Last updated: 30 March 2026

Partner Visa Requirements: Evidence and Eligibility

The Australian partner visa is not assessed on a points system. What the Department of Home Affairs is evaluating is something more personal: whether your relationship is real, ongoing, and documented well enough to demonstrate that. This page covers who is eligible to apply, who can sponsor, what counts as evidence, and the health and character requirements every applicant must meet.

Who Can Apply

The partner visa (subclass 820/801 onshore, 309/100 offshore) is available to people in a genuine relationship with an eligible Australian sponsor. The applicant must be:

• The spouse (married partner) of the sponsor, or
• The de facto partner of the sponsor, or
• The prospective spouse of the sponsor, transitioning from the subclass 300 prospective marriage visa after the marriage takes place

Married couples can apply as soon as the marriage is legally recognised under Australian law — whether that marriage took place in Australia or overseas. The marriage must be one that would be recognised as valid under Australian law.

De facto couples must have been living together in a genuine de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before lodgement. The 12-month requirement may be waived if:

• The couple has a dependent child together, or
• The relationship is registered under a prescribed Australian state or territory law (such as a registered relationship certificate)

The relationship must also be genuine and continuing at the time of lodgement. A relationship that has effectively ended — even if cohabitation continues — does not meet this requirement.

Sponsor Eligibility

Your Australian partner (the sponsor) must satisfy their own set of requirements. The Department assesses both of you.

The sponsor must be:

• An Australian citizen, or
• An Australian permanent resident, or
• An eligible New Zealand citizen holding a Special Category visa who meets the residency criteria

The sponsor must also:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Not be subject to a bar on sponsoring (including previous cancellation of a sponsorship)
• Not have exceeded the sponsorship limits that apply to the partner visa program

Sponsorship limits

An individual can generally sponsor a maximum of two people as a partner visa sponsor across their lifetime. A second sponsorship within five years of the first also requires ministerial approval. These limits exist to protect against exploitation.

If your sponsor has previously sponsored a partner visa applicant, this must be disclosed. It does not automatically bar them from sponsoring you, but the Department will assess the circumstances. If there is any ambiguity, consult a registered migration agent before lodging.

The Four Pillars of Relationship Evidence

The genuineness of your relationship is assessed across four categories. Strong, specific, and consistent evidence across all four pillars is what gives the Department confidence in your application. A file that is rich in one area but sparse in others raises questions.

1. Financial Aspects

The Department looks for evidence that your finances reflect a shared life — not that you are wealthy, but that your financial arrangements are intertwined in the way a genuine couple’s would be.

Strong evidence includes:

• Joint bank account statements showing transactions by both partners
• Joint mortgage or loan documents
• Shared lease or tenancy agreement in both names
• Utility accounts (electricity, gas, internet) in both names or at a shared address
• Records of financial support — regular transfers between accounts, shared expenses
• Joint insurance policies (home, car, health)
• Named beneficiary on life insurance or superannuation

Even if one partner earns most of the household income, that is common and expected. What matters is that the financial evidence reflects a household shared between two people.

2. Household Arrangements

You need to show that you live together, or that you have cohabited. For couples temporarily separated by work, study, or immigration status, you need to clearly explain the separation and provide evidence that the relationship is continuing despite the distance.

Strong evidence includes:

• Lease or rental agreements listing both partners at the same address
• Statutory declarations from each partner describing living arrangements and daily life together
• Correspondence addressed to both partners at the same address (bills, government mail, bank statements)
• Photos of your shared home
• Evidence of shared domestic responsibilities

For long-distance couples: communication records (messaging apps, video calls), flight records and travel history, and evidence of visits all help to show that the relationship is real and continuing despite the physical separation.

3. Social Aspects

The Department wants to see that your relationship exists in a social context — that people around you recognise and know you as a couple.

Strong evidence includes:

• Photographs of you together at different times and in different settings — not just formal portraits, but photos from everyday life, family events, travel, celebrations
• Statutory declarations from third parties (friends, family, colleagues) who can describe their observations of your relationship
• Evidence of attending events as a couple — invitations, tickets, photos from weddings, birthdays, social events
• Evidence that you are known as a couple — cards addressed to both of you, references from family, mutual friendships
• Social media content that shows you in a relationship over time

Statutory declarations from people who know you carry particular weight when they are specific. A declaration that says “I have known them for three years, I have visited their home regularly, and I have observed their relationship to be close, caring, and genuine” is more useful than a generic statement of support.

4. Commitment

The fourth pillar assesses whether you have made long-term commitments to each other that go beyond simply sharing accommodation.

Strong evidence includes:

• Marriage certificate (for married couples)
• Registered relationship certificate (if applicable)
• Wills naming each other as beneficiaries
• Powers of attorney granted to each other
• Named beneficiary on superannuation or life insurance
• Evidence of shared future plans — joint lease renewal, planned travel together, immigration plans discussed
• Evidence of mutual knowledge — of each other’s family history, personal background, and life circumstances

For de facto couples, this pillar requires more effort because there is no single authoritative document. A well-written personal statutory declaration from each partner — describing how the relationship developed, what daily life together looks like, and where you plan to go as a couple — does significant work here.

How Much Evidence Is Enough?

There is no prescribed minimum document count. The Department looks at the quality, credibility, and internal consistency of your evidence file as a whole. A smaller, well-organised file with specific, coherent evidence will always outperform a large bundle of weak or repetitive documents.

Common weaknesses in partner visa evidence files:

• Narrow time span — submitting only recent documents rather than showing the relationship’s development over time
• Missing categories — strong financial evidence but very little social or commitment evidence (or vice versa)
• Generic declarations — statutory declarations that describe the relationship in vague, formulaic terms rather than specific observations
• Photos without context — a single large photo album without diversity across time, location, or social settings

If you are lodging without a migration agent, review each of the four pillars carefully before you submit. For information on what professional help costs, see the partner visa cost breakdown.

Health Requirements

All applicants — including secondary applicants and dependent children — must meet the health requirement. This involves completing an immigration health examination with a Panel Physician approved by the Department of Home Affairs through the eMedical system.

The examination typically includes:

• A physical assessment by the Panel Physician
• A chest X-ray (for applicants aged 11 and over)
• Blood tests and testing for tuberculosis if indicated

Results are submitted electronically to the Department. You do not provide paper medical reports to the Department yourself.

Health examinations are valid for 12 months from the date of completion. For offshore applications (subclass 309) with longer processing times, a repeat examination may be required if the original has expired before a decision is made.

If you have a pre-existing health condition that may affect your application under the health requirement, speak with a migration agent before lodging.

Character Requirements

You must satisfy the character requirement. This applies to the primary applicant and all secondary applicants aged 16 and over.

The Department assesses character using:

• Police clearances for every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the past 10 years, including Australia
• Your immigration history — previous visa refusals, cancellations, or removal can be considered
• Any criminal record — the nature of the offence, the sentence imposed, and other circumstances are all considered

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) check is required for any applicant who has lived in Australia for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. For applicants with international history, clearances from each relevant country are required.

A criminal history does not automatically result in refusal. However, certain mandatory thresholds — such as a sentence of 12 months or more imprisonment — trigger a statutory finding of not passing the character test, which is very difficult to overcome. Disclose any criminal history to a migration agent before lodging.

Frequently Asked Questions

What evidence do I need for a partner visa in Australia?

The Department of Home Affairs assesses your relationship across four categories: financial aspects, household arrangements, social aspects, and commitment. You need documented evidence in each — joint bank statements, lease agreements in both names, photos together over time, statutory declarations from people who know you both, and evidence of long-term commitments such as a marriage certificate or named beneficiaries on insurance or superannuation.

How long do you need to be in a de facto relationship before applying for a partner visa?

De facto couples must have been in a genuine de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before lodging. This requirement may be waived if the couple has a dependent child together, or if the relationship is registered under a prescribed Australian state or territory law.

Can the sponsor be found ineligible for the partner visa?

Yes. The Department assesses the sponsor as well as the applicant. A sponsor may be ineligible if they are not an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen; if they are under 18; if they have previously been refused as a sponsor; or if they have reached the sponsorship limit of two sponsored partners with the five-year interval rule applying.

Next Steps

Once you are confident your evidence file is strong, the key steps before lodgement are:

1. Confirm sponsor eligibility — citizenship or PR status, and no prior sponsorship bars
2. Determine your pathway — onshore (820/801) or offshore (309/100) based on your location at lodgement
3. Complete health examinations — book with a Panel Physician and allow time for results to be processed
4. Order police clearances — international clearances can take several weeks
5. Prepare statutory declarations — both from you and your partner, and from at least two third parties
6. Organise documents across all four pillars — financial, household, social, commitment

For married couples, the spouse visa Australia page explains what documentation is specific to married applicants. The partner visa Australia overview covers the two-stage grant process in full.

For current wait times after lodgement, see partner visa processing time.

Understanding the full pathway to permanent residency in Australia helps you plan what comes next once your partner visa is granted.