How it unfolds
One application, two decisions, about two years apart
The 820 and the 801 are applied for together. This is the order things happen in.
- 1Day one
Lodge in Australia
One online application for both stages, made while you are in Australia.
- 2Straight away
Bridging visa
Keeps you lawful while the Department decides, if you held a substantive visa.
- 3Months later
The 820 is granted
Live, work and study here, travel freely and apply for Medicare.
- 4Two years from lodgement
The 801 is assessed
You send updated evidence and the relationship is looked at again.
- 5Then
Permanent residence
The 801 is granted, and citizenship becomes the next question.
Where are you up to?
Find the pages for the stage you are at
Most people read this guide at one of four moments. Start with yours.
Getting it right first time
Answering the Department
When things go wrong
Harder cases
If your situation is complicated
These are the situations where an application is most likely to go wrong, and where it pays to read the detail.
Schedule 3 Criteria: Applying Without a Substantive Visa
What Schedule 3 means for an 820 applicant with no substantive visa. Which criteria apply, how the waiver works, and what makes a lodgement invalid.
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Condition 8503 (No Further Stay) and the 820 Visa
How condition 8503 blocks an onshore 820 partner visa application, how to check for it in VEVO, and how a no further stay waiver is requested and decided.
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What Happens to Your 820 If the Relationship Ends
What to do if your partner relationship ends while your 820 and 801 are on foot, how to tell the Department, and when a permanent visa can still be granted.
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Family Violence Provisions for Partner Visa Applicants
How the family violence provisions work for 820 and 801 applicants: what the Department must be satisfied of, the two ways a claim is made out, and the evidence.
Read the guide →Natural Justice Letters (s57): How to Respond
What a section 57 natural justice letter is, what triggers one on a partner visa, the deadline to comment, and how to structure a response.
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Sponsorship Limitations: Previous Sponsorships and the Five-Year Rule
How regulation 1.20J limits partner visa sponsorship: two partners, five years between applications, the waiver, and the rules on sponsor convictions.
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Getting help
An application prepared by a migration lawyer is more likely to succeed
People do lodge successfully on their own. But partner visas are refused over things that are fixable before lodgement, and the situations on this page are the ones where the odds shift most.
- One missed criterion makes an application invalid. Being offshore on the day, a no-further-stay condition, or the wrong kind of statutory declaration.
- Evidence is judged against four defined matters, not by volume. An immigration lawyer knows which documents carry weight.
- Deadlines are short and strict. Requests, natural justice letters and review applications all run on dates that cannot be moved.
Unregistered agents
An unregistered agent who gives immigration assistance is acting illegally (Migration Act 1958 s 280). They carry no professional indemnity insurance, so if their mistake costs you a refusal, your fees or your pathway, there is no insurer to claim against. A practising Australian lawyer must hold that insurance.
Most read
The questions people ask first
820 Visa Cost in 2026–27What the subclass 820 partner visa costs in 2026–27: the visa application charge, who pays less, and the medicals, police checks and fees people forget.820 Visa Processing TimeHow long the subclass 820 takes, where the Department publishes processing times, and what actually makes one application slower or faster than another.
De Facto Partner Visa 820: The 12-Month RuleHow the 12-month de facto rule works for the subclass 820, what counts towards the 12 months, and how time living apart is treated.
Applying for an 820 from a Visitor VisaYou can apply for the 820 on a visitor visa if it has no no-further-stay condition and you are in Australia. What to check first, and the 2026 proposal.
Form 888 Statutory Declarations from Friends and FamilyWhat Form 888 is, who can complete one, what a useful supporting statement says, and why a Form 888 is not a Commonwealth statutory declaration.
Medicare on the 820 VisaAn 820 holder can apply for Medicare. How enrolment works, where bridging visa holders stand, and how to cover yourself for health care while you wait.
Long-Term Relationship Exemption: Going Straight to the 801If you were in a long-term partner relationship when you applied, the Migration Regulations remove the two-year wait for the permanent subclass 801 visa.
Who Can Sponsor an 820 Partner VisaWho can sponsor a subclass 820 partner visa: citizens, permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens, and how sponsorship is lodged and approved.About this guide
This guide covers the onshore partner visa: the subclass 820 partner visa, which is the temporary stage, and the subclass 801, which is the permanent one. They are one application with one charge and two decisions. The pages here set out who can apply, how the Department of Home Affairs assesses a relationship, what evidence is needed, what it costs, how long you wait, and what happens when something goes wrong.
Every page is written from Australian government material — the Department's own pages, the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994 — and carries the date it was last checked, because fees, processing times and policy all move.
This is general information about how the rules work, not legal advice about your situation, and nothing here can be relied on as advice. An application prepared by an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed. See working with a migration lawyer, or read more about this guide.