The subclass 820 criteria do not require the sponsor to be in Australia. They require the applicant to be. That single asymmetry is what reshapes most couples' plans: the Australian partner can be abroad, but the visa applicant has to be standing on Australian soil at the moment the application is lodged. The provisions below were read on the Federal Register of Legislation on 23 September 2026.
Where does the law actually put each of you?
Two different instruments, two different requirements.
The applicant. Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994 sets the validity requirements for making an application. For a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) visa — the class the subclass 820 sits in — the applicant must be in Australia, and not in immigration clearance, when the application is made. The Department of Home Affairs puts it in plainer words: you must apply online and while in Australia. This is a validity requirement, which means it is not something a delegate can overlook. See being in Australia when you apply.
The sponsor. Clause 820.211 of Schedule 2 sets out who the applicant must be and who must sponsor them. The applicant must be the spouse or de facto partner of a person who is an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, and must be sponsored by that person. Nothing in the clause adds a location requirement for the sponsor, and nothing in the sponsorship limitations adds one either. Who can sponsor at all is set out under who can sponsor an 820 visa.
Watch out
"the regulations do not require it" is not the same as "it raises no questions". A sponsor living overseas does not fail a criterion by being there, but their absence becomes part of the picture the decision maker is assessing.
The catch for permanent resident sponsors
Australian citizenship does not depend on where you live. Permanent residence, for this purpose, does. Regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations defines an Australian permanent resident, outside the Return (Residence) context, as a non-citizen who, "being usually resident in Australia", is the holder of a permanent visa.
The words "usually resident in Australia" are part of the definition, not decoration. A permanent resident who has genuinely relocated overseas — sold up, works abroad, has no Australian home to return to — may not satisfy the definition when the sponsorship and the visa are decided, and if they do not, the applicant is not the partner of an Australian permanent resident for the purposes of clause 820.211. Get advice before anything is lodged rather than after, and check the status of your own resident return travel rights, which is a separate question.
An Australian citizen sponsor does not face this issue. Neither does an eligible New Zealand citizen, whose status under regulation 1.03 turns on the protected SCV test rather than on current residence — although the questions below still apply.
What does a sponsor overseas need to show?
Not a criterion so much as a coherent account. Three things tend to be looked at.
That you intend to return. The point of the onshore partner visa is that the couple's life is, or is about to be, in Australia. A sponsor who is abroad indefinitely with no plan to come back is sponsoring a visa for a life they are not living. Evidence of intention is ordinary stuff: a fixed-term overseas contract with an end date, a return flight, retained Australian property or leases, a resignation or transfer, enrolments, family commitments here.
That the undertaking can be met. Regulation 1.20(2)(c) commits the sponsor to assist the applicant, to the extent necessary, financially and in relation to accommodation, for the two years immediately following the grant of the temporary visa. If the applicant will be in Australia and the sponsor will not, it is fair to ask how accommodation and support are to be provided. Often there is a straightforward answer — the sponsor is following within months, family housing is available, or the applicant is employed and self-supporting. It just has to be given rather than assumed. What the undertaking does and does not require is set out under sponsor obligations.
That the relationship stands up while you are apart. This is usually the larger issue. The relationship criteria are assessed on the four matters in the regulations, and a period of physical separation has to be explained and evidenced rather than glossed over. Read evidence when you live apart and long-distance relationships, and build the record of contact, visits and shared decisions as you go.
The practical problem with "my partner will just fly in and lodge"
It works, and it is also where couples get hurt.
The applicant must be in Australia to make a valid application, so the plan involves them physically arriving. Arriving requires a visa of their own, and that visa brings its own conditions. If it carries condition 8503, a partner visa cannot be applied for until a waiver has been approved — and the Department says the waiver must be approved before the application is made. If the applicant's visa expires before they lodge, they are applying without a substantive visa, which pulls in the Schedule 3 criteria and the extra material that must be included at lodgement.
There is also the after. Once the application is lodged the applicant is generally onshore on a bridging visa, and travel out of Australia is not automatic. A couple who assumed they would keep flying back and forth to the sponsor's overseas posting can find that assumption does not survive lodgement. Bridging visa A and Bridging visa B and travel explain how that works.
None of this is a reason not to apply onshore. It is a reason to sequence the trip, the lodgement and the sponsor's return rather than improvising.
Why couples overseas usually apply for the 309 instead
Because the offshore visa is built for this situation. Schedule 1 requires an applicant for a Partner (Provisional) (Class UF) visa — the subclass 309, which leads to the permanent subclass 100 — to be outside Australia when the application is made. Nobody has to travel anywhere to lodge, nobody waits out a decision on a bridging visa, and the sponsor's overseas posting is not a puzzle that needs explaining.
The trade-offs run the other way too: the applicant cannot live and work in Australia while the 309 is decided, and the timing of the move is not in the couple's hands. 820 vs 309 sets the two side by side.
An application prepared by an Australian migration lawyer is more likely to succeed where the sponsor is overseas, because this is the scenario in which the wrong subclass gets chosen. Discovering that the applicant could not validly lodge, or that a permanent resident sponsor no longer met the definition, is not a correctable error — and the charge is not refunded if an application is refused.
Next: if the applicant's current visa carries a no further stay condition, deal with that first under condition 8503 no further stay. To go back to the overview, see the sponsor's guide.
Common questions
Does the sponsor have to be in Australia to sponsor an 820 visa?
The subclass 820 criteria do not say so. Clause 820.211 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires the applicant to be the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen and to be sponsored by that person. It does not add a location requirement for the sponsor. A permanent resident sponsor is in a different position, because the definition of Australian permanent resident in regulation 1.03 requires the person to be usually resident in Australia.
Can my partner apply for the 820 from outside Australia?
No. Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires an applicant for a Partner (Temporary) (Class UK) visa to be in Australia, and not in immigration clearance, when the application is made. The Department of Home Affairs says the same thing in its own words: you must apply online and while in Australia. An applicant outside Australia has to use the offshore partner visa instead.
We both live overseas. Which partner visa applies?
Usually the offshore one. Schedule 1 requires an applicant for a Partner (Provisional) (Class UF) visa, which is the subclass 309 leading to the subclass 100, to be outside Australia when the application is made. That route is designed for couples who are living overseas, and it does not require anyone to travel to Australia in order to lodge.
If I sponsor from overseas, can the visa still be granted?
The applicant's location at decision is not the obstacle. The Department says an 820 applicant can be in or outside Australia when the temporary visa is decided. The obstacle is at application: the applicant must be in Australia at that moment, and the sponsorship undertaking in regulation 1.20 is expressed as assistance during the two years following the grant, so a sponsor with no plans to return has a question to answer about how that assistance will work.
Does a permanent resident lose the ability to sponsor by living abroad?
Possibly. Regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines an Australian permanent resident, for this purpose, as a non-citizen who, being usually resident in Australia, holds a permanent visa. A permanent resident who has moved their life offshore may not meet that definition, which is a problem for the sponsorship in a way that does not arise for an Australian citizen. This is worth getting advice on before anything is lodged.
Sources
Keep reading
Sponsor Obligations and Responsibilities
What a partner visa sponsor is actually obliged to do - the two-year undertaking in regulation 1.20, why it is not a bond, and what happens when circumstances change.
Read the guide →
Does the Sponsor Need an Income?
There is no income threshold for a partner visa sponsor and no assurance of support, but the financial side of the relationship is still assessed. What that means.
Read the guide →