Long-Term Relationship Exemption: Going Straight to the 801

If you were in a long-term partner relationship with your sponsoring partner when you lodged, the two-year wait for the permanent subclass 801 does not apply to you. This is not a concession you apply for and it is not discretionary — it is written into the criteria for the visa in Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994. The Regulations do not use the word "exemption"; they simply disapply the waiting requirement for applicants who meet the definition.

What the Regulations say

Two provisions do the work, and they sit in different places.

The first is the waiting requirement itself, in clause 801.221 of Schedule 2. The standard pathway to the subclass 801 requires that the applicant holds a subclass 820 visa, continues to be sponsored by the sponsoring partner, is the spouse or de facto partner of that person, and — "subject to subclauses (6A) and (7)" — that at least two years have passed since the application was made. A parallel provision covers applicants whose subclass 820 was granted following a ministerial intervention decision; for them the two years run from the date of that decision instead.

The second is the carve-out. Subclause 801.221(6A) provides that those waiting-period paragraphs "do not apply to an applicant who at the time of making the application was in a long-term partner relationship with the sponsoring partner". Every other criterion stays in place.

How long is "long-term"?

The definition is in regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994, and Schedule 2 points to it expressly in the interpretation clause for subclass 801. A long-term partner relationship, in relation to an applicant for a visa, means a relationship between the applicant and another person, each as the spouse or de facto partner of the other, that has continued:

Three things in that wording matter more than they look.

"Of both." The shorter two-year period applies only where the dependent child is a child of both the applicant and the sponsoring partner. A child of one partner alone does not bring you within it, and step-children are excluded in terms.

"Has continued." The period is a continuous relationship, not a total of separate stretches. A relationship that broke down and later resumed is a question of fact for the decision maker, and is exactly the kind of history to explain in the application rather than leave to inference.

"Each as the spouse or de facto partner of the other." The definition is framed around the character of the relationship rather than a single legal status. Those terms have their own definitions: spouse in section 5F of the Migration Act 1958, de facto partner in section 5CB, with regulation 1.15A setting out what must be considered in assessing either. See legal definitions of spouse and de facto and de facto partner requirements.

When is the period measured?

At the date the combined 820 and 801 application was lodged, which is visible in ImmiAccount. Subclause (6A) is tied to that moment: the applicant must have been in a long-term partner relationship with the sponsoring partner "at the time of making the application".

That is the point people most often get wrong. A couple who were two and a half years into their relationship at lodgement do not come within the provision six months later, even though the relationship has by then continued for three years. The provision is not a rolling test. It also means a few weeks' difference in lodgement date can be the difference between a permanent visa considered straight away and a two-year wait — a planning question to take advice on before lodging, not afterwards.

What it does not change

The provision removes one criterion. It does not remove the rest, and it does not remove the temporary visa.

• You must still hold a subclass 820 visa when the permanent visa is decided. The pathway the carve-out sits inside begins with that requirement, so the 801 is still the second decision on the same application.
• You must still be sponsored by the same sponsoring partner, and still be that person's spouse or de facto partner.
• Health, character and public interest criteria are assessed at the time of decision for you and for family members in the application.
• It does not by itself move you up the Department's queue. Where the waiting requirement does not apply there is no two-year qualifying period to serve, but the application still has to be processed. See 801 processing time.

What evidence establishes the period?

Evidence that shows when the relationship began and that it continued without a break until lodgement. The length of the relationship is a fact to be proved, and the earlier end of it is usually the weak point, because most couples do not document the beginning of a relationship at the time.

• A marriage certificate proves the marriage date, but not the start of the relationship. Where the couple were de facto before marrying, the earlier period needs its own evidence.
• Registration of the relationship under a state or territory relationships register fixes a date and is strong evidence from registration onwards. See registering your relationship.
• Continuous records that straddle the whole period — leases, joint accounts and shared liabilities, utility and insurance accounts, shared addresses on official correspondence, travel and immigration records — are what establish continuity, because they are dated and were created for other reasons.
• Statutory declarations from Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens who knew the relationship from early on, saying when they first knew of it and how, rather than only that it exists now.
• A birth certificate naming both partners, where the two-year period is relied on because there is a dependent child of both of you.

The categories a partner relationship is assessed against — the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social context and the nature of the commitment — are the same here; what is different is that the evidence has to reach far enough back. Relationship evidence sets out what each category is meant to show, and decision-ready applications explains why this material belongs in the application at lodgement rather than in a later response.

Checking the rule yourself

Both provisions are in the Migration Regulations 1994 on the Federal Register of Legislation: regulation 1.03 for the definition, and Schedule 2, clause 801.221, for the subclass 801 criteria and the subclause that disapplies the waiting period. A new compilation is published whenever the Regulations are amended, so open the latest one and read those two places before relying on them. The subclass 820 regulations explains the Schedule 2 numbering.

An application relying on this provision is more likely to succeed if it is prepared by a migration lawyer, because the whole thing turns on a date and on evidence nobody thought to keep. The criterion people miss is that the period is measured at lodgement, so the question has to be answered before the application is made, not two years later. Working with a migration lawyer explains how to check a lawyer's practising certificate.

If the provision does not apply to you, when the 801 is assessed sets out how the ordinary two-year point works and what the Department asks for when it arrives.

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 →

801 Visa Documents and Evidence Update

What to provide at the 801 stage — updated relationship evidence for the whole period since lodgement, fresh statements, and what not to redo unprompted.

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 →