Waiting for a Partner Visa Decision
An onshore partner visa (subclass 820) took a median of 23 months to decide in the Department's processing times guide updated on 4 September 2026, the Bridging visa A that covers you is granted with a valid onshore application but comes into effect only when your current visa ends, health and police requests arrive when the Department asks rather than in a published month, and the second-stage eligibility date falls 2 years after lodgement under cl 801.221 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth).
Offshore, you wait outside Australia with no bridging visa, and the same two-year clock runs from lodgement. Each step below names what triggers it, not just when it happens, because the months move with the queue and the triggers do not. This timeline was checked against the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) and the Department of Home Affairs pages on 23 September 2026.
What happens after you lodge a partner visa, month by month
The Department publishes processing times, not a timeline. Where it publishes no timing for a step, the table says so rather than guessing.
| Stage | What triggers it | Typical month from lodgement | What you must do | What happens if you do nothing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Lodgement, charge paid | You lodge the 820 and 801 in ImmiAccount while in Australia and pay from A$11,710 (most applicants, as at 23 September 2026) | Month 0 | Attach what you have; your sponsor lodges the sponsorship form | No application exists | Home Affairs, subclass 820 page |
| 2. Bridging visa A granted (onshore only) | A valid onshore application made while you hold a substantive visa | With the application; no published processing time | Follow your current visa's conditions until it ends | It comes into effect when your visa ends | Sch 2 cl 010.511, Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) |
| 3. Acknowledgement | The Department receives the application | Not published | Record your lodgement date and application ID | Nothing | Home Affairs, subclass 820 page |
| 4. Health examinations | "Actions required" in ImmiAccount, or a request | Not published | Attend; results last 12 months | The health requirement cannot be shown to be met | Home Affairs, Health requirement |
| 5. Police certificates | A request, or "Actions required" | Not published | Supply certificates; valid 12 months from issue | The Department may decide on what it holds | Home Affairs, subclass 820 page |
| 6. Biometrics, where required | "Actions required" lists biometric collection | Not published | Attend the collection | No consequence published | Home Affairs, After you apply |
| 7. Request under s 56 | The Department invites you to give more information | Any time; not published | Respond within the letter's period, usually 28 days (reg 2.15) | The Department may decide on what it holds (s 62) | Migration Act 1958 (Cth) ss 56, 62 |
| 8. Sponsorship assessment | The sponsorship form and sponsor police certificates | Not published | Your sponsor supplies what is asked | No grant without an approved sponsor | Home Affairs, subclass 820 page |
| 9. Subclass 820 decided | The Department decides the temporary visa | Median 23 months; 90% within 29 (guide updated 4 September 2026) | Read the grant letter | Nothing | Home Affairs processing times guide |
| 10. Two-year eligibility date | Two years pass since lodgement | Month 24 | Work out the date now | Nothing; it is a date | Sch 2 cl 801.221(2)(d) |
| 11. Stage-two documents | You become eligible; no letter starts it | From month 24 | Submit the "Stage 2" form in ImmiAccount | The assessment waits for you | Home Affairs, Partner Visa FAQs |
| 12. Subclass 801 decided | Assessment from the eligibility date | Median 3 months after the eligibility date; 90% within 17 | Answer any request | Grant, refusal or a request | Home Affairs processing times guide |
For an offshore subclass 309 there is no stage 2, and the same guide gives a median of 21 months, with 90% decided within 39 months.
Can you stay in Australia while your partner visa is decided?
Yes, if you applied onshore: Home Affairs says a Bridging visa A was granted if you held a valid substantive visa when you applied, and it starts if that visa expires before the decision. Offshore, the subclass 309 application does not let you remain; a visit needs its own visa, decided on its own merits. See visiting Australia during a 309 partner visa wait.
What bridging visa do you get with an onshore partner visa?
A Bridging visa A (subclass 010), which under cl 010.511 comes into effect when your substantive visa ends and lasts until the partner visa is decided; its conditions are on the page about your bridging visa on an onshore partner visa. An applicant who held no substantive visa at lodgement may instead get a Bridging visa C. Someone who is unlawful may need a Bridging visa E.
What if you are outside Australia while your partner visa is decided?
You wait offshore with no bridging visa. Since 25 November 2023, cl 309.412 of Schedule 2 has let a subclass 309 be granted whether you are in or outside Australia, as long as you are not in immigration clearance.
When does the Department ask for your partner visa health and character documents?
The trigger is a request or the "Actions required" list in ImmiAccount, not a fixed month, and the Department publishes no month for either.
- Health. Section 60 of the Migration Act lets the Department require a medical examination. Results are valid for 12 months. For a significant condition, a Medical Officer of the Commonwealth assesses the results, an extra step with no published timing.
- Character. Police certificates from each country where you spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16, valid for 12 months from issue.
- Timing. Home Affairs advises checking processing times first, because it may ask again if either expires before the decision.
What is a section 56 request on a partner visa application, and what happens if you miss it?
Section 56 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) lets the Department invite you to give more information, and reg 2.15 of the Regulations sets 28 days for an applicant in Australia who receives it in writing. If the time passes, s 62 lets the Department decide the partner visa without it. How to answer is on the page about the partner visa s56 request.
What must you tell the Department while your partner visa is decided?
Section 104 of the Migration Act requires you to tell the Department in writing, as soon as practicable, if a change makes an answer on your application incorrect.
- Contact details and address: in ImmiAccount, where they update straight away.
- A new passport: in ImmiAccount, linked within 3 business days.
- Relationship status: the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount.
- The birth of a child: a dependent child can be added before the decision with Form 1436.
- Anything else that changes an answer: "Update us" in ImmiAccount, or Form 1022, Notification of changes in circumstances.
There is no published list of things you need not report. If an answer you gave is no longer correct, tell the Department.
When is your partner visa two-year eligibility date, and how do you work it out?
Add two years to the day you lodged. Clause 801.221(2)(d) of Schedule 2 requires at least 2 years to have passed since the application was made, and cl 100.221(2)(c) says the same for the subclass 100. Your lodgement date is in ImmiAccount.
For example, a combined 820 and 801 application lodged on 14 March 2025 reaches its eligibility date on 14 March 2027. That is when you can submit the permanent-stage documents.
The two years do not apply if you were already in a long-term partner relationship when you applied (cll 801.221(6A) and 100.221(5)): at least 3 years, or 2 years with a dependent child of you both (reg 1.03). The 820 and 801 can then be granted together. Clause 801.221(7) also lets the Department grant the 801 earlier where the sponsor has died or the relationship ended because of family violence, and cl 100.221(6) covers some sponsors who hold a permanent humanitarian visa.
What is the partner visa stage-two document call, and what does it ask for?
The Department does not send a call. You submit the permanent-stage documents yourself once two years have passed. In ImmiAccount you select "Stage 2 - Permanent Partner Visa Assessment (100, 801)" and use your application ID. The Department asks you not to send them early.
- Your most recent passport pages.
- A Commonwealth statutory declaration from your sponsor about the relationship.
- Relationship evidence since lodgement: finances, household, social life and commitment.
- Police certificates: Australian if not given with the 820, and overseas for any country where you spent 12 months or more since the 820 grant.
- Health examinations again, if the Department asks.
The point is to show the relationship continued through the whole wait.
What can you do while your partner visa is decided?
The Department says partner visa applications can take a long time and that you should update your documents and relationship evidence regularly in ImmiAccount.
- Save joint records (lease, bills, accounts) as they arrive.
- Keep your passport valid and your contact details current.
- Enrol in Medicare if you are eligible; see Medicare on a partner visa.
- Check which visa you hold and its conditions; see checking your partner visa on VEVO.
In this guide's view, a monthly habit of filing new evidence is less work than a two-year search at stage two.
What if something changes while your partner visa is decided?
If you need to travel overseas while your partner visa is undecided
Leaving while a Bridging visa A is in effect ends it, so you need a Bridging visa B first; see how to travel overseas while your partner visa is undecided.
If your partner visa relationship ends
Tell the Department, usually with the Notification of Relationship Cessation form. You may still be eligible, for example after family violence; the relationship-ends page on this site explains the options.
If your partner visa sponsor dies
Complete the Notification of Relationship Cessation form. Clause 820.221(2) covers an applicant who would have stayed in the relationship had the sponsor lived.
If you want to withdraw your partner visa application
Withdraw in ImmiAccount, with a signed statement from each applicant aged 18 or over, and withdraw both subclasses together. A Bridging visa A ends 35 days later (cl 010.511(1)(b)(v)).
If your partner visa is refused
The letter says whether you can seek review at the Administrative Review Tribunal; the refusal page on this site covers the next steps.
How long is the partner visa wait, and where does that number come from?
The figures come from the Department's processing times guide, which covers recently decided applications. The version updated on 4 September 2026 covers decisions to 31 July 2026. The 50th percentile (the median) is the time within which half were decided; the 90th percentile is the time for nine in ten. For the subclass 820 those were 23 and 29 months. Under Ministerial Direction 117, which replaced Direction 102 on 25 July 2026, onshore applications have higher priority than offshore ones. The full series by subclass is on the partner visa processing time page.
Bridging visas, travel and how long your partner visa wait is
- How long the whole wait runs: the partner visa processing time page gives the dated percentiles for every subclass, and shows how to read them against your own lodgement date.
- When your bridging visa starts and what it allows: see your bridging visa on an onshore partner visa.
- Before any trip: how to travel overseas while your partner visa is undecided, with the Bridging visa B, its cost and its travel period.
- The whole process, from choosing a subclass to the permanent grant: the Australian partner visa guide.
How this timeline is kept current: it was read against the legislation and the Department's pages on 23 September 2026, and the processing times come from the guide updated on 4 September 2026. Check the Department's tool before relying on them.
Much of the waiting period turns on deadlines and records: a request answered late, a change not reported, evidence that does not cover the whole two years. A registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner tracks those dates and prepares each response against the criteria, so an application they handle is more likely to succeed. No one can promise a grant.
Questions people ask
Do you get a bridging visa for a partner visa?
If you lodge an onshore subclass 820 and 801 application while holding a substantive visa, you are granted a Bridging visa A with it. That bridging visa comes into effect only when your current visa ends. Offshore subclass 309 applicants do not get a bridging visa, because they wait outside Australia.
Can my partner stay in Australia while waiting for partner visa approval?
An onshore applicant can stay lawfully on their current visa and then on the Bridging visa A until the partner visa is decided. An offshore subclass 309 applicant cannot rely on the partner visa application to stay, and needs a separate visa, such as a visitor visa, for any visit.
Can 820 and 801 be granted together?
Yes, where you were already in a long-term partner relationship with your sponsor when you applied. Under the Migration Regulations 1994 that is a relationship of at least 3 years, or at least 2 years if you have a dependent child together. The two-year wait in clause 801.221 then does not apply.
What is stage 2 of the partner visa in Australia?
Stage 2 is the assessment of the permanent subclass 801 or 100 visa. You become eligible 2 years after you lodged the combined application, and you then submit the permanent-stage documents in ImmiAccount. The Department asks you not to send them before that date.
Why is a partner visa taking so long?
Partner visas are decided in the order Ministerial Direction 117 sets, and the Department warns that applicants may wait longer than expected. In its guide updated on 4 September 2026, 90% of subclass 820 applications were decided within 29 months and 90% of subclass 309 applications within 39 months.
Sources
Primary sources this page was checked against on 23 September 2026.
- Department of Home Affairs, Partner visa (subclass 820) immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
- Department of Home Affairs, Partner Visa Frequently Asked Questions immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
- Department of Home Affairs, Global visa processing times guide immi.homeaffairs.gov.au
- Migration Act 1958 (Cth), Federal Register of Legislation www.legislation.gov.au
- Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth), Federal Register of Legislation www.legislation.gov.au