The sponsor lodges a separate application, not a section of the applicant's form. It is an online form called Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia, and the Department of Home Affairs says the sponsor can lodge it through their own ImmiAccount or through the applicant's, using the applicant's TRN or Application ID to attach it to the right visa application. It should be lodged as soon as possible after the visa application is made.
Couples treat this as paperwork. It is not. The Department says it must approve the sponsor, and the Migration Regulations 1994 require, at the time the 820 is decided, that the sponsorship "has been approved by the Minister and is still in force". No approved sponsorship, no visa.
Whose ImmiAccount should the sponsor use?
Either, but there is a reason to prefer the sponsor's own. The sponsorship form asks the sponsor about their own history, including police and conviction information, and asks for their consent to certain disclosures. A sponsor who lodges through their partner's account is putting that information into an account their partner controls. Creating a separate free ImmiAccount avoids the problem entirely, and the TRN still links the two applications together.
The reverse arrangement has its own logic: an applicant with limited English, or one who is managing the whole file, may find it easier if everything sits in one account. That is a choice for the couple, not a rule.
When does it have to be lodged?
"As soon as possible" after the visa application, in the ordinary case — and the delay is not free, because the Department cannot approve a sponsorship it has not received, and processing of the visa cannot finish without it.
There is one situation where it cannot be late at all. Where the applicant does not hold a substantive visa, the Department lists a completed sponsorship form among the things that must be included when the visa application is lodged, together with evidence of the sponsor's status, at least two statutory declarations made within the last six weeks by Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens, and evidence that each declarant holds that status. Its warning is blunt: if that information is not included, the application "may be deemed invalid". An invalid application is not a refused application — it never existed, and neither did the bridging visa that came with it. See Form 888 statutory declarations for why a Form 888 does not satisfy the statutory declaration requirement, and Schedule 3 criteria for what else changes when there is no substantive visa.
What evidence of status does the sponsor attach?
Documents that actually prove citizenship, permanent residence or eligible New Zealand citizen status. The Department gives a passport or birth certificate as its examples, and states in terms that "a driver's licence or Medicare card is not sufficient evidence".
That sentence catches sponsors out, because a licence and a Medicare card are the two cards most Australians carry. An Australian passport, a full Australian birth certificate or a citizenship certificate is what is wanted. A permanent resident normally provides their passport plus evidence of the permanent visa, which can be produced through VEVO. An eligible New Zealand citizen has a narrower test to meet — see eligible New Zealand citizen sponsors.
What is the sponsor asked about?
Three groups of questions, and all three are checked against records the Department already holds.
- The sponsor's own identity and history — personal details, addresses, employment, and their relationship with the applicant, which is asked about separately from the applicant's account of it. The two accounts are read side by side, so they should be answered independently and honestly rather than copied.
- Previous sponsorships, and whether the sponsor has themselves been sponsored as someone's partner. Regulation 1.20J of the Migration Regulations 1994 restricts the Minister from approving a sponsorship where another person has already been granted permission to stay as the sponsor's partner, and where five years have not passed. This is where a relationship the sponsor would rather not discuss becomes a legal issue. See sponsorship limitations.
- Police and conviction information. Regulations 1.20KB and 1.20KC restrict sponsorship on character grounds, and allow the Minister to request police checks for the sponsor from Australian jurisdictions and from any foreign country the sponsor has lived in for 12 months or more in the relevant period. The sponsorship may be refused if a requested check is not provided in a reasonable time. See sponsor character checks.
Important
Clause 820.221 of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires, at the time of decision, that the sponsor has consented to the Department disclosing to each applicant covered by the sponsorship any conviction of the sponsor for a relevant offence. The regulations note that the sponsor may be asked for that consent on the sponsorship form itself. A sponsor who refuses cannot satisfy the criterion, so the disclosure is better discussed between the couple before the form is lodged than discovered from a letter.
The Department has to approve the sponsor
Approval is a decision, made on the sponsorship application, and it is not automatic. It carries an undertaking: regulation 1.20 obliges a partner sponsor to assist the applicant, to the extent necessary, financially and in relation to accommodation, for the two years immediately following the grant of the temporary visa. What that does and does not require is set out on sponsor obligations.
What if the sponsorship is never lodged, or is refused?
Both roads end in the same place. The 820 cannot be granted unless the sponsorship has been approved and is still in force at the time of decision, and the same requirement applies to any child or family member included in the sponsorship. A sponsorship that is never lodged leaves the visa application unable to be finalised; a sponsorship that is refused takes the visa application with it.
The thing to understand is the timing. Arguments about the sponsorship limitations — that compelling circumstances affect the sponsor, or that it is reasonable to approve despite a conviction — are made before the sponsorship is decided, with evidence attached. Raising them after a refusal means arguing them at the Administrative Review Tribunal instead.
The sponsor cannot be changed
The Department's position is flat: you cannot change your sponsor, and the person who sponsors you when you apply for the visa must be the same person who sponsors you for two years after the temporary subclass 820 visa is granted.
So the sponsorship is not a slot that someone else can fill if the relationship changes. If the relationship ends, or the sponsor dies, or the sponsor withdraws, the question is whether the application survives at all under the narrow provisions that deal with those events — see if the relationship ends and withdrawing sponsorship.
An application prepared by an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed, and the sponsorship is the part most often left to the last minute. It is where a previous partner sponsorship, an old conviction or a consent the sponsor did not expect to give has to be dealt with — and, for an applicant without a substantive visa, it is a validity requirement that cannot be repaired after the day of lodgement.
Next: if the sponsor has brought a previous partner to Australia, or was sponsored as a partner themselves, settle the sponsorship limitations before lodging anything. Otherwise go back to how to apply for the 820 visa, or read the sponsor's guide.
Common questions
Does the sponsor need their own ImmiAccount?
Not necessarily. The Department of Home Affairs says the sponsor can lodge the Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia form through their own ImmiAccount or through the applicant's, using the applicant's transaction reference number or Application ID to attach it to the right visa application. Many sponsors create their own account so that their personal and police information is not visible in the applicant's account.
When does the sponsor have to lodge the sponsorship?
As soon as possible after the visa application is lodged. There is one situation where it cannot wait at all. If the applicant does not hold a substantive visa, the completed sponsorship form has to be included when the visa application is lodged, along with evidence of the sponsor's status and at least two statutory declarations made within the last six weeks. The Department says that if that information is not included, the application may be deemed invalid.
What documents prove the sponsor is Australian?
Documents that prove citizenship, permanent residence or eligible New Zealand citizen status, such as an Australian passport, a citizenship certificate or a full birth certificate. The Department states that a driver's licence or a Medicare card is not sufficient evidence. A permanent resident usually provides their passport together with evidence of their permanent visa.
Does the sponsor have to disclose a criminal record?
Yes. The sponsorship form asks about the sponsor's history, and the Migration Regulations 1994 let the Minister request police checks for the sponsor from Australian jurisdictions and from any foreign country the sponsor has lived in for 12 months or more in the relevant period. The sponsor also has to consent to the Department disclosing to each applicant covered by the sponsorship any conviction of the sponsor for a relevant offence. A sponsor who will not consent cannot meet the criterion.
What happens if the sponsorship is refused?
The visa application fails with it. The Migration Regulations 1994 require, at the time the 820 is decided, that the sponsorship has been approved by the Minister and is still in force. There is no mechanism for substituting a different sponsor, because the Department says the sponsor cannot be changed. Where the refusal is based on the sponsorship limitations, a waiver has to be argued before the sponsorship is decided rather than raised afterwards.
Sources
Keep reading
Lodging in ImmiAccount: Screen-by-Screen
How the 820 partner visa is lodged in ImmiAccount - who should own the account, what the form asks, attaching documents, the TRN, paying, and what happens next.
Read the guide →
Including Dependent Children in Your 820 Application
How to include children in an 820 partner visa application: who counts as a dependent child, what each child needs, consent and custody, and adding a child later.
Read the guide →
Decision-Ready Partner Visa Applications
What a decision-ready 820 partner visa application is, what complete means in practice, and how to balance lodging early against lodging complete.
Read the guide →