Most partner applications are decided on the documents, so an invitation is not in itself a sign of trouble — but it is an event with legal machinery around it, and it is worth knowing what that machinery is before you sit down.
Where the power to interview comes from
Section 56(1) of the Migration Act 1958 provides that in considering a visa application the decision-maker may get any information that he or she considers relevant, and must have regard to it. Section 56(2) allows them to invite the applicant, orally or in writing, to give additional information in a specified way.
Section 58(1) requires the invitation to specify how the information may be given: in writing, at an interview between the applicant and an officer, or by telephone. Where it is to an interview, section 58(3) requires a place, prescribed or otherwise reasonable, and a time within a prescribed period. Regulation 2.15(3) of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets that period at 28 days after notification for an applicant in Australia not in immigration detention, and 5 days in immigration detention.
Section 59(1) states the applicant's side: an applicant must make every reasonable effort to be available for, and attend, an interview. Section 59(2) makes clear that none of this stops the Department obtaining information by telephone or in any other way.
Who can be interviewed
The applicant, plainly, and the sponsor: section 52(4) defines an interested person as a person who wants, or is requested, to give information about the applicant. People who provided statutory declarations can also be contacted.
Partners are often spoken to separately. That is the point of the exercise rather than a trap: two people who have genuinely shared a household for years describe it in overlapping but not identical ways, and two people who have not usually cannot.
What is covered, and why
No list of set questions is published, and any site that gives you one is guessing. What can be stated accurately is the subject matter, because it follows the law. Regulation 1.15A (for married spouses) and regulation 1.09A (for de facto partners) require the decision-maker to consider four matters: the financial aspects of the relationship, the nature of the household, the social context of the relationship, and the nature of the commitment to each other.
An interview covers the same ground: how the relationship began and developed, how you live day to day, how money and shared expenses are handled, who among your families, friends and colleagues knows about the relationship, and what you intend to do next. Children, previous relationships, periods apart and travel come up where they are part of the history. See genuine and continuing relationship.
The questions are ordinary because shared life is ordinary. They are not designed to be difficult, but to be difficult to fake.
Preparing honestly
Re-read what you submitted. The relationship statement, the application form and the Form 888 statutory declarations. You are being tested against your own file, and failing to recognise your own evidence is worse than being vague about a date.
Do not rehearse. Agreeing answers in advance produces flat, matching responses that collapse at the first follow-up, and it displaces what actually persuades — unforced, specific detail about a life you are living.
Say you do not remember when you do not. Exact dates from four years ago are not something people carry, and a guess that conflicts with a document is far more damaging than an honest gap. If you realise mid-interview that you said something wrong, correct it there and then. Couples also remember differently which of them suggested the holiday: a pattern of accounts that cannot be reconciled is a different thing from one mismatched recollection.
Watch out
Anything said in an interview becomes information on the file. If it raises something that would be the reason, or part of the reason, for refusing the visa, it may come back as one of the natural justice letters described elsewhere on this site, with a short period to respond.
Interpreters, and adjustments for disability
The Migration Act does not set out a general right to an interpreter at a departmental interview about a visa application. What it does contain is section 57(2)(b), which requires the decision-maker, where adverse information is put to an applicant, to ensure as far as is reasonably practicable that the applicant understands why it is relevant. An interview in a language you cannot follow serves nobody.
Ask early and in writing, when the invitation arrives, not on the day. The same applies to any adjustment needed because of a disability, a health condition or a hearing or vision impairment: set out what you need and why, using the contact details in the invitation. Regulation 2.13 requires that communication to include your full name as set out in the application, your date of birth, and your client number or the Immigration file number.
Can a representative attend?
Section 58(1) describes the interview as being between the applicant and an officer, and the Act does not confer a right for a representative to be present at the primary stage. Whether your lawyer may attend or observe is a matter to raise with the Department in writing when the interview is arranged, so the answer is on the file.
What an appointment guarantees is correspondence: section 494D provides that where you give written notice of an authorised recipient, the Department must give documents to that person instead of you. See who can help you with your application.
Home visits
Section 56(1) is drafted broadly — the decision-maker may get any information considered relevant — and it is not limited to interviews, so enquiries can be made other than by scheduled appointment. No published Home Affairs page consulted for this guide sets out a home visit procedure for partner visas, so this guide does not describe how one runs.
Two precautions apply regardless. Do not admit anyone who cannot identify themselves as a departmental officer, and contact the Department through your correspondence channels if you have any doubt. Never pay anyone claiming to be from the Department.
If you cannot attend
Tell the Department in writing, promptly, and give the reason. Section 58(5) allows the time to be changed to a later time within the prescribed period, or within that period as extended by a prescribed further period — which regulation 2.15(4) sets at 7 days for an applicant in Australia not in immigration detention. Do not simply not appear: section 59(1) requires every reasonable effort to attend, and a non-appearance without explanation sits on the file.
What happens afterwards
Four things can follow.
- Nothing further. The application continues on the material already held.
- A section 56 request for more information. Note the timing trap: under regulation 2.15, where the invitation is given at an interview, the period to respond is 7 days, not 28. See requests for more information.
- A section 57 natural justice letter, if something has emerged that would be the reason, or part of the reason, for refusing the visa.
- A decision, under section 65.
Until a decision is made, section 55 lets you give any additional relevant information, and the decision-maker must have regard to it. So if you left the interview knowing you gave a wrong date, send a short written correction with the document attached — section 55(2) means it must arrive before the decision, not merely be intended.
An application supported by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed at this stage, because the value is in what happens around the interview rather than in the room: making sure the file you will be questioned against is consistent, asking for an interpreter in time, catching that a request handed to you at the interview runs for seven days rather than twenty-eight, and answering anything adverse that follows. Nobody can promise an outcome.
What to do next
Re-read your own application first — start with relationship evidence. Confirm the date and time in writing, and raise any interpreter or access needs at the same time. If a letter follows, see requests for more information or natural justice letters.
Common questions
Does everyone get an interview for the 820 visa?
No. An interview is one of the ways the decision-maker may obtain information under section 56 of the Migration Act 1958, and it is used when it is considered necessary rather than as a standard step. Many partner visa applications are decided on the documents alone. Being asked to attend is not by itself a sign that the application is in trouble.
Are partners interviewed separately?
They can be. Section 52 of the Migration Act contemplates information being obtained from an interested person, meaning someone who wants or is requested to give information about the applicant, which includes the sponsor. Where both partners are interviewed, the purpose is to see whether two independent accounts of the same relationship match, so separate interviews are to be expected.
What do they ask at a partner visa interview?
The subject matter follows the four matters the Department must consider when assessing a relationship: the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social context, and the nature of the commitment to each other. In practice that means the history of the relationship, how daily life is organised, how money and the household are managed, who in your families and social circles knows about the relationship, and your plans. No list of set questions is published.
Should I rehearse answers with my partner before the interview?
No. Rehearsing produces answers that sound scripted and that fall apart under a follow-up question, and it does not help with the ordinary detail of shared life that an interview is looking for. Re-read what you submitted so you are consistent with your own evidence, then answer honestly, including saying that you do not remember something when you do not.
What happens after the interview?
One of four things. Nothing further, and the application continues. A request for more information under section 56, which carries a short period if the invitation is given at the interview. A natural justice letter under section 57, if something has emerged that would be the reason or part of the reason for refusal. Or a decision. Until a decision is made you may still give additional relevant information under section 55.
Sources
Keep reading
How to Check Your 820 Application Status
How to check a subclass 820 application in ImmiAccount, what each status label means, where your application date is, and when to contact the Department.
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Bridging Visa A While Your 820 Is Processed
Who gets a Bridging visa A with an 820 application, when it starts, what work rights it carries, why it ends if you leave Australia, and what replaces it.
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Requests for More Information (s56) Explained
What a section 56 request for more information is, the deadline it sets, what happens if you miss it, how to ask for more time, and how to answer one.
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