Partner visa 820/801 (onshore)

Who can apply?

You must:

• be the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, when you apply and when the application is decided
• have your partner sponsor you
• be in Australia when you apply (family members applying with you must also be in Australia)
• meet health and character requirements
• be 18 or older (married applicants must usually be 18, and de facto applicants must be 18)

You can be in or outside Australia when the temporary visa is decided.

De facto relationships

You must usually have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before you apply. Time dating or in an online relationship might not count. The 12 months does not apply if:

• compelling and compassionate circumstances exist
• your partner holds or held a permanent humanitarian visa, the relationship existed before it was granted, and they told the Department about it before the grant
• your partner is an applicant for a permanent humanitarian visa
• you have registered the relationship with an Australian State or Territory authority such as the registry of births, deaths and marriages

What must you lodge?

• A "Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia" online form completed by your sponsor, who can lodge it through your ImmiAccount or their own using your Transaction Reference Number.
• Evidence of your sponsor's status, such as a passport or birth certificate. A driver's licence or Medicare card is not enough.
• At least two statutory declarations made in the last six weeks by Australian citizens, permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens confirming the relationship, with evidence of the declarants' status. Form 888 is not a statutory declaration and is not acceptable for this.

If these are missing the application may be invalid.

What visa do you need to hold?

If you do not hold a substantive visa and did not previously hold a Prospective Marriage visa (300), you must show compelling reasons for the grant. If you have had a visa cancelled or refused and hold no substantive visa, you might not be eligible to apply. See the Section 48 bar.

You cannot apply if your current or last visa carries a condition preventing further stay, such as condition 8503, unless a waiver was approved first. See condition 8503.

If you hold or last held one of these regional visas, you must have held it for a minimum time before you apply:

• Subclass 475, 487 or Skilled Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa: at least two years
• Subclass 491 or 494: at least three years

Sponsorship

You and anyone applying with you must have a sponsor, usually your partner, when you lodge and while you hold the visa. The Department must approve the sponsor. You cannot change your sponsor, and the person who sponsors you must stay your sponsor for 2 years after the 820 is granted.

The two stages

1. 820 (temporary): you can live, work and study in Australia, travel in and out, use Medicare and attend free Adult Migrant English Program classes if eligible. You stay until the 801 is decided or you withdraw.
2. 801 (permanent): usually only for people who hold the 820. You paid for it with the first application.

Applications are processed under Ministerial Direction 117. Partner visa applicants may experience longer processing times than expected. See processing times.

Family members

You can include a dependent child when you lodge or after lodging but before the 820 is decided. They must meet health and character requirements and be in Australia.

Cost

• Most applicants: A$11,710 for the main applicant
• Prospective Marriage (300) holders: generally A$1,955
• Former Prospective Marriage holders who entered on the 300 and hold no substantive visa: generally A$2,475
• A lower cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens from 1 July 2026
• Health checks, police certificates and biometrics cost extra

See fees.

If your relationship ends or there is family violence

You may still be eligible under the family violence provisions. Information is confidential.