What You Need to Know About Australian Partner Visas

A person only qualifies for a Partner Visa Australia if they are married, engaged, or in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen, a Australian permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen.

How much does it cost?

The Partner Visa Australia cost is one of the more expensive visas, but it is also one of the most used visas worldwide. In fact, its demand has increased by about 4 times over the past 5 years. According to the current pricing, each of the Partner visa subclasses has a base cost of $7715AUD. An additional fee of $3860AUD is charged if there is a dependent applicant added to the application who is over the age of 18. And, if there is a dependent applicant below 18 years of age added, then $1935AUD is required as an added on fee.

Apart from these application fees, the applicant must also have to pay an extra fee for a Police check, and also do a visa medical examination. The fee for a visa medical ranges somewhere between $200AUD to $400AUD depending on which country and which Hospital or medical centre you attend. The Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) also usually require you to have some of your supporting documents certified, or notorised, etc. depending on which country you are in, which can result in a relatively small additional cost.

A Partner visa application is very complex, and if an applicant chooses to seek the help of a Migration Agent to help with the process he / she would usually need to pay an additional fee for this service.

Applying for a Partner Visa

The application process for a Partner visa takes place in stages:

Often, if the length of the relationship is less than 3 years, then at first, a provisional visa may be granted. The visa will be issued with full work rights, a multiple entry facility, as well as access to Medicare. After this, there would normally be a gap from the date of visa lodgement before a second application must be submitted where further processing for Permanent Residency (PR) will occur. The Partner Visa Application Australia Immigration authorities (DOHA) carry out this processing and checking in order to reach a final decision as to whether a visa will be granted or not.

This 2 tier process, involving separate and multiple assessments over an extended period of time, is the DOHA’s way to try to ensure that people who apply for a Partner visa are in both a genuine and long standing relationship.

About the Temporary Partner Visa

The Temporary Partner Visa Australia (Subclass 309/820): Getting a temporary Partner Visa is the first step to getting a Permanent Partner visa (Subclass 100/801). With the help of the temporary visa, the person, who is married or in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen/ Permanent Resident or eligible New Zealand resident, will be able to live in Australia temporarily. The temporary visa allows you to work in Australia until a decision about your permanent visa is given. You can also continue with your studies during this time.

Although the cost of the application is normally $7715AUD, for holder of a Prospective Marriage visa, the base fee is $1285AUD. The application for a temporary and permanent visa, although done separately and at different times, is also technically done at the same time. The processing time is currently about 22 months for up to 75% of the applications, and 28 months for 90% of the applications. Processing times given are only estimates and the actually time taken to process an application varies a lot depending on many factors, including where exactly the application was submitted, and whether the application submitted was complete or is missing vital information or supporting documents.