Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not. Registering under one of the six removes the requirement that a de facto couple have been together for the 12 months ending immediately before the application — and nothing else.
Why registration has that effect is set out on exemptions from the 12-month rule. This page is about doing it: where you can register, what a registry asks for, how long it takes, and the timing mistake that wastes the exercise.
Which registers count?
The Migration Regulations 1994 do not name the state schemes. They pick up the definition of a registered relationship in the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, and the laws prescribed for it are listed in the Acts Interpretation (Registered Relationships) Regulations 2019. That list is the whole of it:
| Jurisdiction | Prescribed law | Kind of relationship |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Relationships Register Act 2010 | A relationship registered under Part 2 of that Act |
| Victoria | Relationships Act 2008 | A registrable domestic relationship registered under Part 2.2 |
| Queensland | Civil Partnerships Act 2011 | A civil partnership entered into under sections 4 and 5 |
| South Australia | Relationships Register Act 2016 | A relationship registered under Part 2 |
| Tasmania | Relationships Act 2003 | A significant relationship with a deed of relationship registered under Part 2 |
| Australian Capital Territory | Domestic Relationships Act 1994 | A civil partnership entered into under sections 37C and 37D |
| Australian Capital Territory | Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1997 | A civil union registered under section 32A |
Each jurisdiction calls it something different — a registered relationship, a registrable domestic relationship, a civil partnership, a deed of relationship, a civil union — but each is on the prescribed list, so each does the same job for the visa.
What about Western Australia and the Northern Territory?
Neither has a law on that list, so no registration obtained there will switch off the 12-month requirement. Registering interstate is not a workaround either, because every register has its own residence rule.
Couples in Perth or Darwin are left with the ordinary routes: wait until the de facto relationship reaches 12 months and evidence the start date properly, establish compelling and compassionate circumstances, or marry — in which case regulation 2.03A stops applying and you are assessed under the married spouse requirements instead. The trade-offs are set out on married or de facto.
What does registering actually involve?
The detail differs in every jurisdiction and changes without notice, so treat what follows as the shape of the process, not the rules that apply to you. Confirm each point with the births, deaths and marriages registry for your state or territory. In general terms, registration means applying to that registry — usually online — and meeting conditions of this kind:
- a residence connection. Registries generally require at least one of you, sometimes both, to live in that state or territory. This is what most couples get caught by.
- a minimum age. Registers are for adults. Separately, regulation 2.03A(2) of the Migration Regulations requires both the applicant and the partner to be at least 18 when the visa application is made, whatever a register allows.
- you are not married and not in another registered relationship. Some schemes also exclude people related by family.
- a declaration from both partners, signed and often witnessed, that you are a couple and meet the eligibility conditions.
- identity documents for both of you, and a fee set by that registry.
- a waiting period. Several jurisdictions build in a cooling-off period between lodging the application and the registration taking effect, with the certificate issued after that.
Watch out
the certificate arriving in the post is not the date that matters — what matters is the date the relationship is registered under that jurisdiction's law. Ask the registry to confirm that date, and keep the confirmation.
How long does it take?
Long enough to plan around, and nowhere near instant. Between the cooling-off or waiting period, the registry's queue and the time taken to issue a certificate, the gap between applying and holding proof is usually measured in weeks. No timeframe is given here because each registry sets and revises its own, and a figure quoted second-hand is worth nothing on the day you need it. Ask the registry what the waiting period is, when registration takes effect, and how long a certificate takes to issue.
What the certificate proves — and what it does not
A registration certificate does one thing for the visa: regulation 2.03A(3) does not apply, so there is no minimum de facto period to meet. That is the beginning of the case, not the end of it.
It does not show that the relationship is genuine. The Department of Home Affairs must still be satisfied that you fall within the definition of a de facto partner in section 5CB of the Migration Act 1958, and that there is a genuine and continuing relationship, assessed on the four matters in regulation 1.09A — the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social aspects and the nature of your commitment to each other. The relationship evidence you file is the same either way, and a thin file with a certificate attached is still a thin file.
It does not backdate anything. A certificate says the relationship was registered on a date, and nothing about the months before it.
And it does not touch the rest of the 820 visa requirements: sponsorship and its approval, being in Australia when you apply, health, character, and — if you hold no substantive visa — the Schedule 3 criteria.
The timing trap
Registration has to exist before the visa application does. Regulation 2.03A(5) is in the present tense — the subregulation does not apply "if the de facto relationship is a registered relationship" — and the 12-month period it displaces is measured to the date of the application. A registration that takes effect the week after lodgement leaves you, at the moment that counts, as a de facto applicant with no exemption and no 12 months.
The sequence is fixed: apply to the registry, wait out the cooling-off period, confirm the registration date, then lodge the 820. Working backwards from a visa expiry date is what turns a solvable wait into a refusal.
Why advice helps at this point
An application prepared by a migration lawyer is more likely to succeed where registration is in play, for a narrow and practical reason. The whole benefit of registering depends on one date falling before another, in a process run by a state registry that has no interest in your visa timeline and no obligation to tell you what the migration consequences are. Someone who does this regularly will confirm the effective date with the registry, hold the lodgement until it has passed, and — because registration proves so little on its own — still build the relationship evidence as though the exemption did not exist. Nobody can promise an outcome, but a registration obtained a fortnight too late is a self-inflicted refusal.
What to do next
Check first whether you live in a jurisdiction with a prescribed register. If you do, contact that registry now for the eligibility rules and the date registration would take effect, before you commit to a lodgement date. Then go back to the de facto partner requirements and work out whether you would meet the 12 months anyway, and to how to apply for the 820 visa for the order the rest happens in.
Common questions
Which states and territories can I register a relationship in for a partner visa?
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory all have a law prescribed for section 2E of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901, so a relationship registered under one of those laws removes the 12-month de facto requirement. Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not have a prescribed register. Each registry sets its own eligibility rules, so confirm them with the births, deaths and marriages registry in that state or territory before you rely on registration.
How do I register a de facto relationship in Australia?
You apply to the births, deaths and marriages registry of the state or territory you live in, usually online, with identity documents for both partners and a declaration that you meet that jurisdiction's eligibility rules. Registries generally require at least one of you to live in that state or territory, both of you to be adults, and neither of you to be married or already in another registered relationship. Most build in a waiting period before the certificate is issued. The registry's own website sets out the current fee, forms and timeframes.
How long does it take to register a relationship?
It varies by jurisdiction and is not instant anywhere. Registries commonly apply a cooling-off or waiting period between the application and the registration taking effect, and then take further time to issue the certificate. Because the migration rule depends on the relationship being registered at the time you apply for the visa, ask the registry for the expected effective date in writing before you fix a lodgement date.
Does a registered relationship prove our relationship is genuine?
No. Registration only switches off the 12-month requirement in regulation 2.03A of the Migration Regulations 1994. The Department of Home Affairs must still be satisfied that you meet the definition of a de facto partner in section 5CB of the Migration Act 1958 and that the relationship is genuine and continuing, assessed on the financial, household, social and commitment matters in regulation 1.09A. You still file the full set of relationship evidence.
Can we register after we lodge the 820 application?
No, not for this purpose. Regulation 2.03A(5) turns off the 12-month requirement where the de facto relationship is a registered relationship, and the 12-month period is measured to the date of the application. A registration that takes effect after lodgement does not repair an application that needed it at lodgement.
Sources
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.
Read the guide →
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 →