After Your Partner Visa Is Granted

A temporary subclass 820 and a provisional subclass 309 give you work rights and access to Medicare enrolment from the grant date. The permanent subclass 801 and subclass 100 add a 5-year travel facility and a path to citizenship. This page sets out what changes on each visa, what you must still do, and where the detail lives.

What changes on the day your partner visa is granted?

The table compares the four partner visas as at 23 September 2026, using the Department of Home Affairs visa pages, the Study Assist eligibility rules and the Services Australia waiting-period rules.

Once the grant letter arrives, these are the first five things to do:

1. Read the grant letter. It gives the visa grant number, the start date and any conditions. Check the same details in VEVO.
2. Enrol in Medicare with Services Australia, if you have not already done so on the 820 or 309.
3. Tell the Department about any change in circumstances, such as a new address, a new passport or a birth.
4. Note your second-stage date if you hold an 820 or 309. It is 2 years after the date you lodged, and you can see your lodgement date in ImmiAccount.
5. Note your travel facility expiry if you hold an 801 or 100. It is 5 years from the grant date and shows in VEVO.

Is a partner visa permanent residence?

The first stage is not and the second stage is. The 820 and 309 are temporary visas that last until the permanent application is decided. The 801 and 100 are permanent visas. What permanent residence gives you, and how the second stage is decided, is set out on the partner visa subclass 801 page.

Can you work on a partner visa?

Yes. The Department states that the 820, 309, 801 and 100 all carry full work rights and protection under Australian workplace law from the grant date. The page on partner visa work and study rights covers the jobs still closed to non-citizens and how work rights relate to your earlier bridging visa.

Can you get Medicare on a partner visa?

An 820 or 309 holder can apply for access to Medicare, and an 801 or 100 holder has access as a permanent resident, as the Department's visa pages state. How to enrol is set out on the page on Medicare on a partner visa.

Can you travel overseas after your partner visa is granted?

Yes, and the rule depends on the stage you hold.

Travel on a temporary subclass 820 or provisional subclass 309

• You can leave and return as many times as you want while you hold the visa.
• A 309 holder who is outside Australia when the visa is granted must first enter Australia by the "first entry, arrive by" date on the grant letter.
• A New Zealand passport holder must tell the border officer that they hold a partner visa and do not want a Special Category visa (subclass 444), which the Department warns would override it.

The five-year travel facility on a permanent subclass 801 or subclass 100

You can travel in and out as many times as you want for 5 years from the date the 801 or 100 was granted. After that date, your permanent residence continues, but to come back into Australia as a permanent resident you need a new visa or citizenship. The instrument that renews the facility is covered on the page about the Resident Return visa after a partner visa.

What happens if you are outside Australia when the second stage is decided

• The Department states that you can be in or outside Australia when it decides the 801 or 100.
• If a 100 is granted while you are outside Australia, the grant letter sets a first entry date for arrival.
• For citizenship, your permanent residence starts on the grant date if you were in Australia, or on the day you first entered Australia on the visa if you were not.

What can you study on a partner visa, and what do you pay?

You can study on any of the four visas without a student visa. The fee position changes at the permanent stage, as the page on partner visa work and study rights explains. University fees and loans are covered on the page on partner visa and HECS-HELP, and free English classes on the page on AMEP for partner visa holders.

Can you claim Centrelink payments on a partner visa?

Some, with a waiting period. Services Australia sets a newly arrived resident's waiting period of up to 4 years for most payments to people who got a permanent or partner provisional visa on or after 1 January 2019, and 820 and 309 holders can get only a few family payments and concessions. The payment-by-payment detail is on the page on Centrelink payments on a partner visa. Disability support through the NDIS turns on permanent residence rather than a waiting period, as the page on NDIS eligibility on a partner visa explains.

What are your obligations after the partner visa grant?

Both stages carry duties, and most of them continue until the permanent visa is decided.

• Tell the Department about changes. Section 104 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) requires an applicant to report changes that make an answer on the application incorrect. Form 1022, Notification of changes in circumstances, is the Department's form for this, and ImmiAccount handles many updates.
• Tell the Department if the relationship ends. An 820 or 309 holder may need to complete the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount.
• Do not take another visa. The Department warns that an 820 holder who is granted any other visa is no longer eligible for the 801.
• Comply with any visa condition shown on the grant letter and in VEVO.

When is the subclass 801 or 100 stage assessed?

Two years after the date you lodged the combined application, not 2 years after the 820 or 309 was granted. The Department states that the processing time for the permanent visa "starts from the date of eligibility", which is that 2-year date. If you lodged on 15 March 2023, you became eligible for assessment on 15 March 2025, however late the 820 was granted. Some applicants in a long-term relationship can be granted the permanent stage sooner, as the partner visa subclass 801 page explains.

When can you apply for Australian citizenship after a partner visa?

Once you hold the 801 or 100 and meet both residence tests in s 22 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth). You need 4 years living in Australia on a valid visa, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident, and whichever date comes later is the one that governs. The worked dates are on the page on Australian citizenship after a partner visa.

What happens if the relationship ends after the partner visa grant?

It depends on which stage you hold. The criteria for the 801 and the 100 require you to still be the spouse or de facto partner of your sponsor when the permanent visa is decided, apart from exceptions for family violence, the sponsor's death and shared children. Once the 801 or 100 is granted, no criterion requires the relationship to continue. An 820 or 309 holder whose relationship ends is in a different position and should tell the Department. Applying these rules to your own circumstances is immigration assistance, which ss 276 and 280 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) restrict to registered migration agents and Australian legal practitioners.

Questions about life after a partner visa grant

Do you get a physical visa label?

No. The visa is linked to your passport electronically. VEVO shows the grant, the conditions and the travel facility to you, an employer or a bank.

Can you sponsor your parents?

The Department lists sponsoring eligible family members as a right of the 801 and the 100. Each family visa has its own criteria, and the 820 and 309 carry no such right.

Can you vote?

No. The Australian Electoral Commission lists Australian citizenship as a condition of enrolling to vote, so a partner visa holder votes only after becoming a citizen.

Does the visa expire?

The 820 and 309 last until the permanent application is decided or withdrawn. The 801 and 100 do not expire, and only their 5-year travel facility ends.

Can you change your name on the visa?

Yes. Tell the Department about the new name, with evidence such as a marriage certificate, so that your visa record matches your passport. If you also get a new passport, update the passport details too, or the digital visa will not link to it.

Work, study and citizenship after a partner visa

• The permanent stage, what it gives you and how it is decided: partner visa subclass 801.
• The jobs and courses open to you on each subclass are covered on the work and study rights page linked above.
• The two residence tests, with worked dates: Australian citizenship after a partner visa.
• The full guide, from lodging to the permanent grant: Australian partner visa.

Most problems after the grant come from dates and changes of circumstance: a missed report, a trip past the travel facility, or a relationship that ends before the permanent stage. If any of these applies to you, an application or notification prepared by a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner is more likely to succeed, because they read your grant letter against the regulations and catch a problem before the Department does. No adviser can guarantee a grant.

Questions people ask

What happens after a partner visa 801 is granted?

You become an Australian permanent resident on the grant date. You can live, work and study in Australia indefinitely, access Medicare, sponsor eligible family members and travel in and out for 5 years from the grant date. Your 12 months as a permanent resident for citizenship also starts on that date if you were in Australia when the visa was granted.

What is stage 2 of the partner visa in Australia?

Stage 2 is the permanent visa, the subclass 801 onshore or the subclass 100 offshore. You apply for both stages at once and pay once. The Department considers the permanent stage 2 years after the date you lodged the combined application, not 2 years after the temporary visa was granted.

Is a partner visa permanent residency?

Only the second stage is. The subclass 820 and subclass 309 are temporary visas. The subclass 801 and subclass 100 are permanent visas, and a holder is an Australian permanent resident from the grant date.

Can I travel overseas once my partner visa is granted?

Yes. A subclass 820 or 309 holder can travel in and out of Australia as many times as they want while they hold the visa. A subclass 801 or 100 holder can travel as many times as they want for 5 years from the grant date, after which re-entering as a permanent resident needs a Resident Return visa or Australian citizenship.

Do I get a visa label in my passport?

No. Australian visas are digital and are linked to your passport, so there is no label. You and your employer can confirm the visa, its conditions and its travel facility through Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO).

Sources

Primary sources this page was checked against on 23 September 2026.

1. Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 801) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
2. Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 100) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
3. Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 820) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
4. Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 309) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
5. Form 1022, Notification of changes in circumstances immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
6. Migration Act 1958 (Cth), Federal Register of Legislation www.legislation.gov.au