A tax file number is issued by the Australian Taxation Office, a bank account is opened by a bank on that bank's identification requirements, and a residential lease is governed by the tenancy law of your state or territory. None of these is a Home Affairs process. All three of them, in their joint form, are what the permanent stage of the partner visa is largely assessed on — which is why the best time to get this right is the week the 820 is granted, not the month the 801 falls due.
The tax file number
Apply to the Australian Taxation Office. The ATO issues tax file numbers, decides what identification it needs, and administers the tax system that uses them. A tax file number is not a visa document, does not appear on your visa record, and Home Affairs plays no part in issuing it.
Your employer will ask for it when you start work. The ATO publishes what applies if you do not give one, so check its guidance rather than taking a workplace's word for it. On the 820 you have full work rights — the Department's wording is that "you will have full work rights and are protected by Australian workplace law" — so there is no visa-side obstacle to starting. See work rights.
What the tax side eventually produces for the visa file is a dated, third-party record of income at a shared address, year after year.
Bank accounts
Banks set their own identification requirements and decide what they need to open an account. Expect to prove identity and, usually, address. Because Australian visas are digital and carry no label in the passport, your visa status is shown through VEVO, the Department's online checking service, and you can run the check yourself and give the bank the result.
Whether you hold a joint account is entirely your decision, and there is no migration rule that requires one. What the Migration Regulations ask about — in regulation 1.15A for married couples and regulation 1.09A for de facto couples — is the extent of any pooling of financial resources and the basis of any sharing of day-to-day household expenses. Those are questions about how money actually moves between two people. A joint account is the easiest way to evidence it. Consistent transfers between separate accounts, a shared card on one account, or a documented split of fixed costs evidence it too.
Watch out
An account opened weeks before a deadline with two deposits in it reads as an account opened for the visa. Value here comes from age and use, not from existence. If yours is recent, explain in your personal statements how money was handled before it.
Leases, titles and the household
Residential tenancy is state and territory law, and the terms, bonds and dispute processes differ accordingly. The landlord or agent decides who goes on the agreement, so if you both live there and both intend to be responsible for the tenancy, ask to be named on it before signing rather than trying to add someone later.
A lease in both names is a strong document because a third party — a landlord who checked both of you — accepted you as jointly responsible for a home. The same logic applies to a title in both names, a mortgage in joint names, a vehicle registered to both of you, and utility or telecommunications accounts in both names. Where an account has to stay in one name, having the other person recorded as an authorised contact still shows something.
Which documents answer which matter
| What you set up | What it evidences | Why it carries weight |
|---|---|---|
| Joint transaction account, used by both | Pooling of financial resources | Money mixed, both people spending from it |
| Regular transfers between separate accounts | Basis of sharing household expenses | An arrangement shown in dated records |
| Lease or title in both names | Joint liabilities; nature of the household | A third party accepted joint responsibility |
| Utility, internet and phone accounts | Joint liabilities; shared address | Running costs at one address over years |
| Insurance naming both people | Legal obligations; commitment | Each treated as the other's primary person |
| Notices of assessment, super statements | Household over time | Independent, dated, hard to construct |
The four matters and how they fit together are set out on relationship evidence; the detail on money is on financial aspects evidence and on the home itself on nature of the household evidence.
Why early beats thorough
The permanent stage is considered two years after you first applied for the temporary and permanent visas, and by then the decision maker is looking at a period, not a moment. Documents created month by month are dated across that whole period. Documents assembled in the fortnight before you upload them are dated in that fortnight, however many there are.
This is the single practical advantage available to every couple, and it costs nothing. Open the accounts that suit your actual arrangements, put both names on the things that genuinely belong in both names, then let them run and keep the statements as they arrive — one combined file per year rather than dozens of monthly uploads. The Department itself tells partner applicants to update their documents and evidence regularly through ImmiAccount during the wait, rather than saving it all up.
What not to do
Do not create arrangements that do not reflect how you live. An account neither of you uses, a name added to a lease for a property one of you does not live in, or a bill switched into joint names for appearance are not evidence of anything, and they carry two risks. They tend to be contradicted by the surrounding record — the transaction history, the address history, the statements you both sign — and they put the accuracy of the whole application in question. The Department's instruction at lodgement is blunt: ensure that all information you provide is accurate.
The opposite case is fine and common. Plenty of genuine couples keep their finances separate — because of a business, a former relationship, children, or simple preference. The regulations accommodate that, because they ask about the extent of pooling and the basis of sharing rather than requiring a single pool. Say what your arrangement is, say why, and evidence it. What causes trouble is not separateness but an unexplained silence. Explain it in your own words on the relationship statement, and use how much evidence to provide to judge when the section is done.
An application prepared with an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed on this material, because the common failure is not a shortage of paper but an uneven spread of it: years of one joint account and nothing on joint liabilities, legal obligations or how expenses are actually shared.
What to do next
Deal with the tax file number and the bank in the same week, ask about both names on the lease before you next sign one, and set a calendar reminder to save the year's statements each January. Then read financial aspects evidence to see exactly how these documents are read, and check the rest of the practical list on settling in Australia. If a name is changing, do that first — see changing your name after marriage.
Common questions
Do we need a joint bank account for the partner visa?
No. A joint account is not required anywhere in the Migration Regulations or on the Department's subclass 820 pages. What the regulations ask about is the extent of any pooling of financial resources and the basis on which day-to-day household expenses are shared. A joint account is one common way of showing that, and regular transfers between separate accounts can show the same thing.
Who issues a tax file number?
The Australian Taxation Office. A tax file number is a tax matter, not a visa matter, and the Department of Home Affairs has no role in issuing one. Your employer asks for it when you start work, and the ATO explains what applies if you do not have one yet.
Should we put both names on the lease?
If you both live there and both intend to be responsible for it, yes, because a lease in both names is one of the strongest household documents you will ever hold. Tenancy law is state and territory law, and the landlord or agent decides who goes on the agreement, so ask before you sign rather than after.
Is it worth opening joint accounts just for the visa?
No. Arrangements created to look a certain way rather than to reflect how you actually live are not evidence and can damage the application if the pattern of use contradicts them. Open what suits your real arrangements, use it, and keep the statements. What persuades a decision maker is a record over time, not the existence of an account.
How far back should our statements go?
Across the whole period being evidenced, not only the months before a deadline, because the duration of the relationship is itself something the decision maker considers. A run of statements covering each year is more useful than a thick bundle from one recent quarter.
Sources
Keep reading
Changing Your Name After Marriage (and on Your Visa)
Changing your name after marriage in Australia, how it is evidenced, and what the Department must be told — Form 1022, Form 929, and why the passport matters.
Read the guide →
Enrolling Children in School on a Partner Visa
Who runs school enrolment for children on a partner visa, what schools usually ask for, why fee arrangements differ by state, and the subclass 445 pathway.
Read the guide →
Having Your Parents Visit While You're on an 820
How a parent's visit works while you hold an 820: who applies, what an invitation letter covers, conditions to check, and why a visit is not a residence step.
Read the guide →