Partner Migration Visas for Permanent Residency to Australia

Visa Categories, Requirements & General Information

 Partner Migration Visas for Permanent Residency to Australia:

Prospective Marriage Visa

If you intend to apply for this visa, you must be outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is granted.

A Prospective Marriage visa is a temporary visa that remains valid for 9 months from the date the visa is granted. If you are granted a Prospective Marriage visa, you must enter Australia and, after that entry, marry your sponsor within the period that the visa is valid. You may then apply for a Spouse visa in Australia. At each stage of the process, your relationship with your sponsor will be assessed.

If you are planning to marry your sponsor before entering Australia, or if you have been in a de facto relationship with your sponsor for over 12 months, you should apply for a Spouse visa.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for a Prospective Marriage visa, you must:

Be sponsored;

Be aged 18 years or over (or if you are aged 16 years or over but less than 18 years, you have an Australian court order allowing you to marry your intended spouse);

Be of the opposite sex to your intended spouse;

Have met (as adults) your intended spouse in person and know him or her. This must be the case even if:

 it is an arranged marriage;
 you met as children and the marriage was arranged before you turned 18 years old; or
 met on the Internet (exchanging photographs is not evidence of having met in person);

Have no impediment to marrying your intended spouse, that is:

 you are both free to marry;
 you are both of marriageable age; and
 the intended marriage is able to be recognized under Australian law;

Genuinely intend to marry your intended spouse;

Genuinely intend to live with your intended spouse as husband and wife; and

Meet health and character requirements.

Your Australian fiance(e) can be aged under 18 years if they have an Australian court order allowing them to marry you. In these circumstances, their parent or guardian must be your sponsor and must be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen aged 18 years or over. In addition, if your Australian fiance(e) is aged under 18 years and is in Australia, you must be aged 18 years or over since, under Australian law, there is no provision for permission to be granted to allow an underage couple to marry. For more information about court orders, see the Family Law Courts Web site.

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Spouse Visa

To be eligible to apply for a Spouse visa, you must either be married to, or in a de facto spouse relationship with, your partner at the time you apply. Interdependent partners, including same-sex partners, should apply for an Interdependency visa.

Note: The Interdependency visa is the only visa that is available for a person who is a same-sex partner of another person. A same-sex partner of a person cannot be included as a member of the family unit on a visa application, even if the same-sex couple has been married according to the laws of another country. Under Australian law, only opposite-sex relationships can constitute a spouse relationship (ie. de facto or de jure (married)).

Persons applying in Australia for a Spouse visa may not be immediately eligible to work or study in Australia, unless their previous visa allowed them to do so. Once you have been granted a temporary Spouse visa, you will be able to work and study in Australia. However, you are not eligible for Austudy until you have been granted a permanent Spouse visa (subclasses 100 or 801).

Processing stages for a Spouse visa

Applying for a Spouse visa is a 2-stage process.

You apply for a temporary and permanent visa at the one time on the same application form, form 47SP Application for migration to Australia by a partner (available from the Immigration Departments Website or from your nearest departmental office or Australian mission). You lodge this form together with the form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia that your sponsor has completed and given to you, any other relevant forms and documents and the application charge (or evidence that you have paid the charge).

Note: Generally, you should be living with your partner in a spouse relationship at the time you apply for a Spouse visa.

You are granted a temporary Spouse visa if you meet all the initial criteria. The temporary visa remains valid until a decision is made on your permanent visa application. With some exceptions, generally 2 years pass from the time you make your application for a Spouse visa to when you are assessed for the grant of a permanent Spouse visa. If you continue to meet all the requirements, you will be granted the permanent visa.

Eligibility Requirements

Married Spouses (de jure)

To apply in Australia for a Spouse visa on the basis of marriage, you must be legally married to your partner (who, in most cases, is your sponsor). To apply outside Australia on the basis of marriage, you must either be legally married to your partner at time of application or intended to legally marry your partner before a decision is made on the temporary Spouse visa.

If you were married in a country other than Australia and it is valid in that country, generally your marriage will be recognized as valid under Australian law. There are some exceptions, such as same-sex, underage or polygamous marriages, which are not accepted in Australia. For more information on marriages recognized in Australia, see the Family Law Courts Website.

To be eligible for a Spouse visa on the basis of your marriage, you must:

De facto spouses (not married but in a spouse relationship)

To apply for a Spouse visa as a de facto spouse, you and your partner (in most cases, your sponsor) must show that you have been in a de facto relationship for the entire 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application. However, if you and your partner have children together, the 12-month requirement may be waived.

In assessing a claimed de facto spouse relationship, the department usually looks at evidence of things such as living together full-time, sharing important financial and social commitments, and setting up a household separately from other people.

To be eligible for a Spouse visa as a de facto spouse, you must:

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.

Interdependency Visa

To be eligible for an Interdependency visa, you must be in an interdependent relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. Generally this visa is for same-sex partners. Applicants in a married or de facto relationship with a partner of the opposite sex should apply for a Spouse visa.

Persons applying in Australia for an Interdependency visa may not be immediately eligible to work or study in Australia, unless their previous visa allowed them to do so. Once you have been granted a temporary Interdependency visa (subclasses 310 or 826) you will be able to work and study in Australia. However, you are not eligible for Austudy until you have been granted a permanent Interdependency visa (subclasses 110 or 814).

Processing stages for an Interdependency visa

Applying for an Interdependency visa is a 2-stage process.

You apply for a temporary and permanent visa at the one time on the same application form. You are granted a temporary Interdependency visa if you meet all the initial criteria. The temporary visa remains valid until a decision is made on your permanent visa application. With some exceptions, generally 2 years pass from the time you make your application for an Interdependency visa to when you are assessed for the grant of a permanent Interdependency visa. If you continue to meet all the requirement, you will be granted the permanent visa.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for an Interdependency visa you must:

12-Month Relationship Requirement

To apply for an Interdependency visa, you and your partner (your sponsor) must show that you have been in an interdependent relationship for the entire 12 months immediately prior to lodging your application. For details on the 12-month requirement, see page 15.

In assessing a claimed interdependent relationship, the department usually looks at evidence of things such as living together full-time, sharing important financial and social commitments, and setting up a household separately from other people. For acceptable types of evidence, see page 35.

Disclaimer: Visa criteria constantly changes, please ensure you click the DIMIA button to view the latest official migration booklets. This page is for guidance purposes only.