Onshore Partner Visa (subclass 820 and 801)
The subclass 820 and 801 partner visa is the onshore pathway for the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. You lodge one application and pay once. You are then assessed in two stages: the temporary 820 first, then the permanent 801 from two years after the date you lodged. You must be in Australia to apply.
This pathway is for people who are already in Australia on another visa and whose partner is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. If you are outside Australia, the equivalent pathway is the offshore 309/100. If you are engaged and plan to marry, it is the Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300).
No visa, no fee: our refund applies to our professional service fee only. Terms and conditions apply. Government application charges are set by the Department of Home Affairs and are not refundable by us.
What is the difference between the 820 and the 801?
They are two stages of one application, not two separate applications. You lodge both at the same time and pay the Department once. The 820 is the temporary stage that lets you stay while your case is decided. The 801 is the permanent stage.
This trips people up constantly, because the two subclasses have separate pages on the Department’s website and separate processing times. You are not applying twice, and you are not paying twice.
| Subclass 820 (temporary) | Subclass 801 (permanent) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it gives you | Live, work and study in Australia while the permanent stage is processed. Travel in and out as often as you want. Medicare access, and free English classes through the Adult Migrant English Program if eligible. | Everything the 820 gives you, indefinitely, plus the ability to sponsor eligible family members and to apply for citizenship if eligible. |
| When you are assessed | First, after you lodge. | From your eligibility date, which is two years after you lodged the original application. |
| What it costs | The single Department charge covers both stages. | Nothing further. The Department states you paid for this visa when you made the original applications. |
| How long you hold it | Until the 801 is decided or you withdraw. | Permanently. Note the travel facility on it runs five years, after which you need a Resident Return visa to re-enter. |
| Core requirement | A genuine relationship, a sponsor who qualifies, and you must be in Australia when you apply. | You must hold the 820 (or a subclass 445 Dependent Child visa) and, in most cases, still be in a genuine and ongoing relationship with your sponsor. |
Who can apply for an onshore partner visa?
You can generally apply if you are in Australia, you are in a genuine relationship with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and that partner sponsors you. Both of you have to meet separate criteria.
The applicant
- Be in Australia when the application is lodged, along with any family members applying with you. This is what makes it the onshore pathway.
- Be sponsored by your spouse or de facto partner.
- Be 18 or older when you lodge.
- Meet the relationship, health and character requirements.
- Hold a substantive visa, in most cases.
- Have no debt to the Australian Government.
The sponsor
- Be an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.
- Be 18 or older.
- Meet the character requirements.
- Not have already sponsored two people for a partner visa, and not have sponsored anyone within the last five years. Exceptions apply in limited circumstances.
Do you have to be married?
No. Married and de facto couples apply on the same terms, and that includes same-sex couples. What the Department is assessing is whether the relationship is genuine and continuing, to the mutual exclusion of all others.
To be eligible you can be in any one of these situations:
- Married.
- In a de facto relationship for the 12 months immediately before you apply.
- In a relationship registered under the relevant Australian state or territory legislation, which removes the 12-month requirement.
- Able to show compelling and compassionate circumstances applicable to your relationship.
What does an 820 and 801 application cost in 2026?
There are two separate costs and they are not paid to the same place. The Department of Home Affairs charges a visa application charge, currently AUD11,710 for most applicants. ADI charges a professional fee, from $4,400 including GST, for preparing and running the application.
The Department charge is the larger of the two, it is set by government, it changes independently of us, and it is not refundable by us.
| Charge | Amount (AUD) | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Visa application charge, main applicant | $11,710 | Department of Home Affairs |
| Visa application charge, main applicant who holds a Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) | $1,955 | Department of Home Affairs |
| Additional applicant aged 18 or over | $5,860 | Department of Home Affairs |
| Additional applicant under 18 | $2,935 | Department of Home Affairs |
| ADI professional fee, partner visa | From $4,400 incl. GST | ADI Immigration |
How long does an 820 partner visa take?
There is no honest fixed answer, and any website quoting you one number is guessing. The Department publishes a processing times guide that asks for your visa subclass, your stream and your application date, because the estimate depends on when you lodged. It reflects recently decided applications and is explicitly a guide, not a commitment.
What is worth understanding is the order applications are worked in, because that is set by policy rather than by luck.
- The 801 clock works differently. The Department states the processing time for the permanent stage starts from your date of eligibility, two years after you applied. The two-year wait happens before processing begins, so published 801 processing times are measured on top of it rather than including it.
- Direction 117 allows an application to be prioritised where there are special circumstances of a compassionate nature and compelling reasons to depart from the usual order. These are decided case by case.
- Health examinations are worth timing deliberately. Results are generally valid for 12 months and processing can run longer than that, so doing them too early can mean doing them twice.
What happens between lodging and a decision?
In most cases you are granted a Bridging visa A once you lodge onshore while holding a substantive visa. It keeps you lawfully in Australia while the application is processed, and it usually carries unrestricted work rights.
The bridging visa is where most avoidable problems happen, and almost all of them are about travel.
- A Bridging visa A does not let you re-enter Australia if you leave. It is not a travel document.
- If you need to travel, you apply for a Bridging visa B before you go. Tell your agent as soon as you have plans rather than after you have booked.
- If you still hold your original substantive visa and it permits multiple entries, you can travel within its limits. The bridging visa only takes effect once the substantive visa ends.
- Your work rights during processing follow the visa you held when you lodged and any conditions on it, until the bridging visa takes over.
- Tell the Department about changes: address, passport, a new child, a marriage, or a relationship breakdown.
What the 820 and 801 pathway does not do
Some limits are worth knowing before you lodge rather than after.
- It is not a route for an applicant who is outside Australia. If you are offshore, the pathway is the 309/100, and lodging the wrong one is not a fixable clerical error.
- The permanent 801 is not automatic. It is a fresh assessment of whether the relationship is still genuine and ongoing at that point, and it needs its own evidence covering the two-year period.
- It does not make you a citizen. Permanent residence is a separate status, and citizenship has its own residence requirements and application.
- It does not give you permanent re-entry rights. The travel facility on the permanent visa runs five years, after which a Resident Return visa is the usual way back in.
- It does not protect you if the relationship ends during the temporary stage. A breakdown can lead to cancellation. There are limited provisions in the law covering particular circumstances, and they are not something to work out alone. Get advice immediately rather than waiting.
- Lodging sooner does not improve your chance of approval. It affects cost and timing, not the decision.
What you need to decide before you lodge
Whether you are actually onshore for this purpose
The onshore pathway requires you to be in Australia when the application is lodged, and so does any family member applying with you. If someone in the household is overseas on the lodgement date, that changes the plan, not just the paperwork.
Whether you can evidence 12 months of de facto, or whether registration is the better route
Registering the relationship under state or territory law removes the 12-month requirement. Whether that is available and sensible depends on where you live and your circumstances. It is a decision worth making early, because it changes what evidence you need to gather.
Whether to lodge before or after a planned trip
This is a sequencing decision, not a legal one. Bridging visa timing, your existing visa’s entry conditions and the trip dates all interact. Working it out before you lodge is far easier than unpicking it afterwards.
Who else is going on the application
Children can generally be included, and each additional applicant carries its own Department charge. Dependants over 18 have to demonstrate dependency. Adding someone later is not always straightforward.
When to do the health examinations
Results generally last 12 months and processing can run longer. Doing them at the right point in the process, rather than immediately, is usually the cheaper path.
Risks worth naming
- Evidence, not sincerity, is what is assessed. Genuine couples are refused for thin documentation of the relationship over time. The record you can produce matters more than how certain you both are.
- A gap in lawful status is serious. Letting a substantive visa expire before lodging changes what is available to you and can remove the onshore pathway entirely.
- A previous refusal or cancellation does not automatically block a partner visa, but it changes how the application has to be prepared and what has to be addressed. Raise it early, not at the end.
- The Department charge is not refundable by us and generally not refunded on a refusal. It is the largest single cost in the process.
- Processing times move, and so do fees. Both are reviewed by government and have changed materially in recent years.
Questions we get asked about the 820 and 801
- Usually yes. Your work rights follow the visa you held when you lodged and its conditions. Most people have unrestricted work rights once they move onto a Bridging visa A.
Where this information comes from
Immigration law, fees and processing priorities change. Every figure on this page is either from our published fee schedule or from the Department of Home Affairs, with the date we checked it.
- Department of Home Affairs, Subclass 820 Partner visa (temporary) Checked 17 August 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Subclass 801 Partner visa (permanent) Checked 17 August 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Family visa processing priorities (Ministerial Direction 117) Checked 17 August 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Global visa processing times guide Checked 17 August 2026.
This page is general information about how the subclass 820 and 801 partner visa works. It is not advice about your circumstances, and it is not a prediction of your outcome. Every application turns on its own facts.
Prepared and reviewed by Ilya (Eli) Bekker, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 1465541. ADI Immigration is a service of Partner Visa Australia Pty Ltd, ABN 97 670 826 892. Registered migration agents are bound by the Migration Agents Code of Conduct. See our Privacy Policy, or tell us if something has gone wrong and we will work to put it right.
Last reviewed: August 2026. ADI’s 99.75% approval rate is based on applications we lodged, as at July 2026. Past results are not a guarantee of your outcome.
Not sure which partner visa pathway is yours?
Tell us where you are and who you are with. We will tell you which application fits, what it costs, and what happens next.