Partner Visa Cost in Australia

You pay that charge once, and it covers both stages. The second instalment for a partner visa is nil, not A$2,065. The table below explains where that figure comes from. Every figure on this page is dated and sourced. Charges were verified on 23 September 2026 against the Department of Home Affairs current visa pricing table and Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth).

How much does a partner visa cost in Australia?

A partner visa costs A$11,710 for the main applicant as at 23 September 2026. Each person you include adds to that, and a few applicants pay a reduced charge. The Department's pages render prices through a script, so its figures are restated here in full.

The charge is the same whether you apply from inside Australia (subclass 820 and 801) or from outside it (subclass 309 and 100). The offshore details sit on the subclass 309 page.

What does the visa application charge cover?

The charge covers both stages of the visa. The subclass 820 and 801 are one application, and item 1214C of Schedule 1 sets a nil charge for the subclass 820, which must be applied for at the same time as the subclass 801. The whole charge is collected under item 1124B, the subclass 801 item. The offshore pair works the same way under items 1220A and 1129. The Department's own subclass 801 page says you paid for the permanent visa when you applied for both visas. You are not billed again when the permanent stage is assessed.

The Department sets the price by the date it receives the application, not the date you start filling it in. If a price rise falls in between, you pay the new charge.

What does each extra person on the application cost?

The sponsor pays no charge. No item in Schedule 1 prices a partner visa sponsorship, and the Department's pricing table lists no sponsorship fee for partner visas. The charge is paid once, at lodgement.

What is the second instalment, and who has to pay it?

Nobody pays a second instalment on a partner visa. Items 1124B(2)(b), 1129(2)(b) and 1215(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994 each say the second instalment "is nil", for the onshore partner visa, the offshore partner visa and the Prospective Marriage visa.

The A$2,065 figure that circulates comes from the Department's own pricing table, where it appears as a note against the Parent visa (subclass 103), the Aged Parent visa (subclass 804), the Remaining Relative visas (subclasses 115 and 835) and the Aged Dependent Relative visas (subclasses 114 and 838). It is not attached to any partner visa row. The Migration Act 1958 (Cth) does define functional English in s 5(2), but the partner visa charge items contain no English-based charge. If a page tells you that you owe a second partner visa payment before grant, check it against Schedule 1.

Can you pay a partner visa in instalments?

No. The whole charge is the first instalment, and it is payable when the application is made. The Regulations give no payment plan. If a card payment is reversed or cancelled, the Department warns that the application may become invalid and you may owe a debt to the Commonwealth.

What do medicals, police checks, translations and biometrics cost?

The Department's Visa Pricing Estimator states that it does not include other costs relating to your visa. Those costs are set by clinics, police forces and translators, not by the Department, so this page gives only the figures a government source publishes.

Police certificates and health results each last 12 months for immigration purposes, so check the partner visa processing time before you arrange them. An expired certificate may have to be obtained and paid for again.

What does a partner visa cost in total?

Each scenario below adds up only figures a government source publishes, as at 23 September 2026. Medicals, overseas police certificates and translations are left out because no government source prices them. Add your own quotes for those.

Scenario A: one applicant, onshore, no children, pays by Visa card

Scenario B: one applicant and one child under 18, pays by PayPal

Scenario C: a former subclass 300 holder, onshore, who married the sponsor after the subclass 300 ended and holds no substantive visa, pays by Visa card

To build your own total, add up the main applicant charge, A$5,860 for each adult you include, A$2,935 for each child, any card surcharge, and the police checks, medicals and translations you are quoted. The second instalment adds nothing. The order in which these costs fall due is on the page about how to apply for a partner visa.

Who pays less?

Current subclass 300 holders

A Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) holder who has married the person named in that application, and applies onshore to stay permanently, pays A$1,955 under item 1124B(2)(a)(ix). With a passport from a Pacific-regional country, the charge is A$1,600. The Department's note on the subclass 300 row says the lower charge applies if you apply before your subclass 300 ends.

Former subclass 300 holders

An applicant who entered Australia on a subclass 300, stopped holding it after marrying the sponsor, and holds no substantive visa when applying pays A$2,475 under item 1124B(2)(a)(xiii), or A$2,030 with a Pacific-regional passport. The Department's pricing table lists this as "Ceased Prospective Marriage visa".

Pacific Island and Timor-Leste passport holders

Since 1 July 2026 a main applicant holding a valid passport from a Pacific-regional country pays A$9,600. Each additional applicant aged 18 or over pays A$4,805, and each one under 18 pays A$2,405. Regulation 1.03 lists the countries as the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Is there a concession for financial hardship?

No. Item 1124B and item 1129 contain no reduction or waiver for financial hardship. The only reduced charges are the ones listed above.

Is the charge refunded if your partner visa is refused or withdrawn?

No. The Department's refund page says it will not refund the charge because an application was refused or unsuccessful, or because you changed your mind. It explains that the fee pays for the Department to assess and validate the application.

Regulation 2.12F of the Migration Regulations 1994 does require a refund when:

• the application was unnecessary when it was made
• the application was made because of a mistake by the Department
• the applicant died before a decision was made.

The Department may also refund the charge if you made the application by mistake, withdraw it in writing and ask for a refund. There is no standard timeframe for refund decisions, according to the Department's Partner Visa FAQs.

When does the partner visa charge change, and what has it been?

The charge has been changed by amending regulations that took effect on 1 July in each of the last four years. Each row below was read from the compilation of the Migration Regulations 1994 in force on that date.

Charges verified 23 September 2026. This page is re-checked every 1 July and whenever an amending instrument commences. A dated record of each change is kept in the site's changelog.

What review and professional help cost

If the visa is refused and the decision is reviewable, the Administrative Review Tribunal charges an application fee. Regulation 4.13(1) of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets a base fee of A$3,496, and reg 4.13A increases it each 1 July from 1 July 2025 in line with the Consumer Price Index, so check the current figure on the Tribunal's website. The fee is halved if the Tribunal's Principal Registrar accepts that paying it would cause financial hardship (reg 4.13(4)). Half is refunded if the Tribunal sets the decision aside or sends it back to the Department (reg 4.14). The deadlines are covered on the page about a partner visa refused.

Fees for professional help are not set by law. Only a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner may be paid for immigration assistance under ss 276 and 280 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). This site does not rank, recommend or refer to any provider. How fees are agreed, and how to check a practitioner, is on the page about a migration agent for a partner visa.

An application prepared by a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner is more likely to succeed. The charge is not refunded if the visa is refused, so one missed criterion or one missing document can cost you the full A$11,710. A practitioner checks every criterion before you pay.

If you want to know when a charge last moved, the partner visa changes page records each change with its instrument. To see which subclass applies to you, start with the Australian partner visa overview.

Questions people ask

How much does a partner visa cost in Australia?

As at 23 September 2026 the visa application charge is A$11,710 for the main applicant, A$5,860 for each additional applicant aged 18 or over and A$2,935 for each additional applicant under 18. The charge has applied since 1 July 2026 and covers both the temporary and the permanent stage.

Is there a second instalment for a partner visa?

No. Schedule 1 of the Migration Regulations 1994 sets the second instalment at nil for the onshore and offshore partner visas and for the Prospective Marriage visa. The A$2,065 second instalment on the Department's pricing table belongs to parent and other family visas, not to partner visas.

Can I pay a partner visa in instalments?

No. The whole charge is payable when you lodge the application, and the Regulations provide no payment plan for it. The charge for each additional applicant is paid at the same time as the main applicant's charge.

How much money do I need to sponsor my spouse to Australia?

The sponsor pays no separate sponsorship fee for a partner visa. The visa application charge is paid once, at lodgement, and there is no second payment before grant.

Do you get the partner visa fee back if the visa is refused?

No. The Department states that it does not refund the charge because an application is refused or because the applicant changes their mind. A refund is made only in narrow circumstances set out in regulation 2.12F of the Migration Regulations 1994, such as an application made because of a Department mistake or the death of the applicant before a decision.

Will the partner visa fee increase?

It rose on 1 July 2026, from A$9,365 to A$11,710 for the main applicant. The charge has changed on 1 July in each of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, so the next check date is 1 July 2027.

Sources

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

1. Department of Home Affairs, Current visa pricing table immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
2. Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), Schedule 1, Federal Register of Legislation www.legislation.gov.au
3. Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026 www.legislation.gov.au
4. Department of Home Affairs, Getting a refund immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
5. Department of Home Affairs, Surcharges immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
6. Australian Federal Police, National police checks www.afp.gov.au