuinely earns their fee is the opposite case: a previous refusal, a section 48 bar, an unlawful period, a sponsor who has sponsored before or has a relevant criminal record, a short relationship history, family-violence provisions, or a relationship that is real but poorly documented. Those are the situations where a mistake is expensive and hard to undo.

The cost is worth knowing before you decide either way — the government charge alone runs to several thousand dollars and is not refunded if the application fails. See the current fee breakdown.

Onshore or offshore — which subclass applies

Where you are when you lodge decides which pair you apply under, and you cannot mix them. The 820 (temporary) leading to the 801 (permanent) is the onshore pair. The 309 leading to the 100 is the offshore pair. The subclass 300 prospective marriage visa is a separate route for engaged couples who have not yet married.

Married and de facto applicants use the same subclasses — a registered relationship or documented cohabitation stands in for a marriage certificate. Compare onshore and offshore in detail, or read the de facto guide.

The evidence is the application

Decisions turn on whether the relationship is genuine and continuing, assessed across four areas: financial aspects, the nature of the household, social recognition, and the nature of your commitment. Refusals rarely say the relationship was fake — they say the evidence did not establish it. Those are different problems, and the second one is fixable in advance.

Read the evidence guide and the checklist, or work through the Partner Visa Evidence Pack — it organises the four pillars, the Form 888 witness statements and your relationship timeline into something a case officer can follow. It is your own evidence, structured; it is not advice and it does not replace an agent where one is warranted.

If something has already gone wrong

A refusal is not necessarily the end, but the clock is short — review deadlines are stated on the decision and generally cannot be extended. Start with refusal and ART review. If you are onshore without a substantive visa, read Schedule 3 waivers. If the relationship has ended, your options depend on the stage you are at, and the family violence provisions exist precisely so that leaving does not automatically cost you the visa.

Common questions

How much does an Australian partner visa cost?

The government application charge runs to several thousand dollars for the primary applicant, with additional charges for dependants, and it covers both stages of the two-stage process. It is not refunded if the application is refused. Fees are indexed on 1 July each year, so check the current figure on the Home Affairs site before budgeting.

How long does a partner visa take?

Processing times vary widely by subclass and by individual case, and Home Affairs publishes indicative ranges rather than guarantees. A well-documented application is not necessarily faster, but an incomplete one is reliably slower, because requests for further information restart the clock.

Can I apply for a partner visa without a migration agent?

Yes. There is no requirement to use an agent, and couples with a straightforward, well-documented relationship and no visa complications do self-lodge. An agent is worth the fee where there is a prior refusal, a bar, an unlawful period, sponsor complications, or thin evidence.

What is the difference between the 820 and the 309?

Both are the temporary first stage of a partner visa. You apply for the 820 if you are in Australia when you lodge, and the 309 if you are offshore. Each leads to a permanent second stage — the 801 and the 100 respectively.

Do de facto couples need to have lived together for 12 months?

The usual requirement is a de facto relationship for at least 12 months before lodging, but registering the relationship with an Australian state or territory can remove that requirement, and there are limited exceptions. This is exactly the sort of question worth putting to a registered agent rather than guessing.

Can I stay in Australia while my partner visa is processed?

If you lodged onshore and held a substantive visa at the time, a bridging visa generally allows you to remain while the application is decided. The conditions attached depend on your circumstances at lodgement.