In Depth Guide to the 820 & 309 partner visa for Australia

*First, I should say that while this advice for the 820 partner visa will hopefully be helpful, I am not an expert, so I would advise to check the government website for the latest updates or talk to a solicitor for specific cases.

Applying for the 820 Partner visa (onshore) or 309 (offshore) is a hugely stressful and painfully long process. It took me around 6 months from the time of me and my partner deciding to do the visa, to applying. I’m sure you could gather the evidence in less time but do not underestimate how long it takes!

I really wanted to help other couples through the process, as it definitely would have been helpful if I’d had all the advice in one place!

I have written a lengthy and detailed guide for everything you need to know in regards to how to gather your evidence, what evidence you will need (and what evidence categories I used for each upload), how to apply, tips on tools to make PDF files fit the upload limit, how the entire process works and the pressure it can put on your relationship.

This is a useful post you can save to your bookmarks and keep coming back whilst gathering your evidence!

I was forever searching on forums, the government website and other blog posts for help with my evidence and for answers to questions about the whole thing. There is much conflicting information on the government booklet PDF and what it says on the website, as they have not updated some of the information. This leads to confusion for couples applying!

This guide should give you a lot of answers for the 820 partner visa, and if there is anything I have missed that I can help with, feel free to send me a message via the contact page.

A bit about me and my partner: I met my partner whilst I was working as a barista on an Australian working holiday visa. He used to come in for a coffee and we would have a little chat each time. After finding out I only had 3 weeks left in Oz, he asked me out and we spent every day together before I left.

Over the 18 months before we applied for the 820 partner visa we had a long distance relationship, speaking for hours over Facebook each day. As hard as this was I do believe it made us stronger and work harder at our relationship.

We are pleased to say out partner visa was granted just 16 months after applying- I was expecting longer so was happy with that!

Let’s start shall we?!…

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FAQ

Evidence Categories

Tips for Gathering Evidence

Practical Tips: How to

Applying

Mistakes

FAQ

820/801 vs 309/100 Partner Visa? What’s the difference?

The Subclass 820 Partner visa (temporary) is for couples who apply onshore, i.e. in Australia. The average process time for this visa is 21-28 months (this is updated each month on the gov website), which is generally longer than applying offshore. However, most applicants for the 820 visa will be issued with a bridging visa A, allowing you to stay and work in Australia lawfully, whilst they make a decision on your visa. This means you can live together as a couple during the time it takes them to grant the visa.

The Subclass 309 Partner visa (provisional) is exactly the same visa, except you are applying offshore, meaning the applicant (person who is moving to Australia) will apply in their home country. The processing times for the 309 visa are a bit shorter at 15-20 months. You cannot stay and work in Australia whilst a decision is being made but can visit your partner on a tourist visa as many times as you want (you won’t be able to work on this visa though).

Apart from not being able to work/live in Australia on the 309 visa processing time, everything else like cost/ evidence you need is the same. Both visas are in 2 parts. The first stage is temporary (either 820 or 309), if this is granted then after 2 years you can apply for the second part. The second stage is the permanent visa and won’t require any further cost. The 820 will change to the 801 permanent partner visa and the 309 will change to the 100 permanent partner visa.

Bridging Visa- What is it?

Most applicants when applying onshore will receive a bridging visa A (BVA), whilst a decision is being made on your application. This will allow you to lawfully live and work in Australia and will only come into effect once your current visa expires. It’s basically ‘bridging the gap’ between when your current visa expires and the time it takes for you partner visa to be granted. The BVA does not allow you to travel so if you need to fly out of Australia you will have to apply for a bridging visa B (BVB).

The BVB costs around $150 and you will have to apply for it via your Immi account. You will also need to upload evidence to show a good reason for needing to leave Australia (like a wedding or visiting family). The BVB can only be applied for once your BVA has come into effect. It is only valid for the dates you set (or what they grant you). Both visa’s have the same work rights. Once back in Australia, as soon as your BVB expires it will go back to the BVA and you won’t be able to travel.

What is the upload limit and file size for 820/309 partner visa?

You get 100 upload slots. When you apply, you will fill in one application for the applicant and a separate application for the sponsor (your Australian partner). Both applications will receive 100 uploads, although most evidence will be on the applicant’s submission.

You get an upload limit of 500kb for identity documents and 5mb for everything else. I know what your thinking- that’s small! And yes it’s a pain but I will show you how get everything within the upload limit below.

Do documents have to be certified?

No. You can only apply for the 820/309 partner visa online. In the past you could apply by post, which is why you would have needed identity documents to be certified but all you need now is a good quality colour scan.

I spent ages researching this as on the website it says a colour scan is fine but on forms like Form 888 it still says ‘all documents need to be certified’. This confused me but it’s simply because they have not updated the forms from when you could apply by post. Only take the information that is on the official website rather than the PDF booklet.

What about partner statements?

Some people choose to write their statements as statutory declarations and others just on a blank document. Me and my partner both wrote individual statements on the development of our relationship, which we signed and dated. These should be about 2-4 pages as a guide but it depends totally on yourself.

We also did joint statements for the 4 evidence categories and signed and dated them both together. These were just 1 page each. We printed our statements, signed them and scanned them back into a PDF file.

The main aim of the 820/309 partner visa

What the case officers are looking for is genuine and ongoing couples. Honesty really is the best policy here. If you are missing evidence for a certain category, then explain why. As long as there is an explanation to show why you don’t have a particular evidence, that is much better than lying or faking something.

Pressure on Relationship

Applying for the 820 or 309 partner visa can be taxing on any relationship and it can definitely put a strain on things. I felt it did put quite a lot of pressure on my relationship as I was the one gathering all the evidence, due to my partner being extremely busy with work.

My advice would be to take your time, communicate with each other and other try to both help gather evidence if you can. Help each other out and remember the reason why you are doing this in the first place! All the time and effort should hopefully be worth it!

When should I do my health/ police checks?

This is entirely up to you. I have heard that if you submit a ‘Decision Ready’ application it might be processed faster. This is when you have everything before you apply, including police certificates and health assessments. I didn’t do this as I was worried they still might run out before they got to our case. If this happens you will have to pay again for health/police checks.

What I believe most people do is wait until their case officer asks you to submit your health/police checks. It seems that after these are requested and then submitted, a decision on your 820/309 visa will be made pretty soon after.

I ended up doing mine 16 months after applying. I wasn’t assigned a case officer, but it was only a week or so after I submitted my police and health checks (and my partners police check) that I was granted the 820 partner visa!

What forms do I need to submit?

There is a lot of confusion about the forms you need as again, a lot of the information in the government booklet is outdated. The applicant used to have to fill out Form 47sp but now this is not required as it is basically the same questions they ask you whilst you are applying. It’s a good idea to look at the form to see which answers you will need.

The applicant will need to upload Form 80 (some say this is not needed but it is listed on the website so I filled it out). This is a massive form to fill in, requiring your 10 year travel history, employment and details of all your family members. Make sure to get on this early- I had to skim through old emails, working out details of my past expired passport and all the dates I had travelled- such a pain as I’ve been to a few places haha!

The sponsor only really needs to upload Form 40sp if you are using the same application on your Immi account. If you submit a ‘new application’ on your Immi account for ‘Sponsor for a partner to migrate to Australia’, then the questions they ask here are the same as Form 40sp so it is not needed.

Form 40sp only shows as an evidence type for people who do not know you need to start a new application for the sponsor. I uploaded it anyway, just as there is some confusion and my upload had my partners signature at the bottom.

* I show you how to start a new application for the sponsor below!

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Evidence Categories for the 820 partner visa (or 309)

Your case officer will be looking at evidence from 4 main categories: Financial, Household, Social and Commitment. They place more value on the financial and household aspect as they are looking for couples who are genuinely living together, sharing a life together and planning for the future etc. If you have little evidence for a category make sure you explain why and give examples.

There is a 12-month living together requirement which is needed but this can be overcome by registering your relationship as a civil partnership (this is what I did as we had not lived together for 12 months).

Financial Evidence

Joint bank statements (or showing transactions between you both)
Mortgage lease
Evidence you have purchased things together, car, house, pet, etc
Shared expenditure for holidays taken together
Statement on finances, if you have supported each other financially, etc

Household Evidence

Joint utility bills
Evidence you both own your home together
Joint mail/ mail with same address
Statement on how household works

Social Evidence

Cards, gifts, letters sent to each other
Joint invites for weddings, parties
Receipts for social things together
Photos
Facebook messages during time spent apart
Joint memberships for gym, clubs, etc
Statement on what you do together
Evidence other people know of your relationship (social media)

Commitment Evidence

Proof you live together (or civil partnership certificate)
Statement on your commitment, plans for future, etc
Evidence of keeping on contact whilst apart
Names on each others super account or wills
Emergency contacts for each other with Medicare

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Gathering Evidence

Gathering Evidence Tip 1: Start Gathering Partner Evidence Early!

The biggest thing I will say is start gathering together your evidence as soon as you decide the 820/309 visa is the way to go. I can’t even begin to explain how long it will take to get everything together so it pays to do it well.

I had to scroll through hundreds of thousands of Facebook & Facetime messages, carefully checking which conversations ‘stood out’. This was a hugely frustrating process. As was finding old bank statements showing payments we had sent to each other, old receipts from activities and finding the exact dates of when we met, when we were first introduced to each other parents, etc. Get on top of it asap and it will make your life easier- give yourself plenty of time.

Gathering Evidence Tip 2: Organise, Organise, Organise!

I became overwhelmed with the number of photos, screenshots, scans and forms I had on my computer. It really helped to put everything into individual folders, and folders within folders! I had folders for each of the evidence categories so I knew what was going where, as well as folders for my form 888’s, my identity documents and statements. Honestly, it clears your mind!

Gathering Evidence Tip 3: Name file names appropriately

Your case officer will see the file name of the document you upload. Make sure it is as clear as it can be- ‘Evidence of joint expenditure on holiday’ is much better than ‘mike, sue holiday’ for example.

Gathering Evidence Tip 4: Do your research & ask for help

I did soooo much reading online and searched for hours making sure I was prepared for the process and what to expect. I found that www.australiaforum.com and www.expatforum.com were really helpful on answering questions I had about all sorts of things. Some of the information is dated though so you can always check by calling up immigration, who are quite helpful.

Gathering Evidence Tip 5: Ask people to fill in form 888’s in good time

As much as you like to think your friends and relatives would be super speedy and helpful in completing their statements for the Form 888, it may take longer than you think. People are super busy these days and asking someone to write a statement, have it witnessed by a professional and send you their passport scan can take some time! Some of the people I asked did it straight away and others took weeks so make sure you do not leave it to the last minute.

*Form 888’s do not have to be certified or come with a certified passport. YOU DO need to have them witnessed as the person is signing the form and include a colour scan of their passport.

Gathering Evidence Tip 6: Make sure dates add up

This is very important as your case officer will check to see if dates and times match up in your statements and evidence. It doesnt look good if one person says you met in October and the other person says December. Make sure you know when you first met, had your fist date, moved in together, met each others family for the first time, etc.

Gathering Evidence Tip 7: Triple check everything

Like in the previous tip, make sure dates add up across all your evidence. Check that place names and accounts of how you met are the same. This is not to say your statements need to be identical but make sure the basics are there. Check your statements for spelling mistakes and that they include everything you think is needed.

Make sure all documents are within the upload limit. Look at your evidence as a whole and try to imagine you are the case officer with no knowledge of your relationship. Is it clear to understand?

Gathering Evidence Tip 8: Work out what will go where

When you upload your evidence, you will be asked for a document type and an evidence category. I have included a screenshot of this further down this post. It’s a good idea to work out what evidence will go under which category. I made a spreadsheet in excel with everything we were going to upload. This allowed me to see all our evidence in one place, where it will go and how many spaces it will fill up.

Gathering Evidence Tip 9: Group Evidence into 1 document

To make it easier and less of a pain for your case officer, group similar evidence and merge it into one PDF document. Instead of uploading ten separate images of the two of you together, put that all into one file.

For Example, I grouped all the cards we had sent to each other in one file for social evidence and for financial evidence, all the bank statements showing money transfers between us in another file.

*I show you how make everything fit into one file below!

Gathering Evidence Tip 10: Annotate everything!

Use a photo editing software (like adobe or Canva) to annotate your PDFs. Explain who is in the photo, where you are, what this transaction is for, the reason why you have scanned in that particular receipt and dates of when the evidence is for. You can also refer to evidence in your statements for example, in my social statement I might put ‘see Social Evidence 1- photos’. It just backs up what you are saying and makes everything clear and easy to understand.

Gathering Evidence Tip 11: PREPARE

Wait until you are totally ready to submit your application. You do not get your money back if it is refused and at over $7000 you want to get it right. If you have not been together long, think about if it’s the right time to go through the process. If you have not lived together, decide if it’s worth waiting longer to allow you to visit each other for longer periods so you have some more evidence.

If you upload some evidence and then wait a few months to submit more, your application might be rejected if they decide to look at it quickly. They will not tell you what evidence you need, it will just be refused. Wait until you are totally ready and have a good amount of evidence to give yourselves the best chance.

Gathering Evidence Tip 12: Leave space for Further Evidence

Make sure to leave room in your 100 uploads for further evidence liked your police/ health checks if you have not yet submitted them.

It’s also a good idea to keep on collecting evidence, even after your application has been received. Upload more evidence every 2-4 months to keep your application updated and show your continuing relationship. Perhaps there is a wedding you both attending after you applied, or maybe you’re buying a house together, etc. Upload further important evidence as it comes in- it will only make your application stronger.

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Practical Tips

How to: Turn your evidence into a PDF

I only have the free Word app so I could not save my Word documents as a PDF (if you have a paid version you can do this). After struggling to scan in my documents and merge everything together I turned to Canva. This is free online software that myself and many other travel bloggers use to make our pin graphics for Pinterest! And it turned out to be a huge lifesaver!

Once on Canva, I clicked on ‘A4 blank document’ and uploaded my images and scans for each of my evidence uploads. BEFORE you upload your images I would resize them and make them smaller. This makes a huge difference. I originally put about 40 images onto a blank document in Canva and saved it and it was well over 10mb eek! Once I resized them to around 600px x 400px the final PDF file size was much lower.

You can also click ‘save as PDF standard’ on Canva and it will compress it slightly. Just make sure that your images and text, once resized is still legible and clear.

How To: Make Form 888 statements into PDFs (using Canva)

1. I scanned the 6 Form 888’s I had from friends and family into the computer, then resized them smaller (you can use paint, Lightroom or an online file compressor).
2. I uploaded the Form 888’s scans from everybody into Canva (including the first page and blank page 2 of the form).
3. In Canva you can download selected pages. To download each person’s statement into separate Form 888 PDFs, I selected page 1 & 2 for everybody (the info page and blank page) and then the separate pages for each individual statement. This meant I did not have to scan in the Form 888 multiple times for each person!

For Financial evidence I had images of our bank statements and used Canva to annotate, highlight and circle various transactions. For our photos I resized them smaller, before uploading to Canva and then put 3-4 photos on a page with writing next to it explaining where and when it was taken.

How to: Fit files under 5mb

The upload limit quickly fills up when you are making a PDF document with multiple images. There are lots of free websites which you can use compress your documents down (just do a quick google search). These are very helpful, quick and easy. Like I said above, reducing the size of your images, screenshots and scans before putting them into a PDF works so well. Just make sure you can still read the information.

*Play around with how far you can resize each image so that its still clear- then you can fit more in your document!

How to: Merge the signature page of Form 80 back into the PDF

There are many different websites that allow you to do this online. I found www.smallpdf.com to be very helpful (be aware you can only do 2 free things per hour but that’s not too much of a problem).

Using smallpdf.com:

1. Fill in Form 80 online and save to computer. Print out just the signature page.
2. After signing it, scan it back into the computer.
3. Go to smallpdf.com and click on ‘Merge’.
4. Upload the Form 80 PDF and the signature page and click merge, then download.
5. The signature page will probably be in the wrong order, plus there will still be the unsigned signature page in the merged PDF- you need to change this!
6. Click on ‘Delete PDF pages’ and then re-upload your newly merged PDF.
7. It will show all the pages in the merged PDF, scroll down and delete the blank, unsigned signature page, then find the page you signed and scanned in.
8. Click and drag this to the correct order (it should be the second to last page but check the question number to make sure).
9. Download this document and you have your PDF!

How To: Scroll up to old Facebook messages (without scrolling)

If you’re like me and have been in a long distance relationship or have been separated for long periods of time, then you will need evidence of contact while apart. It’s also good to screenshot your very first messages to each other to verify how you met, how long you have known each other, or when you first exchanged numbers, etc.

This took me a while to find out how to do online but I finally found a way that works! It sounds complicated but it’s pretty easy once you read the steps. Check out the screenshots for help too.

1. On your computer, log into the mobile version of Facebook. To do this put ‘m’ before facebook. https://m.facebook.com
2. Click on messages to bring it up full (not the small chat box) & click the person whose messages you want to see.
3. Right click on ‘see older messages’ and open in new tab.
4. In the URL you will see something like ‘message_timestamp=’ and then a long number (this is the number you will highlight and replace).
5. Go to www.timestampconvert.com
6. On the left side put in the date of when you want to see the messages for and click convert.
7. You are looking for the milliseconds (second one down). Copy this number.
8. Go back to Facebook and replace the original number in the URL after ‘timestamp=’ with the new number.
9. Click enter and reload the page. It should take you to your older messages from the date you typed in.

Applying for the 820 partner visa

Once you have everything ready- statements gone over, dates checked, file size limits are ok, it will be time to submit- AHH!! This is an exciting time and also stressful but if you have prepared well you will be ready for it.

The process took much longer than I had expected, even though I had all the answers ready it took 5-6 hours answering questions, uploading each document individually, then applying for my bridging visa B.

The steps to applying for the 820 partner visa (or 309):

1. First log in to your Immi account or create an account.
2. Click ‘new application’ in the top left corner.
3. Click on ‘Stage 1 – Partner or Prospective Marriage Visa (300,309/100,820/801)’. This is the main application and the person moving to Australia will fill out the questions.
4. Double check answers and pay the fee.
5. Note down TRN (transaction reference number) You will need this for the sponsors application.
6. You can start uploading evidence now. I went straight to the next step and started the sponsors application, before uploading evidence.
7. Click again on ‘new application’ and then on ‘Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia (300,309/100,820/801)’. This is for the sponsor to fill out, you will need the TRN number from the main application.
8. Make sure answers are correct and hit submit.

*You can upload 100 files to both applications, but I chose to put most of our evidence on the main application.

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What I uploaded to each evidence category

My plan that I had for each of the evidence labels went a bit wrong as I discovered they did not have a slot for social evidence. I have read that some people didn’t have this at first but it showed up later on- not sure why!

So anything that didn’t fit into a definite category I just uploaded to ‘other’ and clearly stated what it was. I only uploaded a few documents to my partners application (the sponsor) and the majority to the main 820 partner visa application (the applicant).

My Partners Evidence (Sponsor)

National Identity Document (other than Passport)

My Partners Birth Certificate
My Partners Driving Licence

Other Documents

My Partners Passport
My Partners Form 40sp
My Partners Passport-sized Photograph
My Partners Proof of Address (utility bill)
My Partners Statement on Development of Relationship

Sam’s (me) Evidence (Applicant)

Birth or Age, Evidence of

Sam’s Birth Certificate

Identity, Evidence of

Sam’s Driving Licence

Citizenship – Not Australian, Evidence of

Sam’s Passport

Photograph – Passport

Sam’s Passport-sized Photograph

Form 80 Personal particulars for character assessment

Sam’s Form 80

Form 888 Statutory declaration by a supporting witness in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application

6 x Form 888’s from family and friends

Registered relationship, Evidence of

Civil Partnership Certificate

Relationship – Spouse, De facto Partner, Evidence of

Financial Evidence 1- Bank Statements & money transfers

Financial Evidence 2- Joint travel and shared expenditure

Social Evidence 1- Pictures over the period of our relationship so far

Social Evidence 5 -Receipts, joint social life

Social Evidence 6- Screenshots from social media, email

Statement by Sam- Development of the Relationship

Nature of the couple’s mutual commitment to each other, Evidence of

Record of contact while apart (phone, email, etc.)

Statement- Our Mutual Commitment to Each Other

Length of the de facto relationship, Evidence of

Social Evidence 2- Facebook screenshots PART 1

Social Evidence 3- Facebook screenshots PART 2

Nature of the couple’s household, Evidence of

Household Evidence 1- Proof of Same Address

Household Evidence 2- Shared grocery receipts and money transfers for shopping

Statement regarding housework responsibilities

Other Documents

Application Cover Letter

Statement- Financial Aspects of the Relationship

Statement- Social aspects of the relationship

Mistakes- not to make yourself!

Mistake 1: Non-Migrating Members of Family Unit

In the first 27 pages when you first apply, they will ask you questions about your family. There was one question that had me confused: ‘Does the applicant have any members of their family unit not travelling to Australia who are not
Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents?’

I was confused with this and then next question on ‘applicants immediate family members’. What they mean by the family unit is you as a couple and any children you have etc. I filled in all the details for my family members twice as the next question on ‘immediate family members’ is where I should have put those details.

Mistake 2: Bridging Visa’s

My second mistake was not putting the correct dates down when applying for my bridging visa B. I still had about a week left on my tourist visa when I had to leave to go back home for a wedding. As I couldn’t travel on the bridging visa A (BVA), I had to apply for bridging visa B (BVB).

My BVA came into effect as soon as my tourist visa expired, but as I was travelling before it expired, when I applied for BVB I put down the start date for before the tourist visa expired. I found out that you can only apply for the BVB once your BVA has already taken effect.

I emailed them back and asked to change the start date of the BVB to when my tourist visa ended (i.e the day the BVA started). Hope this makes sense! Just ask me if your confused by anything!

What if I make a mistake?

Don’t worry- you can always go to your application and click ‘attach documents’. From here you can fill out a Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answer(s). Just try not to make too many mistakes as it will use up one of your upload slots!

I hope this post has been helpful for you- I know it was a long one, but I really wanted to put down everything I wished I’d had when I was applying! If there are still unanswered questions, you can always contact me and I will answer as best as I can (always double check with immigration if you’re worried about something though).

I wish you all the best in your permanent partner visa journey- let me know how it goes- I would love to hear! Good luck 🙂

You might like my blog posts on Australia!