Partner visa applications take years, so a reader is almost always working with a rule that may have moved since. Each entry says what the position is, on what date it was checked, and where to confirm it.
Proposed Visitor Visa Restrictions on Onshore Partner Visas (2026)
A change stopping visitor visa holders applying for family visas onshore was reported in August 2026. As at 23 September 2026 it is a proposal, not law.
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Partner Visa Fee Changes from 1 July 2026
The partner visa application charge as shown by the Department on 23 September 2026, the concession from 1 July 2026, and what the charge does and does not buy.
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Partner Visa Processing Time Updates (Monthly)
No partner visa processing time is quoted here. What the Department publishes, how to read its figures, and a method for tracking your own application instead.
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23 September 2026 — the visa application charge shown by the Department
As at 23 September 2026 the Department of Home Affairs shows the subclass 820 as costing from A$11,710 for most applicants and from A$1,955 for Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) holders, with the note that concessions apply in limited circumstances. Both are "from" amounts: the base charge for one applicant, with additional applicant charges on top where children or other dependants are included. One charge covers both the temporary subclass 820 and the permanent subclass 801, because the two are lodged together as one application — the Department's subclass 801 page says you paid for that visa when you made your applications for the temporary and permanent Partner visas. The charge is not refunded if the application is refused. Because the amount depends on who is applying, the Department directs people to its current visa pricing (Visa Pricing Estimator) rather than to a single published price. See the July 2026 fee change and 820 visa cost.
August 2026 — proposed restriction on visitor visa holders applying onshore (proposal only)
It was reported in August 2026 that the government was considering preventing people who enter Australia on visitor visas from applying for certain family visas, including partner visas, while they are in Australia. As at 23 September 2026 this is a proposal and not law. No legislation had been introduced or made, no commencement date had been announced, and no transitional arrangements had been released. Nothing about the way an onshore partner visa application is made had changed. Because there is no instrument, nobody can say who would be affected, when, or whether people who had already lodged would be protected — those answers live in transitional provisions that do not yet exist. The fuller treatment, including the two ways a change of this kind could in principle be made, is on proposed visitor visa changes, and the practical position for someone on a visitor visa today is on applying from a visitor visa.
1 July 2026 — concession for eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens
The Department states that from 1 July 2026, a lower visa cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens who lodge a valid visa application. In the Migration Regulations 1994, the partner visa application charge sits in Schedule 1 item 1124B, and the lower amounts are keyed to the applicant holding a valid passport issued by a country defined in the Regulations as a Pacific-regional country. That definition covers the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Eligibility is determined by the Department, not by the applicant, and the amount payable in any individual case should be taken from the Visa Pricing Estimator rather than from this or any other summary.
October 2024 — the Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Merits review of a partner visa refusal is now conducted by the Administrative Review Tribunal, which replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in October 2024. This is the change most likely to make older material wrong. The periods for applying for review used to be set by regulation 4.10 of the Migration Regulations 1994. That regulation was repealed as part of the same set of changes, and the periods are now in section 347(3) of the Migration Act 1958: 14 days after the day you are notified of the decision if you were in immigration detention on that day, and 28 days after that day in any other case. Section 347(5) disapplies the Tribunal's general power to extend the period, so it cannot be extended. Anything that still cites regulation 4.10 for a deadline is out of date. See the move from the AAT to the ART and ART deadlines and fees.
How this page is maintained
Three rules govern what appears here.
Every entry is dated. The date is the date the position was checked against the source named in the entry, not the date something was announced. A partner visa application outlives most updates, so an undated statement about a fee, a tribunal or a processing time is worth nothing.
A proposal is labelled a proposal until it is law. Announcements, budget measures and reported intentions are all proposals. In migration, a change normally becomes law when an amending Act or a legislative instrument amending the Migration Regulations 1994 is made and registered, and it takes effect on the commencement date written into that instrument. Until then there is no rule, no date and no transitional provision to read. This site will not describe a proposal as a change, and will not tell anyone to act on one.
The Department's own pages are the authority. For fees, criteria and processing, the Department of Home Affairs publishes the current position on its subclass 820 and subclass 801 pages, its visa pricing pages and its visa processing time guide tool. For the law behind them, the authority is the Migration Act 1958 and the Migration Regulations 1994 on the Federal Register of Legislation. Where those disagree with anything written here, they govern. Non-government commentary is never used as the source of a number or a date.
Important
No number on this page is a substitute for checking your own case on the day. Fees are usually revised on 1 July, processing figures move month to month, and a proposal can become law with a commencement date that is days away. Always check the Department's current page before you lodge, pay or decide anything.
One absence is deliberate: there is no processing time figure anywhere in this section. Published figures describe applications already decided, and the Department says they are a guide only and not specific to your application. How to read them, and how to track your own file instead, is on processing time updates.
Why this matters for an application in progress
The rules that move mid-application are rarely the headline ones. The charge that applies is the one in force on the day a valid application is lodged, so an application that turns out to be invalid locks in nothing. Review deadlines run from the day of notification and cannot be extended. Police certificates and health results expire on their own timetable while a file waits. An application prepared by an immigration lawyer is more likely to succeed partly for that reason: someone who reads these instruments daily will notice that a rule moved and read the transitional provision that decides whether it reaches you. No one can promise an outcome, but reacting to a headline instead of an instrument is a common and expensive mistake.
Unregistered agents
An unregistered agent who gives immigration assistance is acting illegally (Migration Act 1958 s 280). They carry no professional indemnity insurance, so if their mistake costs you a refusal, your fees or your pathway, there is no insurer to claim against. A practising Australian lawyer must hold that insurance.
What to do next
Start with the entry that affects you. If you are on a visitor visa, read proposed visitor visa changes before you change any plan. If you are budgeting, read the July 2026 fee change and then get your own figure from the Visa Pricing Estimator. If you are waiting on a decision, read processing time updates and 820 visa processing time. If you are new to the visa itself, start at subclass 820 partner visa.
Common questions
Have the rules for onshore partner visas changed in 2026?
The visa application charge position and the concession for eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens who lodge a valid application from 1 July 2026 are current, as shown by the Department of Home Affairs on 23 September 2026. A restriction on visitor visa holders applying for family visas onshore was reported in August 2026, but as at 23 September 2026 it was a proposal only and the law had not changed.
Where does Home Affairs publish partner visa changes?
On its own subclass 820 and subclass 801 visa pages, on its current visa pricing pages, and in its visa processing time guide tool. Changes to the law itself are made by amendments to the Migration Act 1958 or the Migration Regulations 1994 and are published on the Federal Register of Legislation. Those are the authoritative sources, and they are the ones to check before you act.
Does a proposed change affect an application I have already lodged?
A proposal is not law and changes nothing. If a change does become law, whether it reaches applications already lodged depends entirely on the transitional provisions written into the amending instrument, which are published with it. Until an instrument exists there is nothing to read, so nobody can say who would be affected.
Is the Administrative Appeals Tribunal still reviewing partner visa refusals?
No. The Administrative Review Tribunal replaced the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in October 2024 and now conducts merits review of migration decisions. Older material that describes the review period for an onshore visa refusal by reference to regulation 4.10 of the Migration Regulations 1994 is out of date, because that regulation was repealed. The periods are now in section 347(3) of the Migration Act 1958.
How often is this page updated?
Each entry carries the date the position was checked, and the page is revised when something changes. Anything that has only been announced or reported is labelled as a proposal and stays labelled that way until an instrument is registered. If an entry is old, treat it as history and check the Department's own page for the current position.