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If your application is based on a marriage:

• You must be legally married to an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen

If your application is based on a de facto relationship:

• You must have been in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen for at least 12 months before you lodge your application (unless there are compelling or compassionate circumstances or you have registered your de facto relationship) AND
• You and your partner must both be at least 18 years old, and must not be closely related

In all cases:

• You and your spouse/partner must be in a mutually exclusive relationship
• Your relationship must be genuine and continuing
• You and your spouse/partner must either live together, or live apart on a temporary basis only
• Your partner must sponsor you, and be approved as an eligible sponsor. Sponsorship requirements include:
  • You and your sponsor must be in a spouse or de facto relationship
  • Your sponsor must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen
  • Your sponsor must follow the partner visa sponsorship limitation
  • Your sponsor must be at least 18 years of age to be eligible

“In our experience as Australian partner visa migration lawyers, there are eight reasons why a partner visa is rejected,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

These reasons are:

• You’re not eligible for a partner visa
• You’ve provided iInsufficient evidence
• You are an unlawful non-citizen or holding a bridging visa
• You’ve had a poor interview(s) with Immigration
• You’ve failed to satisfy Public Interest Criteria 4020 (false or misleading information)
• You’ve failed to meet the character test
• Your partner or spouse isn’t granted sponsorship approval
• There are children added incorrectly to your application

“If you hold a temporary Australian partner visa, you’lI become eligible for a permanent Australian partner visa two years after lodging your partner visa application,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

“You will need to provide specified evidence to Immigration to show that you still meet the visa grant requirements for a partner visa, including, most importantly, that you remain in a married or de-facto relationship with your Australian sponsoring partner,” says Mario.

If you have been in a long-term relationship with your Australian sponsoring partner, your permanent visa will be processed together with your temporary visa. If your application is successful, you will be granted permanent residence at the first stage.

Note: A long-term relationship is one where you have been in a relationship with your Australian partner for a minimum period of 3 years; or 2 years if there is a dependent child of the relationship.

“If your relationship breaks down during the Australian partner visa application process, there are some circumstances where you can continue to be assessed for permanent residence, despite no longer being in a relationship with your Australian sponsoring partner (for example, family violence),” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

“If your permanent Australian partner visa has been refused, you will no longer hold a temporary Partner visa. If you seek to remain in/enter Australia, you will need to assess your eligibility for other potential visa options,” says Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales.

Yes, you can include a dependent child in your application either when you lodge your visa application, or after you lodge your application (but before it is decided).

If you hold or have held a subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa, you can also include eligible family members who hold or have held a subclass 300 visa at the time of application. You cannot add these family members after you submit your subclass 820 application.

Yes, if you hold a Subclass 309 or 820 Partner Visa, you can add your dependent child to your visa by lodging a Subclass 445 Dependent Child Visa at the time of application. The subclass 445 visa allows your child to remain in Australia until your permanent partner visa application is decided.

Once the subclass 445 visa is granted to the child, you must also apply to have them added to your permanent partner visa application.

In this scenario, you will automatically be granted a bridging visa which will allow you to lawfully reside in Australia while you wait for a decision on your application. A bridging visa is designed to ‘bridge the gap’ between one visa to the next so that you remain a lawful non-citizen during the application processing time.