Exemptions from the 12-Month De Facto Requirement

A third group — people who hold or have held a subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa — is usually outside the rule altogether, because they apply as a spouse rather than as a de facto partner.

This page sets out each route, what a registration does and does not achieve, and what still has to be proved. It assumes you have read the de facto partner requirements, which explain how the 12 months is counted.

How the exemptions are built into the rule

Regulation 2.03A(3) does not stand alone. It imposes the 12-month requirement only where an applicant "cannot establish compelling and compassionate circumstances for the grant of the visa", and it is expressed to be "subject to subregulations (4) and (5)". So there are two different mechanisms at work:

• Compelling and compassionate circumstances are built into the condition itself. If they are established, the 12-month period is simply not required.
• Registration, in regulation 2.03A(5), switches the whole subregulation off: "Subregulation (3) does not apply if the de facto relationship is a registered relationship within the meaning of section 2E of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901."

Regulation 2.03A(4) adds a narrower carve-out for an applicant in a de facto relationship with a person who holds, held or has applied for a permanent humanitarian visa, where the relationship was declared before that visa was granted.

None of these routes touch the age requirement in regulation 2.03A(2): both people must be at least 18 when the application is made.

Registering the relationship

A registered relationship is defined by section 2E of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 as a relationship registered under a prescribed law of a state or territory as a prescribed kind of relationship. The prescribing is done by the Acts Interpretation (Registered Relationships) Regulations 2019, and its table lists these laws:

Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not on that list. Neither has a law prescribed for section 2E, so no registration obtained there will switch off regulation 2.03A(3). Couples living in those places either rely on another route on this page, wait until the 12 months is complete, or marry.

Each register is run under its own law and sets its own eligibility rules, usually including a connection to that jurisdiction, minimum ages, and exclusions for people who are married or already in a registered relationship. Some registers also apply a waiting period before the registration takes effect. Confirm the rules and the effective date directly with the births, deaths and marriages registry for that state or territory before you build a lodgement date around it. The registering your relationship page goes through the registers one by one.

What registration does not do

Registration is narrow. It removes one criterion and nothing else.

• It does not prove the relationship is genuine. The Department must still be satisfied of the definition in section 5CB of the Migration Act 1958 and of a genuine and continuing relationship, assessed on the financial, household, social and commitment matters in regulation 1.09A.
• It does not reduce the relationship evidence you need to file.
• It does not backdate the relationship. A certificate shows the relationship existed at registration; it says nothing about the months before.
• It does not affect the other 820 visa requirements — sponsorship, being in Australia at lodgement, health, character, and, for an applicant without a substantive visa, the Schedule 3 criteria.
• It is not a marriage. If you marry instead, you are assessed under the married spouse requirements and regulation 2.03A does not apply to you at all.

Compelling and compassionate circumstances

The second route is built into regulation 2.03A(3) itself: the 12-month requirement applies only where the applicant "cannot establish compelling and compassionate circumstances for the grant of the visa". If those circumstances are established, no minimum period applies.

The regulation does not define the phrase and does not mention children. In practice the circumstance most often advanced is a child of the relationship — a child the applicant and the sponsoring partner have together, with the applicant's parentage and the ongoing parental relationship both evidenced. Because the wording is general, this route is not automatic: the circumstances have to be identified, explained and supported, and there is no published list of situations that qualify.

Three cautions. A child alone does not carry the application; the relationship must still meet section 5CB and be genuine and continuing. Evidence of parentage matters — a birth certificate naming both parents, and material showing shared care. And do not confuse this with the child of the relationship provision, a different set of rules in Schedule 2 dealing with applicants whose relationship has ended where there are custody or access arrangements for a child.

If you hold or held a subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa

A subclass 300 holder is generally outside the 12-month rule, for a structural reason rather than as an exemption. Regulation 2.03A applies "if a person claims to be in a de facto relationship for the purposes of a visa application". Clause 820.211 of Schedule 2 provides separate routes for Prospective Marriage visa holders, and those routes are built on marriage:

• Clause 820.211(6) covers an applicant who holds a subclass 300 visa, has married the sponsoring partner under a marriage recognised as valid for the purposes of the Act, is sponsored, and continues to be the spouse of the sponsoring partner.
• Clause 820.211(5) covers an applicant who no longer holds a substantive visa, last entered Australia on a subclass 300 visa, married the person they entered Australia to marry, and ceased to hold a substantive visa after that marriage.

In both cases the applicant applies as a spouse. No de facto claim is made, so regulation 2.03A is not engaged and no minimum relationship period applies. Clause 820.211 also provides for subclass 300 holders whose sponsoring partner has died, and for those whose relationship has ceased in circumstances involving family violence or a child — again, without any de facto period.

Two practical points follow. A subclass 300 holder who has not married cannot use these clauses, and applying instead as a de facto partner puts the 12-month rule back in play. And the charge is different: as at 23 September 2026 the Department showed the subclass 820 as costing from A$1,955.00 for Prospective Marriage visa holders, against from A$11,710.00 for most applicants. Check your own figure with the Department's Visa Pricing Estimator, as charges change. The route is set out on moving from a subclass 300 visa, and the two visas are compared on 820 vs the prospective marriage visa.

Where this usually goes wrong

The mistakes are about timing rather than merit: a registration applied for but not yet effective at lodgement, a compelling and compassionate claim asserted in a statutory declaration but never evidenced, or a de facto application lodged a few weeks short in the belief that a child or a long courtship covers it. An application prepared by an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed here, because someone who works with regulation 2.03A regularly will tie the lodgement date to the registration date and put the compelling and compassionate material in the file rather than leaving it to be inferred.

What to do next

Work out which route you are on before you set a lodgement date. If registration is available where you live, read registering your relationship and start it now rather than later. If you are relying on the length of the relationship instead, go back to the de facto partner requirements and confirm the start date you can actually evidence.

Keep reading

Genuine and Continuing Relationship: How Home Affairs Assesses It

How Home Affairs decides if a partner visa relationship is genuine and continuing — the four matters in the Migration Regulations and what case officers look for.

Read the guide →

Spouse (Married Partner) Requirements for the 820

What married couples must show for the subclass 820 — the section 5F definition of spouse, a valid marriage, no 12-month rule, and why a certificate is never enough.

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De Facto Partner Visa 820: The 12-Month Rule

How the 12-month de facto rule works for the subclass 820, what counts towards the 12 months, and how time living apart is treated.

Read the guide →