Australian partner visa
Stay with your partner in Australia. We build the evidence, lodge the file and manage it through to permanent residence.
Student visas can no longer carry your partner
The Department of Home Affairs has closed family members out of the student visa. If you were planning to bring your partner to Australia as a dependant on your studies, that door shut on 2 October 2026 unless an exemption applies to you.
What the rule now says
- Student visa applicants can no longer include a partner or dependent children in the application
- Current student visa holders can no longer add family as subsequent entrants after grant
- Applications lodged before 2 October 2026 are assessed under the old rules
- Your existing student visa is not affected, and families already here are not separated
Who is still exempt
- PhD students
- Applicants sponsored by DFAT or Defence
- Holders of a foreign government scholarship
- Eligible students from a Pacific or ASEAN member country
- Applicants in Australia who already have family on their current student visa
Is an Australian partner visa the way around it?
Usually not, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. An Australian partner visa must be sponsored by an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. A student or graduate visa holder cannot sponsor anyone. If your partner is already a citizen or permanent resident, the partner visa was always your better route and this change costs you nothing. If neither of you holds permanent status yet, your partner needs a visa in their own right, and the honest answer is that the two of you now have a longer road.
The government also announced on 17 September 2026 that it intends to extend the same restriction to Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) visas. The Home Affairs student factsheet does not cover 485, and no commencement date has been confirmed for it. Check the Department's factsheet before you make plans around it.
Two pathways, one outcome
An Australian partner visa runs one of two routes. Which applies depends on where you are when it is decided.
Applying in Australia
SUBCLASS 820/801- Stay on a Bridging Visa A with full work rights
- You must hold a valid visa when you lodge
- Watch for an 8503 "no further stay" condition
Applying from overseas
SUBCLASS 309/100- Lodge from anywhere, travel in once granted
- You must be outside Australia at grant
- Full work and Medicare access on arrival
Engaged rather than married? The Prospective Marriage visa, subclass 300, is a third route. Ask us which fits.
What actually decides your application
Every Australian partner visa is judged against four aspects of the relationship. Miss one and the file is weak, however real the relationship is.
Financial
Joint accounts, shared bills, money moved between you, assets held together.
Household
A lease or mortgage in both names, utilities, mail, how you run the home.
Social
Photographs, travel, joint invitations, and Form 888 declarations from witnesses.
Commitment
Your history together, contact across any time apart, wills and nominations.
Screenshots alone are the most common reason a genuine couple gets refused.
Before you lodge, three checks
The relationship
Married, or de facto for 12 months. Registering the relationship with a state or territory removes the 12 month wait.
The sponsor
Citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, 18 or over. Two sponsorships in a lifetime, five years apart.
Health and character
A panel physician medical, plus police clearance from every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the past decade.
How we run it
Four stages. You hear from us at every one.
-
Assessment
We confirm the sponsor qualifies, check your visa status and pick the pathway with the shorter realistic wait.
-
Evidence and lodgement
We index your evidence against the four aspects, draft the statements, and lodge the sponsorship and application together.
-
Medicals and requests
Medicals, biometrics and police checks, then a full answer to any request from the Department, inside the deadline.
-
Grant, then permanency
Temporary visa granted with work rights and Medicare. Around two years later we complete the permanent stage.
Common questions
What does an Australian partner visa cost?
How long does it take?
My partner cannot come on my student visa any more. Can I sponsor them instead?
I lodged before 2 October 2026. Am I affected?
Can I work while I wait?
Is an arranged marriage a problem?
What if the relationship ends?
Free Australian partner visa assessment
- We confirm whether your sponsor and relationship qualify
- We name the pathway with the shorter wait for you
- We list the evidence your file is missing
- You get a real cost and timeline before you pay anything
No obligation, and confidential.
Send us your details
We reply within one working day.
Talk to someone who has lodged hundreds of these
Twenty minutes on the phone will tell you more than a week of reading. Bring your questions.
Charges are indexed each July and processing times are updated monthly. Figures checked 2 October 2026.