A complete guide to getting Australian permanent residency through the 820/801 Partner Visa (start here!)
To the uninitiated, getting Australian permanent residency through a sponsored Partner Visa may seem like a mere technicality rather than the Herculean task that it truly is (the number of times people have told me to “just get married”..). One look at the Home Affairs 820/801 Partner Visa page (or even a scroll through this post) should clear that misconception right up, though. Get ready for hundreds of pages of scanned documents, statutory declarations on everything from your first date to the division of household chores, and for far more scrutiny to be applied to your relationship than really feels comfortable.
Considering how much I relied on the advice of previous Partner Visa applicants and an array of other forum wisdom, I took meticulous notes throughout my own journey so that I could share information about my experience and answer questions once I came out the other end, just as many people did for me.
I created this enormous guide to the 820/801 Australian Partner Visa application process, which summarises every single step from gathering evidence to finally clicking submit, in that hopes that it might make the process just a little bit less overwhelming for other couples.
What's in this travel guide
My Partner Visa story
To provide some context to all of these posts and our own partner visa journey, here’s a bit of background on us. Callum and I first started dating in 2015 after we met at Splendour in the Grass in Byron Bay. I’d already been living as a student in Sydney for nearly 3 years at that point (I’m originally from Seattle, USA), but he was living in Melbourne, which meant quite a lot of long drives and expensive flights during the first few months of our relationship.
When I graduated a few months later, I eagerly moved down to Melbourne, rented an apartment with Callum in the city, and got a Working Holiday Visa. About 7 months after that, I got a scholarship offer to do my PhD in Sydney, so we packed up and moved back to NSW together.
At the time of submitting our application (December 2018), we’d been together 3.5 years, lived together for 3, travelled to more than 20 countries together, combined our finances, been on overseas holidays with his and my family, and had really intertwined our lives in just about every possible way.
When the application was granted 19 months later (July 2020), I received the permanent 801 visa just 1 minute after the 820 temporary visa, completely bypassing the usual 2-year waiting period. We were never contacted by a CO and there were no requests for additional information, so I can assume our application was pretty thorough! Here’s what we did:
1 | Learn about the 820/801 Partner Visa
The 820/801 Partner Visa is actually a pair of subsequent visas on the road to Australian Permanent Residency (PR) that require sponsorship by an Australian spouse or de facto partner.
It’s important to note that it actually makes no difference whether you are married or in de facto partnership with your Aussie guy or gal, as long as you can demonstrate a serious, long-term commitment (12 months cohabitation is pretty much the bare minimum), and it’s this “demonstration” that will constitute the bulk of your visa application.
Basic requirements of 820/801 visa:
- You are in a genuine and continuing relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- You and your partner are married or de facto (un-married couple living as a married couple)
- Note: you can be considered de facto if you’ve lived with your partner 12+ months OR if your relationship has been registered with the state (only available in QLD, NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS). I’d recommend registering your relationship even if you’ve fulfilled the minimum time living together, as it is a good piece of evidence later on!
- You and your partner are 18+ years old at the time of applying
As you can probably tell from my introduction to this post, it’s a monumental amount of work to apply for the 820/801 Partner Visa (and I’ll go into heaps more details below), but here’s the 10 second summary of what happens after you apply:
If you’re in Australia when you apply for the 820/801, you’ll be granted a Bridging Visa (BVA) when your current visa expires so that you can stay with your partner while Home Affairs processes your application. The BVA usually allows you to work and study in Australia, although you’ll have to apply for the BVB if you want to travel outside Australia for any period of time while your application is processing.
Approximately 1-2 years later, your 820 Temporary Partner Visa will be granted. Then, depending on the length of your relationship, you’ll either submit more evidence and wait a further 24 months for the grant of your 801 Permanent Partner Visa OR you may be eligible to have your 820 and 801 granted simultaneously (the “long-term” exception requires a minimum of 3 years married or de facto, which is how I went straight to the permanent visa!)
Approximately 1-2 years later, your 820 Temporary Partner Visa will be granted. Then, depending on the length of your relationship, you’ll either submit more evidence and wait a further 24 months for the grant of your 801 Permanent Partner Visa OR you may be eligible to have your 820 and 801 granted simultaneously (the “long-term” exception requires a minimum of 3 years married or de facto, which is how I went straight to the permanent visa!)
2 | Build a “Relationship Timeline”
The first thing I did when Cal and I finally started getting serious about our 820/801 application was to compile every date, event, trip, and significant milestone of our relationship into a timeline. The original intent was to submit this PDF (complete with statements, plane tickets, lease agreements, photos, etc.) as part of my application, but the document ended up being about a million MB and, more importantly, didn’t really conform to the upload layout specified by Home Affairs (which is a lot more categorical than chronological).
Still, building this timeline and even having the finished product to look back at was such a great way to see our entire relationship laid out and realise what gaps I needed to fill.
If you don’t want to spend 2 weeks assembling the world’s largest PDF, at least spend a few days writing notes about when you met your partner, when you started dating, when you moved in together, when you took trips or went to events, when you met each other’s families.. and then start to “reference” all of this information with photos, invitations, ticket stubs, utility bills. Anything you can’t find solid evidence for, you’ll want to write all the specifics down in a signed statement.
In speaking to other couples who applied for the 820/801 or reading through forum posts, it seems pretty common to include at least half a dozen statements from you or your partner confirming specific details about your relationship that can’t really be confirmed by a single document (e.g. how your partner supported you financially when you were unemployed).
3 | Organise your evidence
Whether you built a timeline of your relationship or not, the next step is to view all of your collected evidence across the 5 categories defined by Home Affairs to ensure that you have adequately proven a “genuine and continuing” relationship. I go into enormous detail about satisfying each of the category requirements in this post, but here are some questions you should attempt to answer with your evidence (and do keep in mind that these will be different for everyone!):
- Financial aspects of the relationship: how do you and your partner share finances, do you have joint accounts or shared financial responsibilities (lease, mortgage, loan), do you have shared assets, who pays the bills?
- Nature of the household: who does the cleaning, where do you live, are you on the same lease or mortgage, do you have friends over together, do you both get mail to the house, do you live with roommates?
- Social aspects of the relationship: do you spend time with one another’s friends and family, do you have mutual friends, do you get invited to events together, do you travel together, do your work colleagues know your partner, what shared interests do you have?
- Nature of the commitment: are you married or is your de facto relationship registered, are you beneficiaries on one another’s Wills or Supers or accounts, how have you kept in contact during periods of separation?
- Development of the relationship: how did you meet, when did you become committed, have you ever spent substantial time apart, what do you do together for fun, what are your future plans together?
Read more: AN EXTENSIVE GUIDE TO 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA EVIDENCE
4 | Gather information for your application
Before you sit down to start filling out your online application, there’re a few challenging questions and a bit of obscure information that might require some digging to find.
I put together a short list of all this information, so you can go ferreting around and find everything you need NOW rather than coming to each page of the application and realising you can’t go any further until your mum scans you a copy of your birth certificate.
Read more: INFORMATION TO GATHER FOR YOUR 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA APPLICATION ONLINE
5 | Complete the main online application
Now that you have collected your evidence and all the necessary information, sit down and get cracking on that application! If you don’t already have an Immi Account, you’ll need to create one, but the application process itself is pretty straightforward.
Check out this post for a detailed guide on every single question and some clarification on the weirdly-worded ones. At the end of the application, you have the opportunity to view all of your responses on a single page— read and re-read this to make sure everything is correct before finally submitting.
Read more: COMPLETING THE 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA APPLICATION ONLINE
6 | Pay the application fee
After you’ve completed all the questions on your 820/801 application, you’ll need to pay the associated fee, which was $7,160AUD as of December 2018. You can pay the application fee using a credit card, debit card, or PayPal, all of which incur fees of 1-1.32%, but if you have an Australian bank account, I would highly recommend using BPAY instead to save yourself some money (1.32% was $95!!).
The BPAY payments might take a day to be processed and linked to your application (mine happened in about 6 hours), so it’s imperative that you submit the payment within 3 days of your application to avoid unnecessary lag and potential cancellation. They will give you the Biller Code and Biller Reference when you select this option at the end of the application, so it’s quite easy to manage.
7 | Enrol in Medicare
While this step isn’t essential to getting your visa, it would be ridiculous not to take advantage of the fact that, as an applicant for a permanent visa, you are now eligible for Australia’s free healthcare scheme!
As soon as you receive a confirmation of visa submission from IMMI (sent to your email the same day that payment goes through), bring the attached documents (evidence that the application was received), evidence of your current visa (or Bridging Visa), a completed Medicare enrolment form, and your passport to a Medicare service centre (use this search to find one near you). They will issue you a paper Medicare card on the spot and your plastic card will come in the mail a few weeks later!
8 | Submit the sponsorship application
Using the Transaction Reference Number (TRN) quoted upon submission of your own application, your partner now needs to complete the Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia application.
I found it easier just to do this from within my existing IMMI account: on the main “My Applications” page, click the link for “New Application”, select the “Family” tab, and then click “Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia (300, 309/100, 820/801)”. Just as I did for the main 820/801 application, I created a post detailing all the questions asked on your sponsor’s application, just so they know what to expect (thankfully, it’s much shorter!).
Read more: SPONSORSHIP FOR A PARTNER TO MIGRATE TO AUSTRALIA: COMPLETING THE SPONSOR SECTION OF THE 820/801
9 | Upload your evidence to the main application
After paying the application fee, you will gain access to the evidence upload portal, where you can attach all of the photos and supporting documents that you’ve been collecting. Even though Home Affairs asks for evidence of your relationship to satisfy requirements across 5 categories (social, financial, household, mutual commitment, development), that’s not entirely apparent in the layout of the upload portal, so it can be a little confusing.
Ideally, you will have already read through my guide to uploading evidence so that all of your documents fit nicely under the headings provided, but either way, just get all the necessary information in! Unfortunately, that’s still far from the end in terms of your 820/801 visa journey…
Read more: UPLOADING EVIDENCE TO OUR 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA APPLICATION
10 | Apply for a BVB
While you’re waiting for your Partner Visa to be processed, it’s also possible that you’ll want to leave Australia to visit family, attend an overseas conference, or even just take a holiday.
In this instance, you’ll need to apply for a Bridging Visa B that includes travel and re-entry rights. I’ve been granted 2 BVBs for long-term travel, so check out this post for heaps more information about Bridging Visas and how to apply for a Bridging Visa B before your next trip.
Read more: APPLYING FOR A BRIDGING VISA B (BVB) WHILE WAITING FOR YOUR 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA
11 | Complete your health assessment
Within a few days of submitting my Partner Visa application, a little notification appeared on my Immi Account asking me to complete my health assessment. Due to the limited validity of the results (only 12 months) and the lengthy onshore Partner Visa processing time, I waited 6 months before actually completing this step in the hopes that my visa would be granted within 18 months (my visa wasn’t granted for 19 months, but they still accepted my health check, so there must be a tiny bit of wiggle room on that 12 month expiry).
Basically, you need to fill out some information about your medical history online and then attend an approved clinic for a series of examinations. This is to ensure that you are not endangering the safety of other Australians (e.g. if you have a communicable disease, like tuberculosis) or placing an unfair burden on Medicare (e.g. if you have a very serious and expensive medical condition).
This doesn’t mean your visa will be refused if you have any health conditions at all, but serious diseases can affect the outcome. I wrote a detailed guide to completing your health check assessment that should help!
Read more: COMPLETING YOUR HEALTH CHECK ASSESSMENT FOR THE 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA
12 | Apply for relevant police checks
To satisfy character requirements, it’s also necessary to complete police checks in every country you’ve lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years. For most onshore applicants, this will include Australia.
Thankfully, the process of applying for an AFP (Australian Federal Police) National Police Check is incredibly simple, quick, and inexpensive! I wrote a quick guide to completing the AFP checks.
Read more: COMPLETING AFP NATIONAL POLICE CHECKS (NPC) FOR YOUR 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA
Police checks also apply for your home country (or anywhere else you’ve lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years). If you’ve lived in America or you’re a US citizen, you’ll need to submit an FBI Identity History Summary police check for your visa application.
Read more: FBI POLICE CHECKS FOR AMERICANS APPLYING FOR THE 820/801 AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA
13 | Update your application while you wait
After working tirelessly to scrape together your application (and yes, it totally feels like it should be a full time job to submit one of these visa applications!), there’s now quite a bit of waiting. Waiting to be assigned a case officer (CO), waiting to submit more information, and waiting for your visa to be granted.
It’s important during this time, even though you may have completed all required steps of the application process, to be continually collecting evidence and updating your application during the wait, demonstrating an ongoing relationship with new photos, travel plans, shared assets, or changes to the initial application details. If you and your partner move house together, for instance, make sure to update BOTH of your residential addresses within IMMI as soon as possible!
Some people recommend updating your application every 3-6 months. I personally did a massive update at 6 months, 12 months, and then again at 17 months; each of these covered anything of significance that happened since our original submission. I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rule, you just want to make sure there’s current information on there when a CO finally picks up your application.
14 | Visa grant!
And finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for: the visa grant! There is absolutely no consistent timeline for the Partner Visa— I’ve heard from readers who had their visa granted in as little as 6 months and others who waited nearly 3 years. There are so many factors influencing wait time that it’s truly impossible to predict, but I’d say 1.5 years seems to be the average based on people I’ve spoken to (mine took exactly 19 months).
The typical progression of an Australian Partner Visa, as described above, is that you’ll first be granted the 820 (temporary) visa and then wait a fixed period of 2 years before submitting further documentation to move over to the 801 (permanent) visa. Since this is what most people experience, I’d like to track someone down to do a guest post on applying for the 801 visa (if you’re interested, please let me know!!). However, it’s not the ONLY progression.
If you’ve been with your partner 3+ years at the time of application (or possibly also if you wait an extraordinarily long time for your 820 visa to be granted), you will waive out of that typical 2-year waiting period and effectively go straight onto the 801 (i.e. get your permanent residency without a second round of evidence/application). For me, this meant I got a grant notification for my 820 temporary visa and then 1 minute later received a grant notification for my 801 permanent visa. If this happens for you, there’s absolutely nothing left to do! You are now a PERMANENT RESIDENT OF AUSTRALIA!!
Read more: MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE AUSTRALIAN PARTNER VISA: 820 & 801 PERMANENT RESIDENCY GRANTED SIMULTANEOUSLY
I hope this information has been helpful and I wish you so much luck on your Australian Partner Visa journey! Feel free to ask any questions below and I will do my very best to answer them.
* I am not a migration agent or affiliated with Home Affairs in any way, so all the information provided in these posts and in the comments below is based entirely on my own experience and my own understanding of the application process.
If you found this post helpful and want to contribute to some of the costs associated with running the blog, I would be infinitely grateful!
You can use the PayPal button below to donate whatever you feel this information is worth. If you aren’t able, don’t worry— I will always keep my posts free and accessible for everyone!
UPDATE: A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who’s commented to let me know that you found these posts helpful— I can’t tell you how much it means to me to read your success stories! I worked incredibly hard to compile all of this information (while getting my PhD & teaching), but it’s genuinely been worth it to make even a small difference for my fellow immigrants.
More importantly, though, THANK YOU to everyone who has shared their own experience or answered questions for other readers in the comments below! We are building a wonderful & supportive community of Partner Visa applicants here, and every comment and question is a resource for others.
If you felt like these posts helped with your application, I’d encourage you to come back after your visa is granted (or even after various milestones) and let us all know what happened— it might mean the world to someone else struggling with this process! Best wishes to you all xx bb
The Comments
Let's Visit Morocco
This blog is phenomenal, I was really inspired by it… Would love to thank you for the sharing!!
brooke
Let’s Visit MoroccoThank you!
xx bb
Tabitha McCarthy
Hello Brooke 🙂
Yay on getting your visa! What a long process!
I have recently applied for my partner visa and have been with my husband for 9 years now so fingers crossed on getting my both the 820 and 801 visa approved at the same time.
Have you looked into getting your citizenship? and if so do you have any feedback regarding this process?
🙂
brooke brisbine
Tabitha McCarthyHi Tabitha, congrats on submitting your application! After 9 years together, I’d imagine that you should be approved relatively quickly and hopefully without a request for further evidence!
As for citizenship, I will have to wait until I’m back in Australia (I’m travelling in Mexico right now), but I certainly intend to apply. I don’t have any feedback yet, but I’ll definitely post about it when I do 🙂
Best of luck with everything!
elle
Hi Brooke,
Thank you so much again your blog helped me a lot when I lodged my Application for Partner Visa.
I am now in the process of completing the application for Family Stage 2 (801)
Lodged the Partner Visa Application: 12 Dec 2019
Granted Temporary Visa (820) 12 Oct 2020
Lodged the Permanent Visa Stage 2 (801) 17 Nov 2021
My questions are for those who have gone in the similar situation:
1.) Did you attach any supporting documents even the Case Officer did not ask for any?
2.) Or did you wait for any correspondence from them?
Thank You in Advance.
brooke brisbine
elleHi Elle, so happy these posts have been helpful!
Unfortunately, I can’t answer any questions about the 801– both my 820/801 were granted simultaneously, so I never had to submit anything additional for the 801. Other readers might be able to answer this, though!
Best of luck
xx Brooke
Jenna
Hi Brooke,
Wow what an incredibly helpful blog, I feel so grateful to have found this! I have a question about registering my relationship with the state (as part of my evidence for my visa application). I will be registering in NSW and they ask me to provide one of the following :
-Australian birth certificate
-Australian citizenship certificate
-New Zealand citizenship certificate
-New Zealand birth certificate
-immiCard
-certificate of Registration by Descent
But as I am here on a working holiday visa I don’t have any of these, I was wondering what you did. Any help would be really great. Thanks so much!
brooke brisbine
JennaHi Jenna,
Easy mistake, but you do NOT have to provide any of these to register your relationship! These are all considered Category 1 identification and, directly from the NSW.gov.au site: “If you cannot provide proof of identity from Category 1, you must still provide at least 3 forms of identification. At least one of these must be from Category 2, and two from Category 3.
So, you need at least 1 piece of identification from Category 2:
– Australian driver’s licence (this is what I submitted– assuming you have this?)
– Australian passport
– Firearms licence
– Foreign passport (otherwise this will work, too!)
– Proof of age card or photo card issued by an Australian State or Territory
And the remaining identification (either 1 or 2, depending on what you submitted from Category 2) should be from Category 3:
– Medicare card
– Private health care card
– Centrelink pensioner concession card or other entitlement card
– Australian Department of Veterans Affairs card
– Security licence
– Student or tertiary education ID card
Hope that helps!
xx Brooke
Cecilia
Hello Brooke
It was so good to read your post; it was so helpful. While I feel like I still have a million question, I will quickly ask you this one, when in the online application, I was asked to full “every country you’ve lived for more than 12 months”, does it include the current address that my partner and I have lived together since end of 2018? because I have to enter the date when it start and when it end, and there is no option that I can say till the present date. So I am little confused about this. Cause I think in your experience, you also lodged your application while you are in Australia living with your partner, so how do you address this question (every country you’ve lived for more than 12 months)?
brooke brisbine
CeciliaHi Cecelia,
I believe I just listed today’s date (whenever I submitted the application) and then explained that my partner and I were currently living at that residence in all of our other documents (e.g. listed that address as our current address, described in a letter all the addresses we’d lived at, etc).
Hope that helps!
Adele
Hi Brooke!
I wanted to thank you for your more than helpful website ! I was so stressed about the whole process and then I’ve found your article about how you applied for the partner visa, every steps detailed and it helped me massively in organising my application and my evidence !
I got the 820 granted in April
Now I am trying to found similar articles talking about an 801 application haha
So if any of you guys would like to share your experience of the 2nd stage application, feel free to message me 🙂
Many thanks,
Adele
brooke brisbine
AdeleHi Adele,
I WISH I had more info to provide on the 801! I had previously emailed a reader about writing up her experience, but perhaps I need to contact a few others now. And with that in mind, if you ever feel like sharing your experience with the 801… let me know!
If any other readers have info to share on the 801 OR are interested in contributing to a full post, please comment back 🙂
Tom
Hi Brooke, I’m in the middle of this process, and your guide has been invaluable! Thanks so much for your selfless effort to help other people through this hefty process.
brooke brisbine
TomSo glad you’ve found it helpful, Tom 🙂
Emily
Hi Brooke,
Thank for for all of your intel- you’ve been a godsend and provided SO much support. I’ve used your blog so many times to assist with nearly all topics that have confused me and areas where I needed reassurance. Thank you so very much.
Ive recently received my 820 and just wanted to know if I can give up my overseas health cover, or if it’s still required with my visa. Might not be something you know, but I can’t seem to find a concrete answer and although I now have Medicare, im a bit nervous to cancel it if it’s required!
Thanks Brooke and I feel like your blog saved me from going insane over this visa process!
brooke brisbine
EmilyHi Emily,
So glad these posts were helpful to you, and congratulations on your 820! You are not required to have insurance on top of Medicare (unless it’s a special condition listed on your visa), so if you want to give it up, that should be fine.
-Brooke
Stephanie
Hello Brooke!
I just wanted to thank you for such an amazingly thorough guide! It has helped me immensely in lodging my own application. I was granted my temporary partner visa yesterday and I don’t think I would have been able to figure it out on my own, so thank you again!
brooke brisbine
StephanieCongratulations, Stephanie, best of luck to you and your partner!
Mel
Hey Brooke, never do this but just wanted to pass on a million thanks!! This blog truly helped me and my partner out. First submitted our application in Oct 2020 and nine months later have just been granted our visa. Don’t think we could have done it ourselves without all your insights x
brooke brisbine
MelHi Mel,
SO happy to hear that these posts have been helpful and a big congratulations on receiving your visa!! Hopefully you’re enjoying a well-deserved celebration and looking onwards to the next chapter with the massive weight of PR finally lifted 🙂
-Brooke
El
Hi Brooke,
Thanks for this great post!
I’m just a bit confused regarding the eligibility for medicare enrolment. When we applied for the partner visa, the form which entails that the application has been received only shows that we’ve applied for 820 and not 801. And medicare wants to see proof that applicant has applied for permanent residency. Could you please talk through how you worked through this?
The question on the medicare enrolment form:
Have applied for permanent residency/permanent protection visa
• a current passport or Immicard, and
• proof that an application for permanent
residency has been lodged with the Department of Home Affairs (and information about the category of visa that has been applied for)
Thanks!
brooke brisbine
ElHi El,
I’m sure you’ve answered your own question by now, but I would have said that the 820 and 801 are applied for under a single application, and therefore any applicant for the 820 is an applicant for PR, eventually. I had no issues.
Let me know if your experience was different than that!
Maria
Hi Brooke!
First of all, thank you so much for creating these page about Partner Visa as I am in the middle of doing mine as well! Extremely helpful!!
Secondly, I am getting my family to write a letter as an additional support for the witness Stat Dec. I’m wondering if they need to get the letter verified as well like the rest of the Australian Stat Dec?
brooke brisbine
MariaHi Maria,
None of your foreign friends/family will be able to complete an Australian stat dec–- however, you can definitely have them write a letter (not witnessed) supporting your application and submit this! It won’t count as a Form 888 and won’t hold quite the same weight as a stat dec, but it is STILL valuable and I’d encourage you to do it (I submitted 3 from US family!).
Hope that helps 🙂
– Brooke
Zoe
Hi Brooke,
Your blog is phenomenal thank you so so much! I have never been more relieved to find something!
Just one question, do you need to upload the friend/family stat decs with the first initial application or after you have paid? I have the Form 888 I’m just not sure if they need to be done as we submit or if I attach them after.
Thank you so much!
brooke brisbine
ZoeHi Zoe, thank you so much for the lovely comment!
You can upload the Form 888, along with all other supporting documents, AFTER paying, so no stress 🙂
-Brooke
Lauren
Hey Brooke,
Thanks for all the info you provided, seriously very helpful. My partner applied for the visa back in July 2020.
We were contacted by the CO requesting the health check and police checks, police checks are complete and the health check is booked so we are just waiting on that date to come.
The only strange thing is they requested the ‘Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia’ be completed which I completed back in July at the same time as my partner, using the same immigov account following each step that the immigov website advise. It is currently in his immigov as ‘Submitted’.
We sent an email back to the CO asking if this had been completed correctly, but haven’t heard back other than an auto reply. In your opinion, do you think this is just a blanket email asking to provide the generic information so nothing is missed or have I missed something?
Thanks 🙂
Yulia
Dear Brook, I just wrote you a message from Yulia and email is novskaya6@gmail.com, that asking you 2 questions and strats from “Dear Brook, thank you so much for this post! I just can imagine which amount of work you have done for all of us! I studied it for a few days, 1 month actually, all uncounted tabs in my google chrome was filled by your website with different topics to study. I can assure you, each topic I and my partner studied a few times. And as the result – after 5(!!!)…”
Please ignore that message, I figured out my questions by my own ))
I will write another one, to thank you for your guide that you’ve done
brooke brisbine
YuliaThank you, Yulia!
I’m glad you’ve been able to figure out the answer to your questions!
Best of luck 🙂
-Brooke
Yulia
Dear Brook, thank you so much for this post! I just can imagine which amount of work you have done for all of us! I studied it for a few days, 1 month actually, all uncounted tabs in my google chrome was filled by your website with different topics to study. I can assure you, each topic I and my partner studied a few times. And as the result – after 5(!!!) months after submission, without an interview, without even additional submission of our photos (I just wanted to do it after 6 months and didn’t have a chance to upload) almost right for my birthday visa 820 was granted! Thank you so much again! I am so glad that I found this website. Suggested it to another friend, who is planning to submit their application and have a lot of questions )
However, I can’t understand it now. By the official website, it says that I need to wait for 2 years after 820 granted and then upload additional info. So my question is during these 2 years waiting period, should I apply any info, photos for example ( probably not, cuz the website clearly states that but just double check). And the second one – do you have any idea which documents they will ask me for after 2 years of waiting to apply?
Thanks a lot!
mihir shahani
Hi Brooke,
Thank you so much for all the effort you’ve put in, this blog has been a lifesaver.
Just had a couple of question before we submit our application:
1. At what stage do you get the bridging visa? Is it once you submit the online form? make the payment? after sponsors online form submission or at once documents are uploaded?
2. Once the payment is made how much time do we have to submit the sponsor’s form and the rest of the documents?
Cannot thank you enough Brooke, there’s tons of other material online regarding partner visas but none come close to the detail you’ve provided.
Big hugs!!!!
brooke brisbine
mihir shahaniHi Mihir,
1. The bridging visa is issued as soon as you’ve submitted and paid for the initial application (regardless of having uploaded evidence) and will become active as soon as the existing visa expires.
2. There is no official time requirement on uploading evidence or submitting the sponsor application, but obviously waiting 6 months to complete these tasks would likely result in delays, so sooner rather than later. You can (and should) continually upload evidence while waiting for the visa to be granted (e.g. new photos together, current living situation, changes in finances, etc).
Hope that helps 🙂
-Brooke
Mia
Hi Brooke.
May I ask a few questions?
1-can I do all the form through postal direct send to office with all the documents and proof our relationship?
brooke brisbine
MiaHi Mia,
As I understand it, you CAN apply in paper still, although it is a lot of paper and printing! If you do opt to apply this way, you must have all official documents certified (which you don’t have to do when applying online).
-Brooke
Sejin Moon
Hi Brooke.
First of all, I wanted to say thank you.
your blog helped me so much to prepare my document for a partner visa.
Australia Immigration should link your blog on their website haha. it helped me more than talking to immigration on the phone or checking their website.
by the way, I have a question about 888form, you wrote on another comment that you (your friend) only got JP for your 888form, Did your friend or you get JP on a copy of your friend’s Citizenship or P.R Document(Passport or citizenship certification)?
and another question is, my partner’s friend is a full-time teacher who can do JP. If he does JP 888 form for everyone who is writing down 888 for me it can be a problem in the future? because everyone got JP from the same person. I just worried it might look I’m faking it or something. I am getting paranoid about small things or worried about small things while I preparing my documents haha
brooke brisbine
Sejin MoonHi Sejin, thank you so much for the lovely comment and apologies it’s taken me this long to reply!
The ONLY documents in the entire application that need to be certified are the Form 888s, so each friend or family member who completes the form on your behalf needs to have it (along with a colour copy of their passport) witnessed by a JP or some other approved party on the list (e.g. police officer, dr, etc).
I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue that the same person witness all of the Form 888s, but obviously it needs to be witnessed in person, so if you have a friend in another state complete the form, they should have it witnessed locally.
Hope that helps!
-Brooke
Ruth Kewa
Hi Brooke,
What a tremendous effort you’ve made in collating these information! Very well explained and so simple and easy to understand.
I have learnt so much and am ever so grateful!
My husband, who is Australian, and I have been getting our documents ready to lodge our partner visa application and we are pleased to let you know that your efforts in sharing your experience has definitely helped us with our preparation!
Thank you and we appreciate it!
Ruth & Dave
brooke brisbine
Ruth KewaHi Ruth & Dave, many apologies for my delayed response, but know that your comment means so much to me!
Best of luck with the application process 🙂
-Brooke
Marcela
Hi Brooke
I don’t make comments on websites, but as one of your ‘followers’ mentioned, your website is worth a comment.
I want to congratulate you for your website. It looks amazing, professional, organised and nicely presented, but more importantly, it is very informative. You also take the time and effort to respond to everyone’s questions, what an effort!
My daughter and her Irish boyfriend are starting their journey of applying for a partner’s visa. I was trying to convince them that it was not necessary to spend their hard earned money to get the assistance of a migration agent. I’m inclined to think that your blog with your honest experience gave them confidence so now they are working on getting their application organised to apply themselves. Thank you and well done. Welcome to Australia!
Kind regards, Marcela
brooke brisbine
MarcelaHi Marcela,
Thank you so much for the lovely comment (and apologies for the delayed response), I so appreciate the positive feedback!
I am incredibly happy to hear these posts have been helpful to your daughter and her partner, hopefully they are close to submitting and on the road to permanent residency!
Best of luck to them 🙂
-Brooke
Vanessa
Hi Brooke,
Thanks so much for your awesome detailed information.
I m just not 100% sure of one thing, I’m in a long term relationship with my Australian husband (married for 8 years and 2 kids) and I’m a New Zealand citizen so IDont need the bridging visa. My doubt is if I need to submit the 820 and 801 at the same time or just go straight to the 801?
Any insight will be great
Thanks!
Vanessa
brooke brisbine
VanessaHi Vanessa,
I’m actually not too sure about whether NZ citizens go straight onto 801, but given your long term relationship, you absolutely will! The minimum requirement is 3 years or 2 years with children, and you easily exceed that.
Best of luck 🙂
-Brooke
Megan
Wow! I’ve been checking out loads of different posts about doing this visa and none of them come close to the information you’ve provided!! My sister and her now husband even did this visa application a few years ago and she hasn’t even gone into as much detail for me as you have! Thanks so much for all your hard work in getting all of this together, it’s infinitely helpful!!
brooke brisbine
MeganHi Megan,
Thank you so much for the lovely comment, and I’m incredibly happy to hear you found all this info helpful!
Wishing you lots of luck on your visa 🙂
-Brooke
Gabby
Hi Brooke, I’ve lodged my 820 visa in January this year. I havent completed med assessment. But I was wondering when do we need to do biometrics and how?
brooke brisbine
GabbyHi Gabby,
You can do the health check at any point (once it comes up as a notification on your Immi account), but since it’s only valid 12 months, I waited 6 months to do mine. Seeing as it’s been 9 months since you applied, you might consider doing it soon, but up to you! Have a look at this post: https://brookebeyond.com/completing-your-health-assessment-examination-for-the-820-801-australian-partner-visa
Best of luck 🙂
-Brooke
Bhupinder Bhullar
I brooke, I applied my 820 on 20 December 2018 and still waiting .I did not get any response yet.
I have uploaded all documents , PCC and Medical examination .
Should i contact to department or still wait for 2 years even for 820 visa.
Thanks
brooke brisbine
Bhupinder BhullarHi Bhupinder,
Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict how long it will take to get the visa– it’s very possible it will be granted in the next few months, but it could also be 2 years in some cases. If you have been assigned a CO, it could be worth asking!
I was not personally ever notified about being assigned a CO before the grant of my visa, so I had no one to contact and the generic Home Affairs contact line won’t be able to provide any specific information on your case.
I hope it comes through soon for you!
-Brooke
Anita Miller
Hey, thank you so much for sharing all these information. Me and husband have been together for 3 years and living together for 2 years. Do you think it’s better to wait till we have lived together for 3 years so we avoid the wait between 820 and 801 visa. or I just apply and not waste that 1 year? I really appreciate all the effort you putting in answering everyone’s questions
brooke brisbine
Anita MillerHi Anita, so happy to hear these posts have been helpful to you!
I personally think it is better to wait– firstly, it will take you MONTHS to get everything ready for the application anyway, and then it’s just a few more months to cross the 3-year mark. In exchange for waiting those few extra months, you’ll save 2 years on the 820 visa AND avoid having to resubmit a bunch of documents for the 801 application.
BUT that’s just my personal opinion! Best of luck with whatever you decide 🙂
-Brooke
Elisabeth
Hi Brooke,I am in the process of lodging my application to move officially here from Seattle with my fiance (soon to be husband) and I can’t thank you enough for this incredible information. You’ve made this process much easier!
brooke brisbine
ElisabethHi Elisabeth, thank you for the lovely comment, so glad to hear these posts have been helpful! And to a fellow Seattle gal, especially 🙂
Best of luck with your move & the application!
-Brooke
Glenn
Hi Brooke
What a great blog, so full of information, my partner and I are about to submit our application though I want to know if we can change / update the information on the online form once submitted
brooke brisbine
GlennHi Glenn, happy to hear the blog has been helpful!
You can’t actually change the online application once it’s submitted, but if details and circumstances change, there are ways to update Home Affairs. For instance, if you move and your address changes, you can change this easily online in your IMMI. Are those the kind of changes you mean??
-Brooke
Tara Gilboy
Hi Brooke
Amazing information, well done on putting this all together,
I have a question you may be able to answer,
I have submitted my 820 visa and I am now on a bridging visa, my WHV is not due to expire until July, do I still have access to medicare? Or will this not come into effect until my WHV has expired?
Thanks in advance!
brooke brisbine
Tara GilboyHi Tara,
It doesn’t matter that you’re still on a WHV– as long as you’ve submitted an application for PR, you can apply for medicare 🙂
Bring the documents from IMMI that show your application was received (emailed to you a few days after submission), evidence of your current visa, a completed Medicare enrolment form, and your passport to a Medicare service centre. There are links to the form in the post, as well as a link to find a service centre near you.
Hope that helps!
-Brooke
Harpreet
Hi Brooke,
Thanks for the excellent write up. This was so helpful. I do one question and would like to get your opinion. My wife submitted her partner visa application yesterday, and paid for the same immediately using credit card. She got the email from the department regarding successful submission of the application but still hasn’t received any info on her Bridging Visa A. The bridging visa link on her account also has a generic info about Bridging visas. From all the forums I have read it, it is supposed to get issued within minutes of submitting the application. Any ideas if this delay is normal? Do you know of other cases where this has occurred?
Thanks,
Harpreet
brooke brisbine
HarpreetHi Harpreet, so glad to hear that you found the blog helpful!
The Bridging Visa should be issued as soon as the payment is processed, so it’s possible that there could be a slight delay while the money is going through before your wife actually receives the visa in her email.
It’s been a few days since you asked this question– has she received the BVA now??
Brooke
Jaspreet
Hey thank you for such useful imformation. I knkw you are not any agent but still wanna get your help.
Actually i have applied for combine 820/801 visa and got 820 visa granted in sep 2019 and now am just confused do i have to apply for 801 or just have to wait for their email or something? Because when i tried to upload new documents on immi account it says that application finalized so what to do now?
Thank you.
brooke brisbine
JaspreetHi Jaspreet,
I’m probably not the best person to answer this as I haven’t had my 820 granted yet, but perhaps one of the other readers can comment??
It is my understanding that you need to wait 2 years (minus a couple months) from the grant of your 820 to apply for the 801, which you’ll officially be eligible for after those 2 years. You DO need to upload additional information to demonstrate that the relationship has continued.
Best of luck, and sorry I can’t be more helpful!
-Brooke
Ana
What the hell! – this is the most useful information iv come across- better then migration agents!
Thanking you Brooke.
My partner and I are getting married in a week, and his visa runs out end of the next month (tourist visa)
Do you know once we apply if he will be automatically granted a bridging visa?
We live at home with my parents but we have been together for 5 & a half years! (long distance) Not sure what documents they will require….
We have lots and lots of photos, facebook posts, whatsapp texts etc..
Thanks again.
Jana
brooke brisbine
AnaHi Jana, thanks for the amazing comment, I love hearing that 🙂
As soon as you submit the application and payment is processed, your partner will be issued a BVA. Usually this will become active after his current visa expires, but it is emailed to him right away.
Thinking about your application and what evidence you want to include, without knowing too much about your situation, I’d say definitely include photos, social media posts, text messages or call logs during the time you were living apart, any birthday gifts or things that show you were still together even though you weren’t living together. Flights to see each other, trips together, etc. You should also get your parents to write Form 888s in support of the relationship and possibly also Stat Decs confirming that you are living together now. Wedding plans and photos of you with one another’s families will certainly help, and maybe records of joint payment for the wedding.
This is just a quick example of things you might include, but my advice is not to stress about not having evidence that you think you “should have”, but just to tell your own story honestly. You were long distance, so you might not have the same joint assets or shared living space for years that other couples have, but you have still been in a genuine relationship during that time, so find creative ways to show it to Home Affairs.
Best of luck to you both!
-Brooke
Ivy
Hi Brooke,
Just submitted my application, paid $7,715 – yes it’s now this expensive, got my BVA, uploaded 70+ documents. Such a relief!
Big thanks to you and your blog articles – they are very thorough, detailed and organised. We’ve been reading your articles since we first started the preparation in March 2019 (Look what we’ve been through in the past year!).
For whoever out there still struggling to get your head around this massive task, my personal suggestion is to stay critical and get secondary or third opinions. We sourced information from different people: purchased a document checklist from a registered migration agent at a small fee, read Brooke’s articles for step-by-step guidance, hired another migration agent friend to review my documents/statements before I lodged the visa.
We are so glad that this is done – temporarily. Wish you and everyone all the best with partner visa applications!
brooke brisbine
IvyThanks for the lovely comment, Ivy!
And I think this is excellent advice for those preparing their applications. Speak to as many people as possible and don’t be afraid to seek professional help– after all, $7,715 is a lot of money to spend on a visa application, so you want to make sure you’re doing it as thoroughly and correctly as possible!
Best of luck to you and your partner, and thank you for the sage advice 🙂
-Brooke
Gabby
Hi Brooke,
First of All, thank you so much! This has been my guide in gathering document. One question tho, What documents that need signing by Justice of Peace? I was advised to do this but I didnt find any notes regarding this on your blog. Thanks!
brooke brisbine
GabbyHi Gabby,
There are very few documents you actually HAVE to get signed by a JP. All I can think of is the Form 888s filled out by friends and family (they will do this, not you). Optionally, you could have a JP sign any statements you write about your relationship, but this is not required. There is really no need for other documents to be certified as long as you upload colour scans to your application (e.g. no need to have your passport copy certified).
Hope that helps!
-Brooke
Oli
Hi Brooke,
Just wanted to add my voice to the others here in saying thank you for these posts. They have been phenomenally valuable!
Oli
brooke brisbine
OliHi Oli,
Thank you for the lovely message, you are so welcome!
-Brooke
Zep
Hello Brooke, so happy to discover your page, this is like an information treasure for us who are getting prepared to apply to partner visa, I can not thank you enough.
I was just wondering do I need to hire a lawyer, and from the very first time that you guys started to prepare, to the application moment, how long did it take? weeks, months?
Another thing I would like to ask is, I will be on a student visa when I apply for the partner visa. Do you know if my rights of work remain the same as student visa or with the bridging visa that I will hold after the application, I will have full time rights of work?
Thanks for your time.
Much love from Sydney
brooke brisbine
ZepHi Zep, so wonderful to hear you’ve found this info helpful!
If your situation is relatively straightforward (you’ve been together a long time, you’ve got all the evidence, nothing out of the ordinary), you can definitely do this yourself without a lawyer. It took us months and months to put the whole application together; if you weren’t working, you could do it a bit faster, but it would be pretty hard to have it all done in a matter of weeks.
I can’t comment on the exact conditions of your BVA, but I can tell you that I was on a student visa when I applied and my BVA now has unlimited work rights.
Hope that helps!
-Brooke
Grace O
Hi Brooke,
I was just a day from submitting my partner visa application when I chanced upon your site last night. I wanted to just say thank you for the detailed information! You addressed my doubts, confusion and questions and gave me lots of assurance to know that we are on the right track!
BIG Thank you!
Grace
brooke brisbine
Grace OHi Grace, that’s so wonderful to hear!
Wishing you and your partner lots of luck, and congratulations on your submission 🙂
-Brooke
Anonymous
Hi Brooke, thanks for you reply and thanks for all the amazing pics you posted of your travels. Do you know if we can start my husbands application now and then when we arrive in Australia submit it? We are hoping to come next year. He hasn’t applied for his IMMI account yet.
Gae
brooke brisbine
AnonymousHi Gae,
You can start the application absolutely anytime before you want to submit– I had mine going for easily 12 months before I was finally organised enough to send everything through. It’s definitely a good idea to start thinking about it sooner rather than later, since it takes time to gather all the necessary paperwork.
Hope that helps!
-Brooke
John Stewart
Dear Brooke
I wanted to let you know that after 211 days from the date of submission my wife’s Partner Visa 309 & 100 were granted this afternoon! We are over the moon as we really did not expect the result so soon. I know that I have thanked you before but you deserve a very special thanks now that the visa has been granted. Brooke without your very detailed blogs there is no way that we would have been as prepared as we were. Apart from receiving one S56 (Request for additional details) exactly one month after lodgement, we did not hear from DHA until this afternoon. Thank you Brooke you are an Angel!
brooke brisbine
John StewartHi John, that is absolutely phenomenal news, I’m so happy for you guys! And beyond happy that I could help 🙂
Enjoy your life in Australia together!
-Brooke
moses
Hi Brooke,
Just a quick question, can I go to Sydney with Visitor Visa, get married there while visiting, then apply for 820?
brooke brisbine
mosesHi Moses, many apologies for my late response– I’ve been travelling for the last 3 months and haven’t been on the computer much!
I’m sure you’ve already answered this question yourself, but this is a bit of a tricky one. Technically speaking, the Visitor Visa has a condition that you are only “visiting”, i.e. not intending to stay. By coming on a Visitor Visa with the express intention of staying, you are violating this condition and therefore Home Affairs could consider you to be illegal, which would create issues for any future visas. In practice, it seems like people do this all the time, but I’d want to consult a migration agent just to be sure!
Wishing you lots of luck with your visa!
-Brooke
Igor
brooke brisbineHi Moses and Brooke,
I think the critical part here is the No Further Stay condition. I understand that if you have it, you can not apply for any other visa until the waiver is requested.
– Igor
Gae
Hi Brooke. All of this information is fantastic. I was reading through the comment and saw the comment Precious made regarding changes to the policy for the partner visa. She said the change was coming into effect in April and that the sponsor would have to be approved before the applicant could apply. I’ve searched the website and can’t find any reference to that change. I’m in Canada so will try and call them taking into account the time difference. I’m an Australian citizen and my husband is Canadian and we are moving to Australia to live. Can he start the application process now and once we arrive there submit it? This would be helpful if he can as we could start working on it now. Sorry for the long winded message. Just one more thing, do you know of anyone who’s used an immigration lawyer? Thanks much.
Gae
brooke brisbine
GaeHi Gae, there have been rumblings about this visa policy change for the better part of 2019, but, as far as I know, nothing has actually happened yet with the partner visa! Rest assured Home Affairs will make it very obvious on their site when it happens, but unfortunately no one really seems to know if or when that might be.
Yes, I do know of a few people who have used migration lawyers over here. If you are going to be in Sydney, I can recommend a good one who was an enormous help to one of my Swiss friends, even Skyping her and her partner before she arrived in Australia (which might be useful for you to get some answers while you’re still in Canada). Let me know!
-Brooke
Madeleine
Hi Brooke:
May I ask when your CO asked for biometrics, police clearance and health checks.?
I was given 28 days to comply biometrics and heath checks and police clearance. We received email to do all the above after we made payment.
We have done everything except waiting for Australia police check to come in the mail.
I feel strange how come we were given 28 days to comply. Did you?
Thank you.
M
brooke brisbine
MadeleineHi Madeleine,
My CO never did contact me directly to ask for any of the checks, I just saw an automatic message pop up in my Immi Account within a few days of submitting my application and uploading all the evidence. Did you get a message like this in addition to an email from your CO? I also didn’t see any message about 28 days to complete the checks, so unfortunately I can’t be much help!
I wonder if anyone else reading this post has received a similar message to Madeleine and would like to comment with their own experience??
teresa
ow thankyou so much for taking the time to reply, we both really appreciate it!
that sounds like a good idea, we will get some more advice off an agent before we’re ready to go.
thank you again !
brooke brisbine
teresaHi Teresa,
I hope you’re able to find a good agent and get further advice about your exact situation! Good luck with everything, hopefully you’ll be living permanently in Australia very soon 🙂
-Brooke
teresa
omg my partner could not have stumbled across this blog at a more perfect time for us. I’ve been stressing so much about the whole process and you have made it so clear and reassuring for both of us, this is by far the best info on EVERYTHING we have seen so far and we have googled and read the book and joined facebook groups so firstly we really want to thank you . I know you’re not an agent, butwhat is your advice for us, being together since Feb 2018, been in contact every day since, im in Australia he’s in the Netherlands, we have both visited each other for 6 weeks at a time, registered our relationship, but have not lived together.
We are aware of the evidence groupsand for financial and social I think we have more than enough evidence , but near none for household due to living apart. I know you’re not an agent but does the certificate waive that issue or are we still required to have lived with one another for a period of time.
look forward to your Input
brooke brisbine
teresaHi Teresa, I am absolutely ecstatic to hear that my posts have been so helpful to you and your partner! Comments like this make all the work of writing a blog worthwhile 🙂
You’re right that I’m not an agent, so I can’t give you a definite answer.. but I can tell you about the advice one of my friends received from a migration lawyer. My friend is from Switzerland and has been with her Australian partner for just over a year. They’ve never lived together, but she did stay at his place sometimes when she was living here and he later spend about 6 weeks with her family in Switzerland when she had to move back home. Like you and your partner, they have a lot of social and financial evidence, but they don’t have any time actually living together (yet).
Home Affairs will waive the 12mo cohabitation requirement if you register the relationship (which you’ve done), but there’s obviously still a lack of supporting evidence for shared household, so I totally understand the concern. According to the lawyer my friend saw, though, it’s absolutely possible under these circumstances. The advice they were given was for her to come to Australia on a tourist visa, move in with her partner, and then submit their application. Even if they only lived together for a month before submitting, the lawyer said this should be good enough (plus the registration of the relationship) to satisfy Home Affairs.
I don’t know your exact situation or whether it’s even possible for you to come on a tourist visa for a few months (you won’t be able to work during that time), but my NUMBER ONE PIECE OF ADVICE is to speak to a migration agent about your own relationship. You should be able to pay for a Skype or phone session internationally, which is what my friends did– it will probably cost a few hundred dollars, but it’s worth it. The lawyer is also likely to recommend that you submit your application through them (expect around $2500 in lawyer fees), but that’s much cheaper than having your $7000 application rejected and a way better outcome than not getting to be with your partner in Australia.
I know it’s probably not the quick and easy answer you were hoping for, but I think it’s the smartest option if you are really serious about getting PR. Wishing you guys lots of luck moving forward– it will be challenging and stressful and overwhelming… BUT so worthwhile 🙂
-Brooke
Precious
Brooke,
BTW do you have all your written statements (5 aspects of relationships) signed by JP? which documents did you have signed with JP? I am quite confused with that or they only need stat decs from witnesses? or we could do it as well?
Thanks again!
Precious
brooke brisbine
PreciousWe just printed off our statements and signed them ourselves. The only documents in our application that were actually witnessed were the Form 888s that families/friends did, we didn’t personally take anything to a JP! I know some people get literally everything witnessed, but it’s not a requirement, so it’s totally up to you!
Also, thanks for updating me on the visa changes! I’m going to have to update this post soon!
Brooke
Ching
brooke brisbineHi Brooke,
Thank you very much for your generous sharing on this visa! I literally written out everything important from your articles and start gathering everything haha.
May I ask you that how long have you waited for the bridging visa A to be granted?
Thank you very much,
Ching
brooke brisbine
ChingHi Ching,
You are so welcome, I am just happy I could help!
As soon as your payment is processed for the visa, Home Affairs will issue the BVA. It will become active when your current visa expires, but you should receive details in an email right away.
Good luck with the visa!
-Brooke
Precious
brooke brisbineHi Brooke!!
Just an update on my visa, on Dec 2020 they have asked me to send them police check(overseas and here in Aus) and my medicals. At the moment sending a document over the holidays and during this covid times it would take 10-16 days to get to my home country. I have asked them to extend my due date of submitting the requirements they want still no reply, I have a few days left before 28 days are up. I have also given them the medical, and Aus police check (me and partner) just waiting on the overseas one.
But anyway I wanted to let you know because you have been a tremendous help on my visa and I feel that I am on my path of getting my 820 after I submit the requirements! So THANK YOU THANK YOU!! For posting all the infos here on your website💕💕
PS I will update you again after getting that 820 ;))
Precious
brooke brisbine
PreciousHi Precious, so lovely to hear that things are going well for you– it definitely sounds like you are CLOSE!!
Definitely give us another update after you send in your police check, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that an 820 grant is just around the corner 🙂
-Brooke
Precious
brooke brisbineHi Brooke!
Just want to let you know I got my 820 just today! Your website has been so helpful with my application! Thank you very much for posting all the infos.
I’m just now preparing my 801 documents to submit for March! Can’t wait to apply and get 801! =)
brooke brisbine
PreciousHi Precious, I am SO happy seeing this comment! You’ve been a long-time reader of the blog and I’m genuinely thrilled to hear that you’ve finally got your PR, it’s well deserved 🙂
All the best to you!
-Brooke
Precious
Hi Brooke!
Thanks so much for your detailed guide here!! My graduate visa is going to expire in 4 months and I think this is the perfect time to start gathering evidences for my Partner visa!! I am so glad to find your website, I have been bookmarking all the pages related to partner visa haha!! one question! I have A LOT of text messages (3 years worth) and not all in there are wholesome lol but I don’t want to risk so I’ll try to submit them,how did you get all your text messages onto a pdf file?
BTW when did you apply for your one?? Any updates? wishing you luck on it!!
Precious
brooke brisbine
PreciousHi Precious, so happy you’ve found this info helpful!
It’s not necessary to submit every single text you and your partner have ever exchanged, I can imagine that would be thousands of pages! Submitting texts is mostly just a way to show you’ve been in contact during any periods of separation (e.g. you were temporarily living apart). For example, I submitted texts when I went to Europe for a month without my partner and again when he was doing a job interstate for 8 weeks. I have iMessage on my Mac, so I could just highlight and copy the entire text transcript for the periods of time I wanted to show contact. Then, with everything pasted in Word, I redacted the “not-so-wholesome” bits (lol) with black text boxes and exported the document as a PDF. I hope that makes sense!
We applied 4 months ago, so we’ve still got quite a long wait— but at least the tricky part is done! You’ll feel so relieved once you get the application submitted 🙂
-Brooke
Precious
brooke brisbineThanks for your reply Brooke!
My partner just made me realise that we have never been really away from each other (living in another country/state for some time after our defacto started) so Im guessing im not adding any text messages between us. I just thought I would need it because that was our main of contact before living together.
On another note Brooke, I do not have everything ready at the moment (such as stat decs from witnesses) but I really want to apply before June as I heard they are changing the policy again. Umm do you know if I apply and pay the fee and slowly upload my evidences(then submit) will affect me? I just thought of getting into the queue while waiting for those stat decs.
Thanks,
Precious
brooke brisbine
PreciousHi Precious, I see what you’re saying.. You could include some text messages from the beginning of your relationship to show when you started dating, which might actually be useful to your application. But proving the length of your de facto relationship is definitely the most important part, so if you’ve never travelled or worked apart during that time (and can prove it), you probably won’t need to submit 1000 pages of texts 🙂
I don’t know anything about how Home Affairs creates the queue for reviewing applicants, but I can tell you that you’ll actually “submit” the application as soon as you’ve completely filled it out and paid, and *then* get access to the upload portal where you can take all the time you want attaching evidence. So you could definitely submit now and upload over the next few months (before you’re assigned a CO), but I just can’t say for 100% certain if it would affect your spot in the queue. This might be a good question to ask Home Affairs directly (131 881); the wait can sometimes be about 30min, but they will make sure you’re given the most correct information.
Do you know what changes they are introducing in June?? I’m curious!
-Brooke
Precious
brooke brisbineHi Brooke!
Thanks for replying so fast! Although I am quite late for my reply my apologise. I just heard the news yesterday!! They are changing the laws again with partner visa this 17 APRIL! (so closeeee!) they said that the sponsor needs to be approved first before applicants can apply for partner visa. They do not know how long it will take for sponsor to be approved but I am thinking it will just delay the overall process and the person applying might have to stay as tourist visa or worse go back to their country… which I do not want to happen to me!
SOOO I have hit submit on my application and paid $7k last night knowing that I only have 6 days!! I have been working on my preparation for 2 weeks now so I am quite there but not there yet! still waiting for stat decs (1 out of 3 came back already and I am rushing them now haha) and few letters to be made like cover letter. You mentioned that you had a nice cover letter, could you enlighten me what did you include there?
THANKS SOOO MUCH!
Precious
brooke brisbine
PreciousHi Precious,
That is so exciting, it’s finally submitted!! I am sure it’s also crazy stressful trying to get these final documents together, but at least you are sooo close!
Everyone includes something a bit different in their cover letter, so ours isn’t necessarily “the best” way to write one, but I will paste it below just so you can get an idea of what we included. Make it personal and use it to highlight anything special about your application (e.g. missing evidence or unique circumstances), and I think that’s good enough 🙂
To our future Case Officer,
Please find attached the story of our relationship. Although it has not always been easy, it has always been loving and has grown over the last 3.5 years to be stronger than either of us could ever have imagined, surviving multiple interstate moves together, bouts of unemployment for both of us, travel through 20 different countries together, two University degrees for Brooke, an electrical qualification for Callum, half a dozen different jobs, and countless other challenges. What we have now is a commitment that will only continue to deepen with time, and a relationship that provides a constant source of support, love, and happiness for both of us. We’ve worked hard to build what we hope will be an accurate representation of our lives together in this application and doing so has only further reminded us of how lucky we are to have found each other.
In your consideration of this application, we do hope that you will grant the 801 visa without the standard 820 visa wait period on the grounds of a long-term, 3+ year de facto relationship, as we began a serious, committed relationship in August 2015 and have lived together as de facto partners since November 2015. We are confident that we meet the requirements for this reduction in wait-time, but would be more than happy to provide any additional evidence to support our application as needed.
The only things not included in this application at present are the police check and medical clearance, both of which will be completed at your request.
Please contact us if any further information is required, and we will hasten to send it through.
(AT THE BOTTOM, WE INCLUDED BOTH OF OUR EMAILS AND MOBILE NUMBERS, AND THEN SIGNED ABOVE OUR FULL NAMES)
Nicole
Hi Brooke!
Thank you so much for all the info. My question is will having roommates while living with your partner affect how they see the relationship at all? Does it have to be just the couple splitting living costs?
Thank you for your time and help!
brooke brisbine
NicoleHi Nicole, so happy to hear you’ve found these posts helpful!
I don’t have any personal knowledge about how Home Affairs views living in a share house, but it seems from speaking to people who have been in a similar situation that you will need to prove that you and your partner are more than just roommates. This can be done by having your other housemates write stat decs about your living situation (e.g. that you and your partner share a single room, you split the cost of rent, cook together, etc) and even writing a statement yourself to explain the situation (e.g. how you live as a couple within the share house, if you are saving money to move out together, etc). It certainly doesn’t seem like it will affect your application negatively, I think it will just require a bit of additional evidence. Registering your relationship could be a good start, if you haven’t done that already!
Best of luck with your application, and I hope this info helps!
-Brooke
John Stewart
Dear Brooke
Just wanted to thank you once again for your immense generosity in sharing your posts regarding the Partner Visa. We submitted my wife’s 309/100 today and I can’t tell you how pleased I was to hit the button saying that our application was complete (she is doing Biometrics and Medical next week). Out of all the blogs, websites and forums I read (which was plenty) yours was by far the best, most accurate and up to date and the easiest to understand. You and your partner seem to be so busy travelling I really don’t know where you found the time to write such helpful information. Thanks again Brooke and I will let you know when we are successful. Once done I intend to give you an almighty rap on the Australian Forum!
Regards, John Stewart
brooke brisbine
John StewartHi John,
I truly can’t tell you just how much I appreciate your thoughtful message! I spent an absurd amount of time putting together all of these posts, so the knowledge that they have actually helped another couple even a little bit on their own Partner Visa journey is a phenomenal reward. I vividly recall how overwhelming the process was (I honestly felt like I was writing a second doctoral thesis on my relationship), so an enormous congratulations to you and your wife for tackling this significant hurdle. With any luck, it will be granted swiftly and without any more sleepless nights spent at the computer. Definitely let me know how you go and best of luck to you both!
– Brooke