Overview
Australia’s Partner visas are temporary and permanent visas which allow spouses or de facto partners of Australian citizens, permanent residents, and eligible New Zealand citizens to obtain visas in Australia. Partner visas also allow the holder to access medicare and work in Australia. In some cases, simply lodging a Partner visa can provide the same effects.
Visa Options
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Our Partner Visa Process
Start: Verify Eligibility
Submit your visa application and required documents.
Strategy Session
A tailored consultation to understand and provide guidance on your situation.
Prepare Your Application
Kin collects everything needed to maximise the quality of your visa application.
Final Review
Once the application is ready, Kin will have you do a final review to ensure everything is correct.
Submit Application
Now it's time to submit, knowing you've done everything to put your best foot forward.
End: Visa Granted!
Provided there are no complications or RFFI (requests for further information), your Visa will be granted!
Why do Partner Visas get refused?
- Discrepancies in dates or facts between witness statements and couple's evidence
- Contradictions between information in application forms and supporting documents
- Inconsistencies with information from previous visa applications or incoming passenger cards
- Overlooking that a subclass 309 visa will be cancelled/refused if the associated subclass 100 is not applied for
- Being unaware that a partner visa refusal can bar you from applying for other Australian visas
- Not realising that even honest mistakes can lead to a 3-year ban, affecting non-migrating dependents too
- Failing to meet 'Schedule 1' requirements, which can invalidate the entire application
- Overlooking 'time of application' criteria, leading to incurable errors that can't be fixed on appeal
- Submitting applications without thorough checks with legislative provisions, risking oversights in crucial areas
- Relying solely on photos and messages as relationship evidence
- Providing inconsistent descriptions of the relationship in statutory declarations
- Failing to respond to request for further information (s56 notices) within the deadline
Partner Visa FAQs
Can I visit Australia first before applying for a partner visa?
Whether or not you should apply for a visitor visa before applying for a partner visa depends on your individual circumstances, your intentions, and your current visa status. Here's a breakdown to help you decide:
A visitor visa (such as Subclass 600) is designed for people who intend to visit Australia temporarily for tourism, business, or to visit family and friends. If your primary intention is to visit your partner in Australia while you prepare to lodge a partner visa application, a visitor visa might be a suitable short-term solution.
If you are in Australia on a visitor visa, you can apply for an onshore partner visa (Subclass 820/801). Once you apply for the partner visa, you will typically be granted a Bridging Visa A (BVA), which allows you to stay in Australia lawfully while your partner visa application is processed.
Keep in mind that if you apply for a visitor visa with the intention of transitioning to a partner visa, the Department of Home Affairs may scrutinize your visitor visa application to ensure it's genuine and that you intend to comply with the conditions of the visitor visa (e.g., not working, not studying beyond three months). Misrepresenting your intentions could lead to complications or even refusal of your visitor visa application.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Applying for a visitor visa allows you to be with your partner in Australia sooner while you prepare your partner visa application.
- It provides flexibility, especially if you are unsure about the timeline for lodging your partner visa application.
Cons:
- Visitor visas typically have conditions such as "No Further Stay" (Condition 8503), which may prevent you from applying for another visa (such as a partner visa) while in Australia.
- If the Department suspects that your real intention is to stay long-term rather than visit temporarily, your visitor visa could be refused.
When it's ok to proceed:
- If you do not need to lodge your partner visa application immediately, you're from a low-risk country (especially one of the Five Eyes) and want to spend some time with your partner in Australia, applying for a visitor visa could be a good interim option.
- If you plan to apply for the partner visa onshore and want to ensure you're with your partner during the processing period, starting with a visitor visa might make sense.
When it's not ok to proceed:
- If you need to lodge your partner visa application soon due to visa expiry or other urgent circumstances, it might be better to apply directly for the partner visa without first obtaining a visitor visa.
- If you're concerned about getting a "No Further Stay" (8503) condition on your visitor visa, which could complicate your partner visa application, you might prefer to avoid the visitor visa route.
Do I need to be in Australia when applying for or being granted the Subclass 100 visa?
No, you can be either in or outside Australia when you apply for and are granted the Subclass 100 visa.
Do I need to provide new police checks and health examinations for the Subclass 100 visa?
You may be asked to provide new police checks and undergo health examinations, especially if your previous ones have expired. The Department will inform you if these are required.
How long do I need to wait before I can apply for the Subclass 100 visa?
Typically, you become eligible to apply for the Subclass 100 visa two years after lodging your initial Subclass 309 visa application. The Department of Home Affairs will usually contact you when it's time to provide information for the second stage of processing.
Must I apply for a bridging visa separately after I submit my partner visa application?
This depends on the visa that you were holding at the time when you applied for the partner visa in Australia. If you were holding a substantive visa (i.e. working holiday visa, student visa, visitor visa, etc.), you will be granted a bridging visa A automatically which sits in the background until your substantive visa expires. This bridging visa A does not carry any conditions when activated. Please note that the visa conditions on your substantive visa will continue to apply until it expires, even after you have submitted your partner visa onshore. This means that if you hold a visitor visa at the time of your partner visa submission, you are not permitted to work until after your visitor visa expires.
My partner and I have children/a child together. Could our visa be processed more quickly?
If you are in a long-term de facto relationship and have strong supporting evidence, your partner visa application may be processed more quickly.
What constitutes a long-term de facto relationship?
A long-term relationship is defined in Departmental policy to mean:
"2 years of living together - if you have a child of the relationship OR 3 years of living together - if you do not have a child of the relationship"
Not all periods of the relationship are equal
The period of living together that the Department of Home Affairs likes to look at is the period immediately before the date you apply for your partner visa. This means that if you have been living together for a few years, decided to part ways for a year, and later reconciled and started living together again, the period that is closest to the time that you apply for the partner visa is the most relevant one.
What makes strong supporting evidence of your relationship?
The classic criteria that you would need to fulfil for any partner visa are the four factors of what constitutes a genuine and ongoing relationship. If you have evidence supporting each of these criteria, you're one step closer to getting a visa grant. It's even better if you have been in a long-term partner relationship, as discussed in the full article above.
However, this is not all there is to it. As a visa applicant, you need to meet health and character requirements. Your visa history and tendency for compliance of visa conditions will also taken into consideration. In addition, your Australian partner who is your visa sponsor also has to meet character requirements and may be required to undertake to provide for you financially prior to your visa approval.
What happens if my relationship ends before I'm granted the Subclass 100 visa?
If your relationship ends before the Subclass 100 visa is granted, you must inform the Department of Home Affairs immediately. In some cases, you may still be eligible for the visa if you can prove family violence, if you have a child from the relationship, or if your partner has died.
What is the "one fails, all fail" rule?
The rule of "one fails, all fail" applies to any prospective marriage or partner visa applicant who has dependents. In summary, if any of your dependents do not satisfy the health requirements, no one within the application can be granted a visa.
If you are looking into submitting a prospective marriage or partner visa application and have dependent children, they will be required to meet the health requirement of this visa. This is the case whether they are included as dependent visa applicants or not.
Where your dependent children are included as dependent visa applicants, they will be asked to attend health exams. Most approved clinics require dependents under 18 to attend health exams with the accompaniment of an adult.
Where your dependent children are not included as dependent visa applicants and you do not wish to have them attend health examinations, you may inform the Department as such when asked to do so. You will under most circumstances need to give an undertaking that they will not be applying for any future Australian visa applications. This can be a tricky to go down.
The health requirements of this visa are capable of being waived under certain circumstances. Health waiver applications are usually applied for after the application has been lodged and the health exams completed by the visa applicant.
Do we have to marry on the date that we put down on the prospective marriage visa application?
In short, you don't. If you are preparing your own Notice of Intention to Marry, we usually would recommend that you suggest to your marriage celebrant to put down a date range (such as "between June 2020 and January 2021") instead of a fixed date for the date of marriage in their letter of support.
I've lodged my prospective marriage visa and have been waiting for quite some time for it to be processed. My partner and I have married before receiving a decision on my prospective marriage visa application. What are my options now?
In a situation like this, you are required to update the Department regarding any changes to your circumstances. When you provide your marriage certificate and inform the Department of this change in your relationship status, you are taken to have also applied for a subclass 309/100 partner visa application under the law from the date that the Department receives this information.
You may be requested by the case officer to withdraw your existing subclass 300 prospective marriage visa application. You will be expected to provide additional supporting evidence as a subclass 309/100 partner visa applicant.
Do we have to marry in Australia once my prospective marriage visa is granted?
No, there is no strict legislative requirement for you to marry in Australia. However, you will need to enter Australia within the visa period.
You can first enter Australia to activate your prospective marriage visa, leave to marry and then re-enter Australia so that you can apply for the subclass 820/801 partner visa. This is the second stage for you to acquire your permanent residence.
Is there an additional fee for the 801 visa application?
No, the fee for the 801 visa is combined with the initial 820 visa application fee.