Partner & Family Visas to Australia: 2026 Guide

If you're the partner or spouse of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, the partner visa is your main pathway. The key thing to understand up front: it is a single application charge that buys two visas. You apply once, you pay once, and you get a temporary visa now and a permanent visa later (usually after about two years), as long as your relationship is still genuine and continuing at the permanent stage.

Where you are when you apply decides which subclasses you get:

• Apply while you are in Australia (onshore): you're granted subclass 820 (temporary), which leads to subclass 801 (permanent).

• Apply while you are outside Australia (offshore): you're granted subclass 309 (provisional), which leads to subclass 100 (permanent).

• Engaged but not yet married, and overseas: the Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) lets you come to Australia, marry, then apply for the 820/801.

The base visa application charge is about AUD $9,365 (the figure in force from 1 July 2025). Home Affairs confirms on its offshore page that the cost 'cover[s] this Temporary visa and the Permanent Partner visa' — so you are not asked to pay it twice. Government fees usually rise on 1 July each year, so confirm the current charge on homeaffairs.gov.au before you lodge.

The practical difference comes down to where you are now and what you want to do while you wait.

Subclass 820/801 (apply in Australia): You must be in Australia to apply and you generally hold a 820 'bridging' position that lets you live, work and study here while the application is processed. You can enrol in Medicare while you wait. You must be 18 or older to apply.

Subclass 309/100 (apply overseas): You must be outside Australia when you apply, and any family included must also be outside Australia. The big advantage is travel — once the 309 is granted you can come and go from Australia as many times as you like while you hold it. The 309 lasts until a decision is made on your permanent subclass 100.

Both pathways are assessed against exactly the same relationship test and lead to permanent residence. Many couples choose onshore (820) so they can stay together in Australia during processing; couples who are settled overseas, or who need to keep travelling for work, often prefer the offshore (309) route. If your relationship is complex (previous refusals, visa cancellations, family violence, or a same-sex relationship that isn't legally recognised in your home country), get professional advice before choosing.

The subclass 300 visa is for couples who are engaged but not yet married and where the applicant is overseas. It lets you travel to Australia, marry your partner, and then apply for the partner visa.

Home Affairs sets out clear rules for the 300:

• You and your sponsor must both be 18 or older when you apply.

• You must be outside Australia when you apply.

• You and your prospective spouse must have met in person as adults (since turning 18) and know each other personally.

• You must marry your prospective spouse before the Prospective Marriage visa expires. You can marry in any country, as long as the marriage is valid under Australian law.

After you marry, you apply for the onshore Partner visa (subclass 820/801) — and importantly, Home Affairs says you 'pay less for this visa if you marry your prospective spouse and apply for the Partner visa before your Prospective Marriage visa ends.' The base charge for the 300 is around AUD $9,365. The 300 is genuinely useful for couples who can't easily meet the 12-month de facto rule, but it adds a step, so weigh it against simply applying for a partner visa once you're married or have lived together for 12 months.

This is the part that decides most partner visa cases. Australian law (regulation 1.15A of the Migration Regulations 1994) requires you to show your relationship is genuine and continuing, that you live together (or don't live apart permanently), and that you're committed to a shared life to the exclusion of all others. Home Affairs weighs up four aspects:

• Financial: joint bank accounts, shared bills, joint assets, how you pool money and support each other.

• Household: how you run your home together — who does what, joint lease or mortgage, shared address and responsibilities.

• Social: that friends and family know you as a couple — joint invitations, travel together, photos over time, social media, declarations from people who know you both.

• Commitment: how you got together, knowledge of each other's lives, future plans, time spent together, and contact maintained during any separation.

If you're married, the legal marriage is strong evidence, but you still need to show the relationship is genuine. If you're a de facto couple, the rule is specific: you must usually have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before you apply. Home Affairs notes that 'time spent dating or in an online relationship might not count.' That 12-month requirement does not apply if you have registered your relationship with an Australian state or territory authority (a births, deaths and marriages registry) — a quick, cheap step that many couples use. You must also include a minimum of two Form 888 statutory declarations, each made within the last six weeks by an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible NZ citizen, confirming your relationship.

Australia has parent visas, and families ask about them constantly — but you need to go in with eyes open about the timeframes. There are two broad routes.

Non-contributory Parent visa (subclass 103): Cheaper to lodge — Home Affairs lists it as costing 'from AUD $7,345 for a single applicant' — but the wait is the catch. As at 31 March 2026, Home Affairs was only releasing subclass 103 applications with a queue date up to July 2013, and the official processing-time estimate for new Parent and Aged Parent applications is about 33 years.

Contributory Parent visa (subclass 143, with a temporary 173 option): Far more expensive but much faster. The 143 costs 'from AUD $48,640 for a single applicant' as a first instalment, with a substantial second instalment (in the order of AUD $43,000+ per applicant) payable before grant. The estimated wait for new contributory applications is around 15 years (queue released up to November 2018 as at 31 March 2026).

Both permanent parent visas require you to meet the balance of family test (broadly, at least half your children live permanently in Australia, or more live in Australia than in any other single country) and to provide an Assurance of Support — a financial guarantee, backed by a bond, that the parent won't rely on government welfare. Because of the cost and the timeframes, parent migration is one of the clearest cases for getting professional advice before you spend anything.

If you're an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, you can sponsor your dependent child for a permanent visa.

• Subclass 101 (Child): for a child who is outside Australia.

• Subclass 802 (Child): for a child who is already in Australia.

Both are permanent visas — the child can live, work and study in Australia indefinitely and apply for citizenship if eligible. The base application charge is around AUD $3,235. To qualify, the child must be the dependent child of the sponsoring parent and must be: under 18; or aged 18 to under 25 and a full-time student financially dependent on the parent; or 18 or over with a disability that prevents them working. The child must also be single — not married, engaged or in a de facto relationship. If a child is born after you've lodged your own visa application, you can usually add them before a decision is made, so tell Home Affairs as soon as a baby arrives.

Budget for more than the headline charge. On top of the visa application charge you'll typically pay for: health examinations (usually a few hundred dollars per person), police certificates from every country you've lived in, certified translations of non-English documents, and a card-payment surcharge of roughly 1–1.5% on the government fee. Adding a dependant increases the charge (broadly around AUD $4,685 for an extra applicant 18+ and AUD $2,345 for one under 18 on a partner application). Government fees almost always rise on 1 July, so check homeaffairs.gov.au before lodging.

On the practical side once you arrive: a Tax File Number (TFN) from the ATO is free — apply only through ato.gov.au or in person, never through a paid 'TFN service', which is a common scam. Partner and many family visa holders can enrol in Medicare through Services Australia at no cost.

Be alert to immigration scams. Home Affairs is blunt: 'it is illegal for a third party to provide paid immigration assistance unless they are a registered migration agent with OMARA or an Australian legal practitioner.' The department never charges a fee to 'fast-track' a visa — if you're offered that, it's a scam. Watch for fake job offers, social-media 'agents' guaranteeing a visa, and anyone asking you to pay to lodge a free form. Verify any agent on the OMARA register before you pay a cent, and report suspected scams to Border Watch.

Bottom line on getting help: you can lodge a partner or child visa yourself, and many couples do. But if your case is complex — a previous refusal or cancellation, criminal history, health concerns, family violence, a hard-to-evidence relationship, or a parent visa — paid advice from an OMARA-registered migration agent or an immigration lawyer is genuinely worth it. To appoint someone formally, use Form 956. This guide is general information, not personal migration advice.