That record is the only reliable source of information about your own file: the date you applied, the documents attached, the correspondence sent to you, and a status label. This page explains what those mean, what they do not mean, and when contacting the Department is worth doing.
What ImmiAccount actually shows you
Four things matter in the application record.
- The application date. The day the valid application was made. Everything downstream is measured from it.
- The attached documents. What the Department has. If a document is not listed there, it has not been received, whatever you remember uploading.
- Correspondence. Letters, requests and notices the Department has issued on the file.
- A status label. A short workflow marker, described below.
You can also add documents to a lodged application. The Department's own guidance on the subclass 820 is that, because Partner applications can have long processing times, you should update your documents and evidence of your relationship regularly through ImmiAccount. That is not a formality. Section 55 of the Migration Act 1958 provides that until a decision is made, an applicant may give any additional relevant information and the decision-maker must have regard to it — but section 55(2) adds that the decision-maker is not required to delay a decision because you might send something later.
What the status labels mean, and what they do not
A status label is a description of where the file sits in the Department's workflow. It is not a prediction, not a score, and — until the application is finalised — not a decision.
| Label | What it tells you | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Received | A valid application is recorded on the system | Anything about your evidence |
| Further assessment | A decision-maker is still working through the file | That there is a problem, or that a decision is close |
| Finalised | The application has been decided or withdrawn | Nothing — the written notice tells you the outcome |
Two points people get wrong. "Received" is not an approval, and it is not a sign that the relationship evidence has been looked at. "Further assessment" is not a warning — it can sit unchanged for a long time on a Partner application without anything having gone wrong.
A decision is never communicated by a label. Section 66 of the Migration Act requires the decision-maker to notify the applicant of a grant or refusal in the prescribed way, and a refusal notice must specify the criterion not satisfied, give written reasons, and state any review rights and the time limit for using them. Without a notice of that kind, no decision has been made.
Where the two-year clock starts
The 820 and the 801 are one application lodged once, but the permanent stage is assessed later. The Department says you are eligible for consideration of a permanent Partner visa two years after you first applied for the temporary and permanent Partner visas — not two years after the subclass 820 was granted. The application date in ImmiAccount is what that period runs from, so read it off the record and write it down. If the 820 itself takes a long time, the eligibility date for the 801 can arrive soon after the temporary visa is granted, or have passed already. See when the 801 is assessed and 801 stage documents.
Correspondence: the part that has a deadline attached
Letters from the Department are the only part of ImmiAccount that carries a legal consequence.
Section 494B of the Migration Act lists the methods by which the Department may give you a document, and one of them is making it available through your online account. Section 494C then provides that where that method is used, you are taken to have received the document at the end of the day on which it was made available. A letter transmitted by email works the same way.
Watch out
The time you have to respond runs from the day the letter is made available, not from the day you read it. An unopened message in an account nobody checks has still been received, and the period set in it has still started.
You can nominate someone to receive correspondence. Section 494D allows you to give written notice of an authorised recipient, and the Department must then give documents to that person instead of you — which is why an appointment made on Form 956 matters in practice. The Department's own guidance notes that it may still contact the applicant directly, so both of you should watch the account, keep contact details current, and keep the password secure.
VEVO checks a visa, not an application
VEVO is the Department's check visa details and conditions service. It tells you what visa you hold right now and what conditions attach to it. Australian visas are digital, with no label in the passport, so VEVO is also how you show an employer or a landlord what you are allowed to do.
It will not tell you how a lodged application is progressing. Use it to confirm which visa is currently in effect — for example when a substantive visa ends and a bridging visa takes over. See Bridging visa A.
When it is reasonable to contact the Department, and how
Regulation 2.13 of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets the rule. Communication with the Department about a visa application must be in writing, with one narrow exception that matters here: a communication may be oral if it is "an enquiry about the stage reached in the consideration of a visa application". So a status enquiry can be made by phone. Anything that changes the file must be in writing.
Regulation 2.13 also sets what a written communication must contain: 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. Regulation 2.14 requires it to go to the office the application was given to, or another office the Department has notified in writing. Section 52(3) of the Act is the sting: a communication made in a way that is not the prescribed way is taken not to have been received unless the Department in fact receives it.
Contacting the Department is worth doing when a letter sets a deadline you cannot meet and you need to ask for more time (see requests for more information); when something has changed that you are obliged to report, such as a marriage, a birth, a new passport, an address change or a separation (see telling Home Affairs about changes); when a police or health check has expired; or when you have new evidence that materially changes the picture. It is not worth doing to ask where you sit in a queue.
Why enquiring repeatedly does not move an application
Because there is no queue to move up. Section 51(1) of the Migration Act provides that the decision-maker "may consider and dispose of applications for visas in such order as he or she considers appropriate". Section 51(2) goes further: the fact one application has not been decided although a later one has does not mean the earlier one has been unreasonably delayed.
Order of processing for family visa applications is set by Ministerial Direction 117, not by contact volume. Repeated enquiries produce the same answer each time. What does change an outcome is a complete file: see 820 visa processing time and how much evidence to provide.
An application prepared and maintained by an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed, and the reason is visible on this page: the dates that matter run automatically, from the day a letter is made available rather than the day it is read, and a missed period can be enough for the file to be decided on whatever material is already on it. Someone watching the account professionally sees the letter the day it lands. Nobody can promise an outcome or a date.
What to do next
Read the letter types before one arrives, so you recognise what you are holding. Start with requests for more information, then natural justice letters, and partner visa interviews if you are asked to attend one.
Common questions
Where do I check my 820 visa application status?
In ImmiAccount, using the account the application was lodged from. The application record shows the date you applied, the documents attached, any correspondence from the Department, and a status label. VEVO is a different service: it shows the visa you currently hold and its conditions, not the progress of an application you have lodged.
Does received mean my application has been approved?
No. Received means the Department has the application on its system. It is not a decision and it is not an assessment of your relationship evidence. The only labels that reflect a decision are the ones that show the application has been finalised, and a decision is always accompanied by a written grant or refusal notice.
Where do I find the date I applied for my partner visa?
In the application record in ImmiAccount. That date matters because the Department says you are eligible for consideration of the permanent Partner visa two years after you first applied for the temporary and permanent Partner visas, so the date you lodged, not the date the subclass 820 was granted, starts that period.
Will calling Home Affairs make my application go faster?
No. Section 51 of the Migration Act 1958 lets the decision-maker consider and dispose of visa applications in whatever order is considered appropriate, and it expressly says that an earlier application being decided after a later one does not mean the earlier one has been unreasonably delayed. There is no queue position to move up.
What if I do not log in and miss a letter?
The deadline still runs. Section 494C of the Migration Act provides that where the Department gives a document by making it available in your online account, you are taken to have received it at the end of the day it was made available. Whether you read it that week makes no difference to the time you have to respond.
Sources
Keep reading
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 →
Natural Justice Letters (s57): How to Respond
What a section 57 natural justice letter is, what triggers one on a partner visa, the deadline to comment, and how to structure a response.
Read the guide →