The subclass 801 has no criteria to be satisfied at time of application: everything is assessed at the time of decision, so the question is what is true now and what has been true across the two years in between. This page sets out what goes into that update, what is genuinely required, and what not to redo until you are asked.
What does the permanent stage actually require?
Legally, very little. The Migration Regulations 1994 set criteria, not a checklist: hold the subclass 820, continue to be sponsored by the sponsoring partner, be that person's spouse or de facto partner, and have waited two years from lodgement. Character, health, identity and Australian values criteria are assessed again at decision. Nothing in the Regulations names a document.
The documents come from the Migration Act 1958 instead. Section 56 lets the Department invite an applicant to give additional information in a specified way, and that invitation — the request most people receive at the eligibility point — carries a deadline. Section 55 lets you give any additional relevant information until the decision is made, and obliges the Department to have regard to it. Required, then, means what is asked for by the date set. Everything else below is provided, not required.
Key facts
The only compulsory documents are those the Department asks for, by the date it sets. Everything else is provided because it is the ordinary way of showing the relationship is still genuine. Do not redo police certificates or health examinations unprompted — both expire.
Updated relationship evidence: the four matters, two more years
The assessment headings are the same as at the temporary stage; only the period changes. The Migration Regulations require the Department to consider the financial aspects of the relationship, the nature of the household, the social context and the nature of the couple's commitment to each other. What the second stage adds is continuity: the update should cover the whole span from lodgement to now, without a gap in the middle.
| Matter | What the update should show | Documents for the period since lodgement |
|---|---|---|
| Financial | Resources still shared | Joint account statements across the whole period, shared loans, policies naming each other, jointly paid bills, tax records showing a spouse |
| Household | Where and how you have lived | Leases or a mortgage in both names, utility accounts, mail to each of you at one address |
| Social | That you are recognised as a couple | Dated photographs spread across the years, invitations, travel booked together, family and employers treating you as partners |
| Commitment | An exclusive, ongoing relationship | Wills, superannuation and insurance nominations, powers of attorney, periods apart and how contact was kept |
The failure here is shape, not volume: evidence that starts strongly, stops for eighteen months and resumes a fortnight before the file is sent looks like what it is. See relationship evidence for what each heading establishes.
Updated statements from both partners, and from others
A fresh statement from each partner is the spine of the update. It is not required by the Regulations, and it is the most useful thing in the file, because it is the only document that explains the period rather than evidencing a fragment of it. Write it as a continuation: where you have lived, what changed at work, how money has been handled, who visited, what happened when one of you travelled. Date it, sign it, keep it to facts. The sponsor writes their own, in their own words. Relationship statement sets out a structure that works here too.
Fresh supporting statements from other people are commonly provided too, and are best taken from people who have seen the two years in question — a landlord, a colleague, a sibling who stayed with you — rather than the same friends who wrote at lodgement. No rule sets a number here. That is worth being precise about, because at lodgement some applicants who do not hold a substantive visa must include at least two statutory declarations made within the last six weeks or the application may be deemed invalid, and the Department says a Form 888 is not a statutory declaration for that purpose. That rule belongs to the first stage only. Form 888 statutory declarations explains who may complete each.
Evidence of anything that has changed
Changes carry their own documents, and should already be on the file if you notified them as they happened. A child born since lodgement: the birth certificate naming both parents. A move: the new lease. A name change after marriage: the marriage certificate and the updated passport or licence. A new job, or a period living apart for work: a dated note and whatever supports it.
Notifications matter as much as the documents. Form 1022 covers changes in circumstances and Form 929 covers address and passport details, and both are lodged when the change occurs. At the permanent stage, list what you notified and when — a change disclosed at the time is a fact, while the same change surfacing two years late is a credibility problem. A dependent child not included at the start cannot be added after the 820 is granted; the route runs through a Dependent Child visa (subclass 445) and Form 1002. See telling Home Affairs about changes and including children in your application.
Police certificates and health examinations: wait to be asked
Do not repeat either one unprompted. The Department says police certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue for immigration purposes, and health assessment results for 12 months, with a health undertaking running for 6 months. Both will usually have expired by the eligibility point and can expire again during processing, so a certificate obtained early is often one paid for twice. If the Department asks, act inside the deadline: overseas certificates can take months. Police certificates covers which countries you need them from.
What to keep, year by year
| When | What to save and upload | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | One or two dated items per matter — a statement, a bill, a dated photograph | Builds the record nobody can reconstruct later |
| Every six months | A dated note of what changed, with that half-year's documents | Turns a pile into a chronology |
| End of year one | Lease or mortgage papers, tax records, insurance and superannuation nominations | Annual documents exist once; capture them as they arrive |
| End of year two | The same annual set, plus the months since | Closes the gap to the eligibility point |
| Whenever anything changes | Form 1022 or Form 929, and the underlying document | Notification is an obligation; the copy proves you met it |
| When the request arrives | Both statements, supporting statements, and only the personal documents asked for | Keeps the response inside the deadline |
How to file it
Upload through ImmiAccount against the application you already have — there is no second application and no second charge. Name files so a case officer can tell what a document is and when it is from: 2025-03 joint account statement, not scan_0047. Group by matter, then by date, and put a one-page index at the front listing what is included and the period each item covers. Check your own email as well as any nominated address, because the Department may still contact you directly. See requests for more information.
An update prepared with an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed, and the value here is in what gets missed: the middle of the two years, when life was ordinary and nobody kept anything; the response deadline on the Department's request; an overseas police certificate ordered too late. Working with a migration lawyer explains how to check a lawyer's practising certificate.
If you have not reached the two-year mark, read when the 801 is assessed and start the monthly habit now. Once the visa is granted, from the 801 to citizenship covers what comes next.
Common questions
What documents do I need for the 801 visa?
Updated relationship evidence covering the period since you lodged, organised against the four matters in the Migration Regulations — the financial aspects of the relationship, the nature of the household, the social context and the nature of your commitment to each other. Most applicants also provide a fresh personal statement from each partner, supporting statements from people who know the relationship, and documents covering any change such as a birth, a move, a name change or a new job. The Department of Home Affairs normally writes to you at the eligibility point setting out what it wants, and that request is the authoritative list for your file.
Do I have to do new police checks and a new medical for the 801?
Only if the Department asks. Both expire — the Department says police certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue for immigration purposes and health assessment results are valid for 12 months — so obtaining them unprompted usually means obtaining them twice. Wait for the request, then act on it inside the deadline.
How far back does the evidence have to go?
To the date you lodged the combined application. The temporary stage covered the relationship up to lodgement. The permanent stage is about what happened afterwards, so the evidence should cover the whole period continuously rather than clustering around the start and the end of it.
Do we need new Form 888 statutory declarations at the permanent stage?
There is no rule in the Migration Regulations requiring a set number at the permanent stage, unlike the validity requirement that applies at lodgement to some applicants who do not hold a substantive visa. Fresh supporting statements are commonly provided anyway, because they cover the two years the original ones could not.
What if we have had a baby or moved house since we applied?
Tell the Department at the time, not at the end. Form 1022 covers changes in circumstances and Form 929 covers changes of address and passport details. A child born after the 820 was granted cannot simply be added to the application, so take advice early about the route for children.
Sources
Keep reading
When Is the 801 Assessed? The Two-Year Eligibility Point
The 801 is assessed two years after the combined partner visa application was made, not two years after the 820 was granted. What happens at that point.
Read the guide →
Long-Term Relationship Exemption: Going Straight to the 801
If 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.
Read the guide →
801 Visa Processing Time
How long the permanent subclass 801 takes, why the clock starts at the two-year eligibility point, and where to check the Department's current published times.
Read the guide →