The Migration Regulations 1994 let the Minister request police checks from the sponsor, require refusal of the sponsorship for certain convictions, and make the sponsor's consent to disclosing relevant convictions to the applicant a criterion for the visa. These provisions were read on the Federal Register of Legislation on 23 September 2026; check the current Migration Regulations 1994 before relying on them.
What is the sponsor asked to provide?
Three things, in escalating order.
- Information about convictions. The rules in Division 1.4B of the Regulations operate on what the sponsor has been charged with or convicted of.
- Consent to disclosure. Clause 820.221 of Schedule 2 requires, at the time of decision, that the sponsor has consented to the Department disclosing to each applicant included in the sponsorship any conviction of the sponsor for a relevant offence. A note to that clause says the consent may be sought on the approved form.
- Police checks, if requested. These are not automatic. They are requested where the Department wants to establish whether a conviction exists and what sentence was imposed.
None of this is the applicant's own police certificates, which go to the applicant's character requirement.
When can the Department demand a police check from the sponsor?
Whenever it needs one to work out whether regulation 1.20KC applies. Subregulation 1.20KC(5) lets the Minister request, on one or more occasions, a police check on the sponsor from an Australian jurisdiction specified in the request, and from a foreign country specified in the request in which the sponsor has lived for at least 12 months in total since the later of ten years before the request or the date the sponsor turned 16. Regulation 1.20KB(11) contains a similar power where a child is included in the application, and it reaches the sponsor's spouse or de facto partner as well.
Under subregulations 1.20KC(6) and 1.20KB(12), the Minister may refuse the sponsorship if a requested check is not provided within a reasonable time. That is an independent ground of refusal: a sponsor who does not get around to it can sink the application without any conviction being in issue.
Watch out
the Department says police certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue for immigration purposes, and that it may ask for them again if they expire before a decision is made. Ordering checks when a request arrives, rather than in advance, usually keeps them current.
Which convictions stop a sponsorship being approved?
Convictions for a relevant offence where the sponsor has a significant criminal record for it. Regulation 1.20KC(2) defines a relevant offence as an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a foreign country involving:
- violence against a person, including murder, assault, sexual assault and the threat of violence;
- harassment, molestation, intimidation or stalking;
- breach of an apprehended violence order or a similar order made under a law of a State, a Territory or a foreign country;
- firearms or other dangerous weapons;
- people smuggling;
- human trafficking, slavery or slavery-like practices (including forced marriage), kidnapping or unlawful confinement;
- attempting, or aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring, any of the above.
Regulation 1.20KD then defines a significant criminal record: a sentence of death, imprisonment for life, a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more, or two or more terms totalling 12 months or more. Concurrent terms are counted in full, so two concurrent three-month terms count as six months, and periodic detention or court-ordered residential treatment counts as the number of days involved. A conviction that has been quashed or nullified, or pardoned so that the sponsor is taken never to have been convicted, is disregarded.
Where both limbs are met, subregulation 1.20KC(3) says the Minister must refuse the sponsorship. Subregulation (4) is the way back: the Minister may approve it if that is reasonable, having regard to matters including the time since the sentence was completed, the best interests of any children of the sponsor and of the primary applicant, and the length of the relationship. That list is expressly not exhaustive.
What are the rules where the offence involves a child?
They are stricter, and they are triggered by the age of the applicants. Regulation 1.20KB applies to a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) application — the 820 — where the primary or secondary applicant is under 18 at the time of the application. A registrable offence means an offence that is registrable or reportable under the child sex offender registration and reporting Acts named in subregulation 1.20KB(13) — one for each State and Territory — or that would be if it were committed in one of those jurisdictions.
- Charged. If the sponsor has been charged with a registrable offence, the Minister must refuse to approve the sponsorship of all applicants, unless none of them is under 18 at the time of the sponsorship decision, or the charge was withdrawn, dismissed or otherwise disposed of without a conviction being recorded. A charge is enough; no conviction is needed.
- Convicted. If the sponsor has been convicted, the Minister must refuse unless none of the applicants is under 18 at the time of the decision, or the conviction has been quashed or otherwise set aside.
- The limited way through. Subregulations 1.20KB(4) and (5) let the Minister approve the sponsorship where the sponsor completed the sentence (including any release under recognisance, parole or licence) more than five years before the sponsorship application, has not been charged since — or any later charge was disposed of without a conviction — and there are compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor or the applicant. All three limbs have to be met.
Subregulations 1.20KB(7) to (10), which extend the bar to the sponsor's own spouse or de facto partner, are switched off for partner and prospective marriage visas by subregulation (6).
What is the applicant told, and what is kept private?
The applicant is told about convictions for a relevant offence, and the disclosure stops there. The criterion in clause 820.221 is consent to disclosure of "any conviction of the sponsor for a relevant offence (within the meaning of subregulation 1.20KC(2))", and subclause (5) requires a conviction to be disregarded if it has been quashed or nullified, or pardoned so that the sponsor is taken never to have been convicted.
Three limits follow. The disclosure is confined to the categories in regulation 1.20KC(2), so unrelated convictions — drink driving, fraud, drug possession — are not what the criterion is about. It covers convictions, not charges or allegations. And it runs only to applicants included in the sponsorship. A sponsor who will not consent cannot satisfy clause 820.221, and the Regulations offer no partial consent.
What should a sponsor with a criminal record expect?
Questions, documents and delay rather than an automatic refusal. Most convictions are not relevant offences, many relevant offences do not carry a significant criminal record, and both bars come with a discretion.
What tends to go wrong is the handling rather than the record. Old matters are forgotten and then surface on a check, foreign checks take months, and the material that would support the discretion is never put to the Department because nobody realised a submission was open.
An application prepared by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed where a conviction is in the picture. Regulation 1.20KC(4) and regulation 1.20KB(4) are discretions that have to be argued with evidence, at the sponsorship stage, and the Department is not obliged to invite a submission before it decides.
Next: if the sponsor has brought a previous partner to Australia, the rules in sponsorship limitations apply as well. For the form on which consent is given, read the sponsor's part of the application, and for what the sponsor takes on, sponsor obligations. To go back a level, see who can sponsor an 820 visa.
Common questions
Does every partner visa sponsor have to get a police check?
No. Regulation 1.20KC of the Migration Regulations 1994 does not require a police check from every sponsor. It gives the Minister a power to request one, on one or more occasions, from any Australian jurisdiction named in the request and from any foreign country named in the request where the sponsor has lived for at least 12 months. If a requested check is not provided within a reasonable time, the sponsorship can be refused for that reason alone.
Which foreign police checks can a sponsor be asked for?
A check from a country named in the request where the sponsor has lived for a period, or a total period, of at least 12 months since the later of two dates: ten years before the date of the request, or the date the sponsor turned 16. A country the sponsor lived in briefly, or lived in before that window, is outside the power in regulation 1.20KC.
Will a criminal record stop my partner sponsoring me?
Not by itself. The Minister must refuse the sponsorship only where the sponsor has been convicted of a relevant offence and has a significant criminal record for it, which regulation 1.20KD defines as a sentence of death, life imprisonment, a term of 12 months or more, or two or more terms totalling 12 months or more. Even then the Minister may approve the sponsorship if it is reasonable to do so, having regard to matters including the time since the sentence was completed, the best interests of any children, and the length of the relationship.
Will I be told about my sponsor's criminal history?
You will be told about convictions for a relevant offence, and only those. Clause 820.221 of Schedule 2 requires the sponsor to have consented to the Department disclosing to each applicant included in the sponsorship any conviction of the sponsor for a relevant offence within the meaning of regulation 1.20KC. Convictions that have been quashed, nullified or pardoned in the relevant sense are disregarded, and other parts of the sponsor's record are not covered by that criterion.
What happens if a sponsor refuses to consent to the disclosure?
The criterion in clause 820.221 is not met, so the visa cannot be granted on that basis. The consent is a time of decision criterion, not an optional extra, and the Regulations note that it may be sought on the approved sponsorship form. A sponsor who is not willing to consent should get advice before the sponsorship is lodged rather than after.
Sources
Keep reading
Sponsorship Limitations: Previous Sponsorships and the Five-Year Rule
How regulation 1.20J limits partner visa sponsorship: two partners, five years between applications, the waiver, and the rules on sponsor convictions.
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Eligible New Zealand Citizens as Partner Visa Sponsors
What an eligible New Zealand citizen is under regulation 1.03, how a sponsor proves that status, and the subclass 444 trap for 820 holders.
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Can a Sponsor Withdraw Sponsorship?
What happens if an 820 sponsor withdraws, why the sponsor cannot be changed, and the provisions that can still lead to a permanent partner visa.
Read the guide →