Partner Visa

Partner Visa to Live in Australia.

A partner visa is used when a qualified Australian Citizen, or Australian Permanent Resident visa holder, wants to bring their partner, Married or Not Married [de-facto], to Australia permanently.

It is not a cheap option, costing almost $8,000 just for the visa alone. With probably a few thousand more for various other costs. Medicals, Police Checks, Migration Agents fees (if used), Flights, etc.

Australian Immigration

There are two main options for this:

  • The Onshore route, where the partner is legally in Australia at the time, and is not restricted from applying for another visa while onshore. This is the 820-801 Visa Route.
  • The Offshore route, where the partner is not in Australia. This is the 309-100 Visa route.

More information on this can be see at Onshore Partner Visa 820 and Offshore Partner Visa 309.

A further option, often called a Fiance visa, is the Prospective Marriage Visa [PMV] (Subclass 300) Visa. This is a useful option for when the couple have not been together for at least a year, and is a visa that allows the couple to spend time in Australia, up to 9 months, before marrying and then applying for the Onshore 820-801 Visa Route. It is a more expensive option, increasing the total cost by about $1,300.

More information at: Fiance Immigration into Australia

For an Onshore Partner Visa, where the couple are already living together in the same way as a married couple would be, (a De Facto relationship), it can be worth considering Registering the Relationship in the State you live in.

More at: Registering a Relationship in Australia

Average Processing Times for PMV and Partner visas.

These were the average times for the 2018/19 year.

  • 11.0 months for subclass 300 (There were 2,705 subclass 300 visas finalised)
  • 16.3 months for subclass 820 (There were 26,118 subclass 820 visas finalised)
  • 14.4 months for subclass 801 (There were 26,095 subclass 801 visas finalised)
  • 10.6 months for subclass 309 (There were 14,847 subclass 309 visas finalised)
  • 14.3 months for subclass 100 (There were 23,799 subclass 100 visas finalised)

Partner Visa Page Listings.