A partner visa relationship statement is your own written account of the relationship: how you met, how it developed, how you live now, and where it is going. The applicant writes one and the sponsor writes one, separately, and each is dated and signed. The statements are not required by name in the regulations, but they are commonly provided with onshore partner visa applications, because they are the only place where the documents are tied together into one explained story.
Everything else in the file is fragments: a lease, a bank statement, a photograph. The statement is what tells the reader what those fragments mean and in what order they happened.
What should the statement cover?
Cover the chronology, and cover the four matters the Migration Regulations direct the decision maker to consider. Regulation 1.15A (for married couples) and regulation 1.09A (for de facto couples) set out those matters: the financial aspects of the relationship, the nature of the household, the social aspects of the relationship, and the nature of the persons' commitment to each other. Relationship evidence explains each in detail.
In practice a statement that covers the following ground will touch all four:
- How you met — the date, the place, who introduced you, what you were each doing at the time.
- How the relationship developed — when it became exclusive, when you told your families, when you first travelled together, when you started sharing money or a home.
- How you live now — the address, who pays for what, how housework and cooking are divided, what an ordinary week looks like, who else is in the household.
- The social side — who knows you as a couple, what you do together, how you spend birthdays and holidays, your relationship with each other's families.
- Your commitment and plans — the engagement or marriage, any registration of the relationship, plans for children, property, work or study, wills and beneficiary nominations.
- Any period apart — the dates, the reason, how contact was maintained.
- Anything in the file that needs explaining — a gap, a different surname, an address that does not match, a lease in one name only.
A structure you can follow
This outline works for most statements and keeps the chronology straight.
- Who you are. Your full name, date of birth, and your relationship to the other person. One short paragraph.
- How and when you met. Date, place, circumstances.
- The early relationship. From meeting to becoming a couple, with dates.
- Meeting each other's families and friends. When, where, who.
- The decision to live together, or to marry. What led to it and when.
- How the household works. Address, living arrangements, division of expenses and chores.
- Finances. Joint or separate, what is shared, what each of you pays for, any joint assets or liabilities.
- Periods apart, if any. Dates, reason, contact, what continued.
- Your future plans. Concrete ones, with anything that has already been done towards them.
- A closing paragraph, then the date and your signature.
Number or date each section so the reader can match a paragraph to a document. If paragraph 6 describes the move to a shared address in July 2023, the joint lease should be findable and should start in July 2023.
How long, and in what tone?
There is no prescribed length. Most statements run to about two to four pages. A statement that is too short reads as though there is nothing to say; one that runs to twenty pages will not be read closely.
Write in the first person, in your own words, in plain language. It does not need to sound legal. Specific beats emotional: a decision maker gets more from a sentence naming the bank, the month the joint account was opened and what has gone into it since than from a paragraph about how much you love each other. If English is not your first language, write it in your own English rather than having someone else write it for you — a statement in a voice that is obviously not yours does not help.
Two examples
These are invented illustrations, not templates to copy.
A weak paragraph. "We have a very strong and loving relationship. We do everything together and we support each other in all things. Our families are very happy for us and everyone knows we are a committed couple. We plan to spend the rest of our lives together."
Nothing in that can be checked, matched to a document or distinguished from any other couple. It uses a lot of words to say nothing the decision maker can act on.
A stronger paragraph on the same ground. "We moved into the flat in April 2024. The lease is in both our names and the bond receipt is in the file. I work early shifts, so I cook on weeknights and my partner does the washing and the groceries on Saturdays. We split the rent and electricity from a joint account we opened in March 2024. My partner's mother stayed with us for three weeks in December 2024 while she was recovering from surgery."
Every sentence there is dated, checkable and connected to something in the file, and it covers household, financial and social ground at the same time.
The mistakes that hurt
- Copying each other's statement. Two statements with the same sentences in the same order are one statement with two signatures. Write them separately, then check each other's for factual contradictions only.
- Contradicting the documents. Dates in the statement must match the lease, the bank statements and the travel records. Check them against the file before signing.
- Unexplained gaps. A year with nothing in it is a year the decision maker has to interpret. Explain it.
- Generic filler. Sentences that could appear in anyone's statement add length and nothing else.
- Leaving out a whole category. Statements often cover how the couple met and how they feel, and say nothing about money or household responsibilities.
- Forgetting to date and sign. An undated statement cannot be placed in the timeline. Date it and sign it, and re-date it if you update it later.
- Never updating it. The relationship must still meet the requirements at the time of decision. A supplementary statement bringing the account up to date, uploaded through ImmiAccount before a decision, is worth writing.
Writing about periods apart
Long-distance stretches, work postings, study overseas and family emergencies are all normal, and none of them is fatal. Deal with them directly: give the dates, say why, say how you kept in contact, say who visited and when, and say what continued through that period — rent, joint accounts, insurance, bookings made for after the separation ended. Then make sure there is evidence for each of those things. Evidence when you live apart covers the supporting documents.
Before you sign
Read the two statements side by side against the document file, checking every date. Then have someone who was not involved in writing them read both and say what they still do not understand. That is usually the gap.
An application prepared with a migration lawyer is more likely to succeed, and on this page's topic in particular: an experienced reader catches the contradiction between a statement and a document that the couple, who know the true story, read straight past. They also know which parts of a statement a case officer will test against the rest of the file.
What to do next
Once both statements are drafted, arrange the supporting statements from other people — see Form 888 statutory declarations — and then check that each of the four matters has documents behind it, starting with financial aspects evidence and commitment evidence. The rest of the file is set out on the 820 visa document checklist.
Common questions
Do both the applicant and the sponsor have to write a statement?
A separate statement from each person is standard practice and is commonly provided with onshore partner visa applications. Two statements let the decision maker see the relationship described from both sides. They should be written independently, because the small differences between two honest accounts of the same relationship are part of what makes them convincing.
How long should a partner visa relationship statement be?
There is no prescribed length. Most statements run to roughly two to four pages. What matters is that the statement covers how you met, how the relationship developed, how you live now, your plans, and something about each of the four matters in the Migration Regulations, with dates that match the documents in the file.
Should the statement be a statutory declaration?
It does not have to be, and the personal statements are usually provided as signed and dated documents. Statutory declarations are a separate requirement that applies at lodgement to applicants who do not hold a substantive visa, who must provide at least two Commonwealth statutory declarations made within the last six weeks by an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen confirming the relationship.
What is the biggest mistake in a relationship statement?
Contradicting the documents. If the statement says you moved in together in March but the lease starts the following February, the decision maker now has an inconsistency to resolve. The second biggest is two statements that read as though one person wrote both, because near-identical wording removes the value of having two accounts.
How do we explain time spent apart?
Explain it plainly, giving the dates, the reason, how you stayed in contact, who visited whom, and what continued during that time, such as rent, shared accounts or joint bookings. Unexplained gaps invite the decision maker to draw their own conclusion. A stated reason supported by dated evidence does not.
Sources
Keep reading
Financial Evidence for the 820
The five financial items in regulation 1.15A, the documents that evidence each, how to present them, and what to do when you keep your money separate.
Read the guide →
Nature of the Household Evidence
The three household items in regulation 1.15A, how to evidence a shared address over time, and what to do when only one name is on the lease.
Read the guide →
Social Evidence: Proving Your Relationship Is Known
The three social items in regulation 1.15A, who should write a statement, and how to evidence being known as a couple to employers, clubs and agencies.
Read the guide →