4.1 Partner Visa Framework: Subclass 820/801 and Subclass 309/100

4.1 Partner Visa Framework: Subclass 820/801 and Subclass 309/100

Partner cases combine relationship law, application validity, sponsorship approval, personal criteria, and later permanent-stage criteria. A label such as “genuine marriage” is not an eligibility conclusion. The agent must identify the visa class and subclass, the applicant’s location and status, further-stay restrictions, Schedule 3 exposure, sponsor eligibility, relationship type and duration, and every family member before recommending lodgement.

Combined pathways

One combined application ordinarily initiates both stages. It does not guarantee a temporary visa, a bridging visa, or eventual permanent residence. At each decision the applicant must meet the applicable criteria, including the spouse or de facto definition, sponsorship, health, character, integrity, and family-member requirements.

Permanent-stage timing

Clauses 100.221 and 801.221 contain the permanent-stage architecture. For the ordinary continuing-relationship pathway, at least two years must generally have passed since the combined application. The two-year period is measured from the application—not from the temporary visa grant—and it is a statutory criterion, not a promised departmental processing date.

The two-year paragraph does not apply if, at application, the applicant was in a long-term partner relationship with the sponsoring partner. Regulation 1.03 defines that relationship by how long it continued:

• at least two years where there is a dependent child, other than a step-child, of both partners; or
• at least three years in any other case.

This rule does not require “continuous cohabitation” as a freestanding additional formula, and it does not compel an immediate or concurrent permanent grant. The applicant must still satisfy an available permanent-stage pathway and all other criteria at decision. Family-violence, death, child-custody, humanitarian-partner, and review-remittal provisions create other pathways or timing effects and must be analysed from the actual clause.

Regulation 1.20J: previous partner sponsorships

Regulation 1.20J ordinarily prevents approval unless the Minister is satisfied that no more than one other person has received the defined relevant permission through the sponsor, that at least five years has passed since the earlier application where another person received such permission, and that at least five years has passed where the sponsor previously received relevant permission as another person’s partner or prospective spouse.

The common shorthand—“two sponsorships in a lifetime and five years between them”—is useful only as an alert. It omits the definition of relevant permission, the precise application dates, family-violence treatment, transitional cases, and regulation 1.20J(2). Under subregulation (2), the Minister may approve despite subregulation (1) if compelling circumstances affect the sponsor. Compelling circumstances are not established by reciting a policy example; provide evidence and address the statutory language.

Create a sponsorship history from Department records, prior applications, grants, withdrawals, relationship events, family violence, and dates. Do not count or exclude an event from memory.

Separate sponsor criminal-record regimes

The regulations use two different screening structures.

Regulation 1.20KB applies to specified child, partner, prospective-marriage, and extended-eligibility applications where a primary or secondary applicant is under 18. Charges or convictions for a defined registrable offence can require refusal of sponsorship. The regulation also contains carefully framed exceptions and discretionary approval provisions, including provisions concerning completion of sentence more than five years earlier, later charges, and compelling circumstances. The exact facts and subregulation must be applied.

Regulation 1.20KC applies to prospective-marriage and partner sponsorships more broadly. It defines relevant offences, permits police-check requests, and ordinarily requires refusal where the sponsor has a conviction for a relevant offence and a significant criminal record. Subregulation 1.20KC(4), however, permits approval where the Minister considers it reasonable after considering matters including time since sentence, children’s best interests, and relationship length. Regulation 1.20KD only defines significant criminal record for this purpose, including specified death, life, or imprisonment thresholds. It is not itself the registrable-offence refusal rule.

Sponsor convictions can also need disclosure to applicants under the subclass criteria. PIC 4001 concerns visa applicants and should not be used as a substitute label for sponsorship approval.

Capstone workflow

For a partner scenario, first establish application validity, location, status, relationship type and start date, and sponsor history. Then build separate matrices for applicant criteria, sponsor approval, family members, adverse information, and evidence across financial, household, social, and commitment circumstances. Record every deadline and do not promise a permanent-stage date. If a criminal record exists, obtain the offence, charge disposition, sentence, completion date, police checks, affected children, and relationship history before identifying the controlling provision or possible discretion.