Eligibility Criteria

• You must hold a provisional Partner visa (subclass 309), and in most cases, continue to be in a married or de facto relationship with your sponsor.
• Your dependent child or children must also hold provisional Partner visa (subclass 309), or Dependent Child visa (subclass 445) if you added them to your permanent visa application after your provisional Partner visa (subclass 309) is granted.
• You must meet all relationship requirements. For example, you must still be in a marriage or de facto relationship with your spouse or partner and usually still be sponsored. Please see other requirements under the provisional Partner visa (subclass 309).
• You and your dependent children included in your application must meet the health and character requirements. Children under 16 do not need character checks.
• You must not have any outstanding debt to the Australian Government.

As an applicant for this visa

• You can include your dependent child or children in the application when you apply for the combined provisional and permanent visas.
• If you did not include your child or children in your provisional visa application, you are still allowed to add them before your permanent visa is decided on. They must be in Australia and usually hold Dependent Child visa (subclass 445).
• When lodging your application, you must provide supporting evidence for your claims.
• You must inform the Department of Home Affairs of any of the following changes after you lodge your application but before a decision is made: your contact details or passport, address, your marital or de facto status, the birth of a child, end of your relationship, or request to withdraw your application.

As a holder of this visa

• If you are outside Australia when your visa is granted, you must enter Australia before the date specified in the visa grant letter, which is generally 12 months from the date of visa grant.
• You can stay in Australia permanently and live, work, and study anywhere you want.
• You can enroll in Medicare, the Australia’s public health insurance scheme.
• You can sponsor your family members to come to Australia.
• You can travel to and from Australia as many times as you want for 5 years.
• If eligible, you can attend up to 510 hours of free English language classes provided by the Australian Government.
• Newly arrived residents may need to wait to be eligible for certain Australian Government payments and benefits.
• If eligible, you can apply for and become an Australian citizen.
• You must inform the Department of Home Affairs if you get a new passport.

Required documents

Your permanent visa is assessed 2 years after you lodged your provisional visa. You should not send your documents more than a month before the 2 years date.

• Your passport
• Proof that you are in a continuing marriage or de facto relationship with your sponsor.
• If married, your marriage certificate
• If in a de facto relationship, a written statement about your past, present, and future plans; documents showing how you and your partner share financial, household, and social matters; and proof showing that how you are committed to a long-term relationship to the exclusion of all others.
• Form 1022 – Notification of changes in circumstances (PDF) if there have been any changes to your situation since your temporary visa was granted, such as change of name, your relationship status, birth of a new baby, death of your sponsor, a court decision on child custody, etc.
• Form 929 – Changes of address and/or passport details (PDF) if you have changed your address or have a new passport since your temporary visa was granted.
• Australian Federal Police character certificate or police certificate for any country you lived in since your temporary visa was granted.
• Passport of your dependent child or children, documents showing any changes to their situation, and police certificates if they are 16 years old or older.
• Your spouse or partner’s passport
• Statutory Declaration – Partner Visa (Sponsor) (PDF) completed and signed by your spouse or partner.
• Form 956 (PDF) if you would like to nominate a migration agent for providing you with immigration assistance.
• Form 956a (PDF) if you would like to appoint or withdraw of an authorized correspondence recipient.

Note: All documents should be originally in English or officially translated into English.

Please note that the above content is for general information only and must not be taken as immigration or travel advice. The content was up-to-date at the time of the last update but being current and accurate cannot be always guaranteed due to the frequent changes in immigration law. Please contact us for advice and information on the latest immigration laws in Australia.

Source: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

Access: 23 September 2020