Withdrawing a partner visa application is quick to do and hard to undo. Section 49 of the Migration Act 1958 provides that an applicant for a visa may, by written notice given to the Minister, withdraw the application, and that an application that is withdrawn is taken to have been disposed of. There is no cooling-off period. This page explains what happens on the day you withdraw, what happens to the money, and why withdrawing is frequently the wrong answer to the problem that prompted it.
How a withdrawal is made
Section 49(1) requires written notice. The ordinary route is ImmiAccount: open the application under its transaction reference number and use the withdrawal function, which produces a written notice and a record of the date. If you cannot get into ImmiAccount, a written communication complying with regulation 2.13 of the Migration Regulations 1994 will do — your full name as set out in the application, your date of birth, and one of your client number, the Immigration file number or the receipt number issued when the application was made — sent, under regulation 2.14, to the office at which the application was given.
One point specific to the onshore partner visa. You made two applications at once: a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) application, which leads to the subclass 820, and a Partner (Residence) (Class BS) application, which leads to the subclass 801. Schedule 1 item 1214C requires the temporary application to be made at the same time and place as the permanent one, and the visa application charge sits on the permanent application. Be precise about what you are withdrawing: withdrawing the permanent application affects the temporary visa even after it has been granted.
What happens immediately
Your bridging visa starts a 35-day countdown. Clause 010.511 of Schedule 2 provides that a Bridging visa A granted in respect of a substantive visa application permits the holder to remain in Australia until, among other events, 35 days after the holder withdraws that application — and the same rule applies to withdrawing an application to the Administrative Review Tribunal. After that you must hold another visa or you become an unlawful non-citizen. See Bridging visa A.
If the 820 has already been granted, withdrawing the 801 ends your stay. Clause 820.511 provides that the subclass 820 is a temporary visa permitting the holder to travel to and enter Australia until the holder is notified that the subclass 801 application has been decided, or that application is withdrawn. Withdrawal of the permanent application is one of the two events that ends the temporary visa.
The application is gone. Section 49(2) disposes of it. Reversing course means a new application, a new charge, and the criteria as they stand on the new application date — including, if you no longer hold a substantive visa, the Schedule 3 criteria.
Watch out
Withdrawal takes effect when the notice is given, not when the Department writes back. Do not withdraw on the assumption that you can change your mind next week, and do not withdraw before you know what visa, if any, you will hold on day 36.
What happens to the money
The visa application charge is not returned merely because you withdrew. Section 49(4) provides that, subject to the regulations, fees payable in respect of an application that is withdrawn are not refundable.
The regulations are narrow. Regulation 2.12F sets out when the first instalment of the charge must be refunded — among them that the application was unnecessary at the time it was made, that it was made because of a mistake made by the Department, or that the applicant died before a decision. Choosing to withdraw is not on that list. Regulation 2.12F(3) contains a discretion: the Department may refund the first instalment where the application was made because of a mistake by the applicant, it is withdrawn in writing, and a written refund request follows. That is a discretion, not an entitlement, and a change of mind is not a mistake in the relevant sense. Regulation 2.12G does provide that an applicant is not liable to pay a second instalment if the application is withdrawn before that instalment is paid.
For what the charge is and how payment works, see 820 visa cost. The Department publishes the current figure and a Visa Pricing Estimator; check it rather than a figure you were quoted earlier.
Why people withdraw, and what else they could do
The relationship has ended. This is the most common reason and the most dangerous one. The Migration Regulations allow the permanent visa to be granted even though the relationship with the sponsor has ceased: clause 801.221(6) covers family violence committed by the sponsoring partner against the applicant or a dependent child, and certain situations involving custody, access, a court order or a formal maintenance obligation in relation to a child; clause 801.221(5) covers the death of the sponsor. Withdrawing disposes of the application and takes those provisions with it. Read if the relationship ends and family violence provisions first.
You are moving overseas. Departing Australia does not by itself require withdrawal, but it has its own consequences: a Bridging visa A ceases if the holder leaves Australia, while a granted 820 is a travel-and-return visa. Sequencing matters more than withdrawal does.
You want to apply for a different visa. Section 51 allows the Department to consider applications in whatever order it considers appropriate, and holding two undecided applications is not itself unlawful. The real trap runs the other way: the Department of Home Affairs states that to be granted the permanent Partner visa you must hold the subclass 820 (or a subclass 445 visa), and that if you are granted any other visa you will no longer be eligible for the permanent Partner visa. Being granted another visa, not withdrawing, is what usually destroys the partner application. See 820 visa conditions and obligations.
You expect a refusal. There is one genuine advantage here. Section 49(3) provides that, for the purposes of sections 48 and 48A, the Minister is not taken to have refused to grant the visa if the application is withdrawn before the refusal. Withdrawing before a refusal therefore avoids adding a refusal to the record that can engage the section 48 bar. It also gives up your review rights, so it is a trade, not a free option. Compare appealing at the ART.
Your sponsor wants out. A sponsor withdrawing sponsorship is a different act with different effects; see withdrawing sponsorship.
Get advice before you withdraw, not after
This is one of the few steps in a partner visa that cannot be corrected. An application preserved with the help of an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed, because the alternatives to withdrawal are technical and time-limited: the family violence provisions, the child provisions, the 35-day bridging visa tail and the review deadlines all run on short clocks. No one can promise an outcome, but an hour of advice before the notice is given is worth more than any amount afterwards.
What to do next: if your reason for withdrawing is a change in your circumstances, notify it properly first — see telling Home Affairs about changes. If the reason is the relationship, start at if the relationship ends.
Common questions
How do I withdraw my 820 application?
Section 49 of the Migration Act 1958 provides that an applicant for a visa may, by written notice given to the Minister, withdraw the application. In practice this is done through ImmiAccount, in the application itself, or by a written communication that meets regulation 2.13 of the Migration Regulations 1994. An application that is withdrawn is taken to have been disposed of, so it cannot simply be reinstated.
Do I get my money back if I withdraw?
Not as a rule. Section 49(4) says that, subject to the regulations, fees payable in respect of an application that is withdrawn are not refundable. Regulation 2.12F lists the limited circumstances in which the first instalment of the visa application charge must or may be refunded, and withdrawal by choice is not one of them. There is a discretion where the application was made because of a mistake by the applicant, it is withdrawn in writing, and a written refund request follows.
What happens to my bridging visa if I withdraw?
It ends 35 days later. Clause 010.511 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 provides that a Bridging visa A granted with a substantive visa application permits the holder to remain in Australia until, among other events, 35 days after the holder withdraws that application. After that you must hold another visa or you become an unlawful non-citizen.
Does withdrawing count as a refusal for the section 48 bar?
No. Section 49(3) provides that, for the purposes of sections 48 and 48A, the Minister is not taken to have refused to grant the visa if the application is withdrawn before the refusal. That is one of the few real advantages of withdrawing, but it only helps if you have a workable alternative and it does not change the fact that section 48 applies to a person in Australia without a substantive visa.
My relationship has ended. Should I withdraw?
Not before getting advice. The migration law allows the permanent Partner visa to be granted in defined situations even though the relationship with the sponsor has ceased, including where the applicant or a dependent child experienced family violence committed by the sponsoring partner, where the sponsor has died, and in certain cases involving a child. Withdrawing disposes of the application and those provisions go with it.
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →
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.
Read the guide →