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820 Visa Guide

Kinds of relationship

Cultural, Religious and Customary Marriages

A ceremony that your community recognises as a marriage is not automatically a marriage in law, and whether it is depends on the law of the place where it was performed.

Last reviewed 23 September 2026General information, not legal advice

Illustration of a ceremony table seen from above: a folded embroidered cloth, two plain rings, a small bowl of flower petals and a plain certificate with a ribbon

That single point decides which partner visa path you are on: married spouse, or de facto partner. It does not decide whether you get the visa.

This page explains how the categories work, what to do when a ceremony has no legal effect, and how a relationship that a community treats as a marriage is evidenced either way.

What makes a ceremony a marriage in law?

For a ceremony held outside Australia, the starting point is the law of the country where it took place. Section 12 of the Migration Act 1958 applies Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961 to the question, and Part VA turns on whether the marriage was recognised as valid under the local law when it was solemnised, subject to a short list of exceptions. The result is that a religious or customary ceremony is a marriage for migration purposes if that country's law says it is a marriage. Overseas marriages sets out the test and its exceptions in full, and that is the page to read before you decide which box to tick.

Three patterns are common, and they produce different answers:

  • the ceremony is itself the legal marriage, and a certificate or register entry follows as proof;
  • the ceremony becomes a legal marriage on registration with a civil authority, so an unregistered ceremony has no legal effect;
  • the legal system does not provide for that form of marriage at all, and only a civil ceremony creates a marriage.

For a ceremony held in Australia, the Marriage Act itself applies. A marriage in Australia must be solemnised by an authorised celebrant, which includes ministers of religion registered for the purpose, and the Act's requirements — including the Notice of Intended Marriage — must be met. Getting married in Australia covers that process.

Important

the standing of a ceremony within a faith, a language group or a community is not what the Department is measuring. It is asking a narrow legal question so that it knows which statutory test to apply. A ceremony that fails the legal question is not a lesser relationship, and it is not evidence against you.

You apply as de facto partners. Section 5CB of the Migration Act defines a de facto partner, and section 5CB(2) requires that the couple are not in a married relationship with each other for the purposes of section 5F and that they have a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others, that the relationship is genuine and continuing, that they live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis, and that they are not related by family.

Three practical consequences follow.

The 12-month rule applies. Regulation 2.03A of the Migration Regulations 1994 generally requires the de facto relationship to have existed for at least the 12 months ending immediately before the application. The clock runs from when the relationship met the section 5CB test, not from the ceremony, although for most couples those dates are close. See de facto partner requirements, and exemptions from the 12-month rule if you are short.

Registration can help. Registering the relationship with an Australian state or territory registry is one of the ways the 12-month requirement can be met. Registering your relationship explains which registries count and what registration does not do.

Both people must be 18. Regulation 2.03A requires both the applicant and the partner to be at least 18 for a de facto claim. The Department also says married applicants must, in most cases, be 18 or older when they apply. See age requirements.

If you are unsure which category fits, married or de facto compares the two paths.

How is a community-recognised relationship evidenced?

The four matters the Minister must consider are the same either way — regulation 1.15A for married spouses, regulation 1.09A for de facto partners — and both require the Minister to consider all of the circumstances of the relationship, including the financial aspects, the nature of the household, the social aspects and the nature of the couple's commitment to each other.

A ceremony that a community treats as a marriage is unusually good material under the social aspects heading, because that heading asks whether the couple represent themselves to other people as partners and what friends and acquaintances understand the relationship to be. A wedding attended by two families is exactly that, whatever its legal effect. Provide:

  • the invitation, the order of service, the guest list, and photographs that show who was present;
  • any certificate, register entry, contract or written record the ceremony produced, with an English translation — see identity documents and translations;
  • receipts for the venue, catering, clothing, gifts and travel, which are financial evidence as well as social;
  • statements from family members, community or religious leaders and guests describing the ceremony and what it signified, with Australian citizens and permanent residents using Form 888 statutory declarations;
  • an account, in your own words, of what the ceremony meant and what obligations it created between you.

Do not stop there. Social evidence alone does not carry an application. Build the other three headings as well, starting with relationship evidence and financial aspects evidence.

Explain the ceremony plainly in the relationship statement, including whether it was registered and why or why not. If it was not registered because registration was not available, not required or not the practice, say so. An unexplained gap between a described wedding and an absent certificate is the kind of thing that produces a request for more information and delays a decision by months.

Getting the category right before you lodge

The mistake that costs people here is claiming to be a spouse on the strength of a ceremony that has no legal effect, then discovering at decision stage that the application has to stand or fall as a de facto claim — by which time the 12-month period is measured against a lodgement date that has already passed. An application prepared by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed on this topic, because resolving the validity question and, if needed, timing the lodgement around regulation 2.03A are both decisions that can only be made before you apply. No one can promise an outcome.

What to do next

Work out first whether your ceremony created a legal marriage where it was held: overseas marriages is the page for that. If it did, go to married spouse requirements. If it did not, go to de facto partner requirements and check your 12 months carefully. If one or both of you were not physically present at the ceremony, read proxy and online marriages as well.

Common questions

Does a religious marriage count for an Australian partner visa?

It counts if it is a valid marriage under the law of the place where it was performed. In many countries a religious or customary ceremony is itself a legally recognised marriage, sometimes on condition that it is registered with a civil authority. In others it has no legal effect at all. The ceremony's standing within a faith or community does not decide the question; the local law does.

What happens if our ceremony is not a legal marriage?

The application does not fail. A couple whose ceremony has no legal effect can apply as de facto partners instead, under section 5CB of the Migration Act 1958. That path requires a mutual commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of all others, a genuine and continuing relationship, living together or not living separately and apart on a permanent basis, and that the couple are not related by family. Regulation 2.03A generally requires the de facto relationship to have existed for the 12 months ending immediately before the application.

Do we need to register our religious marriage for it to be recognised in Australia?

It depends entirely on the country where the ceremony took place. Some legal systems treat registration as the act that creates the marriage, some treat it as proof of a marriage that already exists, and some do not provide for religious marriage at all. Check what the authorities of that country say, and obtain whatever certificate or extract they issue, because the Department will want documentary proof rather than a description of the ceremony.

Is a marriage celebrated in Australia by a religious leader valid?

Only if the person who solemnised it was authorised to do so under the Marriage Act 1961 and the requirements of that Act were met, including the Notice of Intended Marriage. Many religious leaders in Australia are registered ministers of religion for this purpose and many are not. If yours was not, the ceremony has no legal effect as a marriage, although the couple may still be de facto partners.

Will the Department disrespect our ceremony if it is not a legal marriage?

The assessment is not about the ceremony's worth. The Department has to place the relationship in one of two legal categories, spouse or de facto partner, because different rules apply to each. A ceremony that is not a legal marriage is still strong social evidence of the relationship, and it is used that way under the social aspects heading in the Migration Regulations.

Sources

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