When you apply for your Australian Partner Visa, every single thing you upload gets assigned an “Evidence Type” label and a “Document Type” label.
You do not get to know what those labels are until after you’ve paid your money. (Until now – welcome!)
However, before paying you’ll likely need to start organizing your information. If you don’t use the department’s organization system, you’ll have to re-organize and re-format and re-pdf a million things before you upload.
To understand more about the process, read Australian Partner Visa Application Tips.
The following labels should help you know which categories your various evidence falls into. Keep in mind that the department does not currently keep a list that is applicable to partner visas only. As a result, you’ll see lots of category labels on this list that won’t apply to you or your visa.
Evidence Type Labels
Address – Business, Evidence of
Address – Residential, Evidence of
Adoption, Evidence of
Assets – Business, Evidence of
Assets – Personal, Evidence of
Australian Personal Residence, Evidence of
Australian labour award
Birth or Age, Evidence of
Business Experience, Evidence of
Business Financial Status, Evidence of
Business Operations — Non Financial, Evidence of
Business Ownership, Evidence of
Business Turnover, Evidence of
Business reason for travel to Australia, Evidence of
Change of Name, Evidence of
Character Assessment, Evidence of Evidence of Intention to Obtain
Character, Evidence of
Citizenship – Australian, Evidence of
Citizenship – Not Australian, Evidence of
Complying Investment, Evidence of
Consent for travel of a child under the age of 18, Evidence of
Contact while apart, Evidence of
Couple are living together, Evidence of
Criminal Record Check, Evidence of Evidence of Intention to Obtain Custody, Evidence of
Date of birth and birth name, Evidence of
Death, Evidence of
Decision Ready Checklist
Dependency, Evidence of
Divorce/Separation, Evidence of
Document including photograph
Document including photograph and signature
Eligible New Zealand Citizen, Evidence of
Emergency Worker Evidence
Employment – Current, Evidence of
Employment Check – VEVO Printout
Employment Check – Visa Entitlements Faxback Printout
Employment Conditions, Evidence of
Employment History, Evidence of
Employment Terms and Conditions – Australian Employees, Evidence of
Employment of Australian Citizens or Permanent Residents, Evidence of
Exemption – Age
Exemption – English Language
Exemption – Skill
Family Composition, Evidence of
Financial Capacity – Personal, Evidence of
Financial aspects of the relationship, Evidence of
Form 1005 Application for a Bridging Visa
Form 1006 Application for a Bridging Visa B – To seek permission to travel
Form 1022 Notification of change in circumstances
Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answer(s)
Form 1040 Statutory declaration relation to domestic violence
Form 1139 Business Skills Profile
Form 1195 Identity declaration
Form 1221 Additional personal particulars form
Form 1257 Undertaking Declaration
Form 1281 Australian values statement
Form 1282 Australian values statement for temporary visa applicants
Form 1426 – Adding an additional applicant after lodgement
Form 40CH Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia
Form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia
Form 80 Personal particulars for character assessment
Form 888 Statutory declaration by a supporting witness in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application
Form 929 – Change of address and/or passport details
Form 956 Appointment of a migration agent
Form 956A Appointment of an authorised contact
Graduation from a Prescribed Professional Year, Evidence of
Health Assessment, Evidence of Evidence of Intention to Obtain
Health Insurance, Evidence of
Health, Evidence of
Identity, Evidence of
Insurance, Evidence of
Intellectual property, Evidence of
Intention to live as married couple, Evidence of
Intention to marry within 9 months of visa, Evidence of
Intention to marry, Evidence of
Investment Performance, Evidence of
Invitation, Evidence of
Job Offer, Evidence of
Joint Venture Agreement, Evidence of
Labour Market Testing, Evidence of
Language Ability – English, Evidence of
Language Ability – English, Evidence of Evidence of Intention to Obtain
Language Ability – Other Than English, Evidence of
Length of the de facto relationship, Evidence of
Marriage, Evidence of
Medical Examination, Evidence of Intention to Undergo
Member of Family Unit, Evidence of
Military Discharge, Evidence of
Military Service, Evidence of
National Identity Document (other than Passport)
Nature of the couple’s household, Evidence of
Nature of the couple’s mutual commitment to each other, Evidence of
No Documents
Nomination – State/Territory Government Agency
Occupational Licence/Registration, Evidence of
Personal Financial Status, Evidence of
Personal ties to Australia, Evidence of
Photograph – Other
Photograph – Passport
Position Details, Evidence of
Productions not being shown in Australia, Evidence of
Qualifications – Australian, Evidence of
Qualifications – Overseas, Evidence of
Regional Australia Study, Evidence of
Regional Certifying Body Advice
Registered relationship, Evidence of
Relationship – Business Sponsor, Evidence of
Relationship – Relative, Evidence of
Relationship – Spouse, Evidence of De facto Partner, Evidence of
Skills Assessment, Evidence of
Skills Assessment, Evidence of Evidence of Intention to Obtain
Social aspects of the relationship, Evidence of
Study – Enrolment, Evidence of
Study, Evidence of
Substantial Ties – Business, Evidence of
Substantial Ties – Cultural, Evidence of
Suitability for Nominated Positions, Evidence of
Support AusAID Minister, Evidence of
Support/Assurance of Support, Evidence of
Temporary Business Visit, Evidence of
Temporary Stay, Evidence of
Training Benchmark – Business trading less than 12 months, Evidence of
Training Benchmark – Business trading more than 12 months, Evidence of
Training Benchmark – Plan, Evidence of
Travel Document
Tribunal Document (RRT/MRT/AAT/ADT)
UNHCR Document
Union support for short-term highly specialized work
VAC Exemption Evidence
VAC2 Payment
Visa status in country of residence, Evidence of
War Crimes Declaration
Work Experience – Australian, Evidence of
Document Type Labels
ADT Document
ASIC company share register statement
Academic Transcripts
Accommodation Booking
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) Document
Adoption Document
Advertisement for job
Advertisements/Promotional Material
Advertising expenses, Record of
Agent declaration – evidentiary requirements
Aircrew Identity Document
Annual Report
Apprenticeship Agreement
Assessment ownership documentation – Joint
Auditable Training Plan
Australian Business Register/ASIC Document
Australian Federal Police Clearance
Bank Statement – Business
Bank Statement – Personal
Baptismal Certificate
Boarding Pass
Building Insurance Document
Business Activity Statements (BAS)
Business Card
Business Insurance Document
Business Licence/Registration
Business Name Registration Document
Business Organisation Chart
Business Plans
Business Profile
Business Purchase Agreement
Business itinerary with contact details for parties in Australia
CADGEC
Centrelink Pensioner Card
Centrelink Statement
Certificate of Identity
Certificate of no impediment to marriage
Certified Agreement
Change of Name Certificate
Character Assessment, Receipt for Application
Character Statutory Declaration
Citizenship Certificate
Collective Agreement
Conference Registration
Confirmation of Appropriate Accommodation/Welfare Arrangements
Confirmation of Enrolment/ECOE
Coroners Report
Course Completion Letter – Australian Education Provider
Court Document
Cultural association membership, Record of
Cultural, community, religious or sporting membership documentation – Joint
Custody/Access Document
Customary Adoption
Customs Documents
DNA Test Results
Death Certificate
Declaration by Fund Manager
Declaration of relationship with government authorities
Details of previous contacts with Australian business people or organisations
Distribution contract
Divorce Decree Absolute
Document for Travel to Australia (DFTTA)
Document of Identity
Drivers Licence
Educational Certificate (Degree/Diploma etc)
Electoral Commission Notice
Emails
Employee identification/security pass
Employment Contract
Employment Contract – Australian Worker
Employment Contract – Nominee
English Language Test, Receipt for Application
English Language Tuition Fee – Paid, Receipt for
English Language Tuition, Receipt for
Enterprise Agreement
Estate Bank Account
Evidence of Australian Citizenship
Evidence of Australian Qualifications
Evidence of Australian Work Experience
Evidence of Enrolment/Current Studies
FBI Clearance
Family Book/Household Booklet/Family Composition Evidence
Family Tree
Family register
Financial Statements (Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss etc)
Financial Statements – Joint
Fixed Term Deposit Certificate
Form 1005 Application for a Bridging Visa
Form 1006 Application for a Bridging Visa B – To seek permission to travel
Form 1022 Notification of change in circumstances
Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answer(s)
Form 1040 Statutory declaration relation to domestic violence
Form 1040 Statutory declaration relation to family violence
Form 1100
Form 1139 Business Skills Profile
Form 1149 Application for sponsorship for sponsored family visitors
Form 1195 Identity declaration
Form 1196 Regional Certification
Form 1221 Additional personal particulars form
Form 1229 – Consent to grant an Australian visa to a child under the age of 18 years
Form 1229 – Consent form to grant an Australian visa to a child under the age of 18 years
Form 1257 – Undertaking Declaration
Form 1282 Australian values statement for temporary visa applicants
Form 1436 – Adding an additional applicant after lodgement
Form 160 Radiological report on chest x-ray of an applicant for an Australian visa
Form 160EH Radiological report on chest x-ray of an applicant for an Australian visa
Form 26 Medical examination for an Australian visa
Form 26EH Medical examination for an Australian visa
Form 40CH Sponsorship for a child to migrate to Australia
Form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia
Form 47a Details of child or other dependent family member aged 18 years or over
Form 80 Personal particulars for character assessment
Form 815 Health undertaking
Form 888 Statutory declaration by a supporting witness in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application
Form 929 – Change of address and/or passport details
Form 929 Change of address and/or passport details
Form 956 Appointment of a migration agent
Form 956A Appointment of an authorised contact
Form Aged visitor health check offshore proforma
Form Character requirements for penal clearance certificates
Franchise Agreement
Further statement about relationship
Gift Deed
Government Benefits Statement
HAS Statement
Health Assessment, Receipt for
Health Insurance Document
Hospital Birth Record
Household bills and expenses
Household bills and expenses – Joint
ICAO Safety Inspector Certificate
IOM Document
Identification of relevant Australian labour award
Industrial Award
Inheritance Certificate
International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
Internet Account Records
Invitation to apply document
Invitations – Joint
Itinerary
Language Test Document
Lease Agreement/Rent Statement
Legal Will
Legal documentation – Joint
Letter from authorised celebrant/officiant
Letter from employer stating intention to return
Letter from employer with current role
Letter from employer with reason for travel to Australia
Letter from ministry or government
Letter of offer
Letter of support from Australian Commonwealth, State or Territory emergency authority
Letter of support from a relevant union
Letter/Statement – Accountant
Letter/Statement – AusAID Minister
Letter/Statement – Bank/Financial institution
Letter/Statement – Business/Employer
Letter/Statement – DIBP
Letter/Statement – Doctor
Letter/Statement – Education Institution
Letter/Statement – Employer/Business
Letter/Statement – Government, Commonwealth
Letter/Statement – Government, Local
Letter/Statement – Government, State
Letter/Statement – Health Authority
Letter/Statement – Hospital
Letter/Statement – Landlord
Letter/Statement – Organisation
Letter/Statement – Other Third Party
Letter/Statement – Religious Organisation
Letter/Statement – Sponsor
Letter/Statement – Sponsor (Business)
Letter/Statement – Sponsor (Relative)
Letter/Statement by applicant regarding how the provider sourced gift/inheritance
Letter/Statement – Applicant/Sponsor
Liability documentation – Joint
Life Insurance Document
Limited Audit
Loan Agreement
Mail – Joint
Managed Fund Holding Statement
Marriage Certificate
Marriage registration document
Media Reports
Medical Certificate/Report
Medicare Card
Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) Document
Military Discharge Papers
Military Identity Document
Military Service Record
Minutes of Meetings
Mortgage document
NAATI Assessment
National ID Card
No Documents
Nomination Decision Ready Checklist
Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM)
Occupational English Test Certificate
Occupational Licence
Occupational Registration
Other (specify)
Other English Language Test Document
Other mail
Overseas Business Registration
Overseas Police Clearance – National
Overseas Police Clearance – State/Local
Overseas Visitor Health Cover (OVHC) Document
PAYG Payment Summaries
PLO 56 Visa Evidence Card
Partnership/joint venture agreements
Passport
Payroll Activity Reports
Payroll Documents
Payslip
Payslips – Australian Worker
Personal Property Insurance Document
Photograph – Other
Photograph – Passport
Photographs of ceremony
Police Clearance
Police Reports
Position Description/Duty Statement
Programs – artistic or cultural performances
Proof of age card
Property ownership documentation – Joint
Publications or articles
Rates notice
Receipt – Course Fee
Receipt – External Training Provider
Receipt – Industry Training Fund
Receipt for Criminal Record Check
Receipt for Health Assessment
Receipt for Medical Examination
Receipt for Skills Assessment
Record of contact while apart (phone, email, etc.)
Record of joint friends and social networks
Record of joint responsibility for care of children
Record of social events and activities
Recruitment activity, Record of
Red Cross Identity Document
Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) Document
Regional Certifying Body Certification
Registered Design Documents
Registered Patent Documents
Registered Trademark Documents
Relationship certificate from government authority
Remuneration Survey
Residence Certificate
Resume
Scholarship Document
School Leaving Certificate
Seafarer Identity Document
Securities Trading Records
Service Contracts
Share Register
Shares Certificate
Skills Assessment
Skills Assessment, Receipt for Application
Special Purpose Report
Stamp Duty Assessment
Statement from sponsor regarding previous partner or prospective marriage visa sponsorships
Statement of Business Management
Statement of Investment Performance
Statement regarding future plans
Statement regarding housework responsibilities
Statutory Declaration
Statutory declaration regarding travel of under 18 child without one or both parents
Stocks / Shares trading account statement
Stocks or bonds registers
Student Card
Superannuation Document
Tax Document
Telephone Bill
Telephone Records
Title Deed
Titre de Voyage (Convention Travel Document)
Training Contract
Training Plan
Travel Insurance Document
Travel Tickets
Travel Itinerary – Joint
Trust Deed
UNHCR Document
UNHCR Mandate Letter
UNHCR Movement Pass
UNHCR Ration Card
United Nations Liassez Passer
Utilities Account
VAC2 Payment, Receipt for
VEVO Printout
Vehicle Registration Papers
Vehicle Rental booking
Venture Capital Agreement
Verification of amateur sports status of the participant or team
Verification of inclusion in a class of persons specified in an instrument
Visa Decision Ready Checklist
Visa Entitlements Faxback Printout
Visa Label
Visa Documentation
War Crimes Declaration
Work Orders
Work Reference
X-Ray
Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based test (TOEFL iBT)
Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic)
Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) Test
♣
Thanks to post reader Campbell, who is just starting on his Chinese wife’s visa, for typing up the dozens of Evidence Type screenshots and Document Type screenshots I made of the online system!
Hello, I’m having so much trouble finding helpful information on how to go about things with this Partnership Visa. You’re the first one I’ve found that has a lot of insight on it and is up to date.
I’m on the verge of tears with mine. So, a little backstory on us. My husband and I met in a Facebook group back in 2014, we liked each other but we were both very young and still figuring some life goals out. He was 19 and I was 21. We would do long-distance dating off and on between the years of 2015 and 2018, 2019 being the year we officially got together and things stayed that way for us. In 2019 he came to meet me for two weeks and then I flew over to be with him in October of 2019. I had to do a tourist visa because I was not eligible for any others. We did not realize that marriage would ultimately be the only way we’d be able to stay together without getting separated for months at a time but we were both more than prepared/happy to spend our lives together, so we got married in Perth of February 2020. Without getting married, I would’ve had to of spent thousands of dollars every 3 three months to come back over and neither of us have access to that kind of money frequently. We also got an apartment together after that and are living together currently.
What I’m deeply worried about and wondering if you have any insight on is; Are we likely to be denied based on the fact that we don’t have much physical time/evidence built up together? As I mentioned, we kept contact through Facebook and things like Discord so we don’t have evidence of things like travel tickets and whatnot together. We do have outing receipts for while we’ve been here though. We were(still are) young and without much money, he’s still an apprentice, so everything had to be long distance until the recent years.
We’re trying so hard to find out how can we be together indefinitely.. I know that’s not guaranteed anywhere, but these partnership visas don’t feel like they’re open for couples like our situation. 🙁
Hi Angela – I wish I could give you clear answers. Australian Partner Visa forums are full of people sharing what evidence they were able to present to prove their genuine and continuing relationship. The best advice I can give you is to call up a migration agent and ask them your question. In my experience, they were usually more than happy to answer questions, and they’ve got loads of experience seeing what evidence was successful and what wasn’t.
That said, it seems like you’ve been married and living together for over a year. If you read the forums, you’ll find people who have only been physically together for a few months out of a year and are still applying. A migration agent can offer the best perspective, a partner visa forum where you can talk to people in lots of situations is probably the next best peace of mind. Good luck!
Hi Jema!
First, thanks so much for sharing these valuable details!
I’m applying for a partner visa (I’m married to an Australian) and I’m not sure if there’s a separate sponsorship component. In a website on major mistakes, I read that one is “forgetting to lodge the Sponsorship component”. However, I’m not sure if this just applies to prospective marriages.
Thanks a lot!
Fernando
Hi Fernando – happy to hear you’ve found these partner visa resources helpful! When we applied, we both needed immi accounts. First I (the applicant) had to lodge the application. Once I had my reference number, then my sponsor could fill out the necessary details in their immi account. The payment was submitted via my (applicant’s) immi account, so I can see that some folks might do the applicant part and not remember do to the sponsor part? Good luck with your visa!
Hi Jema,
I purchased your bundle last year and I just wanted to say THANK YOU. It has been super helpful when I have been gathering all the information for my visa application. I’m almost ready to submit the application and I have one question for you.
In terms of the labels when you upload the evidence, can you only upload one document per label? Say for example that I have gathered some different evidence in terms of our social aspect of our relationship. ie I have some documents with photos of friends, another document consist invitations etc. I can see that there is a label named “Social aspects of the relationship, Evidence of” can I use this label more than once or would I have to combine them as one pdf only?
Many thanks Sanna
Hi Sanna – so glad to hear our evidence has been helpful! We were able to use the labels (like Social Aspects) for anything we uploaded that fit that label. Hope that helps!
Hi Jema,
I’m wonder when uploading the evidence, do you need to bring them to JP? Such as pictures, passports, lease agreement etc…?
Thank you so much!
Hi Jimmy – all of our evidence was in English, so most of it did not have to go to a JP or notary. A few things like our friends’ stat decs did. I’d recommend reading in Australian Partner Visa forums to find out what things people have gotten certified. I’ve read several times that color copies of things like passports do not need certified. Hope that helps!
Thank you, this page has been very helpful. I wanted to know: Can I upload the same document twice? Ie – Housing contracts in Nature of Household as well as Evidence of living together?
Hi Kym – happy to hear everything here has been helpful! Someone just pointed out recently that immi now explicitly states they don’t want anything uploaded twice. We uploaded lots of things twice. Here’s why: we had no idea the department wants evidence uploaded piece by piece. So we grouped it all together on our end and just had one big PDF of – e.g. – nature of household. There were lots of things in our evidence that appeared in multiple areas. So we did upload the same identical file twice, but – e.g. our housemate’s stat dec appeared three times in our evidence, because it helped satisfy three different areas. Hope that helps!
Hi, does anyone know what does CADGEC mean?! It’s required for student visa of Australia.
Hi Elmira,
The short answer is… I have no idea! I tried Googling for you and came up pretty short. After really digging I found something that makes me think CADGEC stands for China Academic Degree and Graduate Education Development Center – a quality assurance entity that conducts graduate level programme review in China.
Potentially it isn’t required for the student visa the way that some things in the Australian Partner Visa lists aren’t required for the visa when they aren’t applicable to your situation. Maybe this is only required if you’ve been part of the graduate level university system in China and are applying to be a student in Australia?
Good luck!
Hi jema…what’s of meaning internet account records in contact apart evidence??i took screenshot from my Vibers call and put it here..is it true?
I’m not sure I understand your question, Angel. I’m not a migration agent, so I don’t have the expertise or authority to advise you. We shared screenshots of our telephone call records, skype accounts, and emails as evidence for contact while apart. It sounds like you are confused with the labeling? I didn’t worry too much about whether or not I was picking the “right’ labels. I just did my best. It was my opinion that the Immi system wasn’t very well organized or easy to understand (that’s why I put information about our visa experience online).
And I’m an Afghan woman in Iran who has my husband in Australia, and I did not have a translation of my ID card in the case .I only put scann of my IDcard. I do not want to give them a translation of the ID card because I lost my card.I need to go to Afghanistan to get it I can not …possibly have a problem with my case.?? Sorry about that my English is poor
Hi Angel – I’m not a migration agent, so I’m not sure. Can you have someone translate the scan? Does it say that the translator must be looking at the original card?
Hi Jema,
Thanks so much for this really comprehensive guide, which has been invaluable to myself and my partner these past couple of months – especially the evidence labels. I have a question about structuring the two relationship statements if you don’t mind? I have put the bulk of the evidence in my side of our application as I am the applicant, and my wife’s relationship statement will be fairly light on evidence in that respect. Firstly, do you think that is a sensible approach to take? And secondly, I’m trying to avoid uploading the same PDF twice, so in order to get around this I am wondering if it’s okay for my wife to leave comments after each main point referring the C/O to the applicant’s relationship statement? So as to avoid having to upload the PDF more than once. For example, could she write ” Please see the document, Social Aspects of the Relationship, Page 8, in the applicant’s application.’
I think I am a little confused about this because I have read that the process is split into two halves once the fee has been paid, online. So I’m not sure how best to structure the statements.
Thanks, Jema.
Hi Kian, the short answer is… I’m not sure, because I’m not a migration agent or case officer. We had the same situation – applicant evidence super heavy, light on the sponsor side. But we were okay with that! We weren’t concerned about running out of uploads, so we uploaded everything redundantly. We wanted to make it super easy for our case officer. We figured the less time they had to spend looking for things the faster we would get our visa granted!
Hope that helps!
Hi Jema,
Thanks for your advice. Yeah, I think we’ll stick to having most of the evidence placed in the applicant’s side of the statement. I had one more question for you if you don’t mind? Is it possible to group together identity documents on the immi website when uploading evidence? Or, in your experience, do those things need to be uploaded as a separate file for each document?
Thanks again for your help, it’s a very useful website.
Kian
Hi Kian – the immi website is constantly changing – in small ways almost every single time I logged in, and in major ways a few times a year. The short answer is that I’m not sure. I would guess that immigration probably wants them separated out according to their little labels, which I would suspect ports into a database or something like that where a machine can pre-screen that the documents are there. We tended to try and make things as easy as possible for our C.O. – often redundantly including stuff we’d already uploaded elsewhere (when relevant) so they wouldn’t have to go looking for it. Hope that helps!
Hi Jema,
Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the useful advice. Much appreciated. I’ll pdf them separately – makes sense.
Thanks, again.
You bet! 🙂 Good luck with your visa!
Hi Jema!
Thank you for that very useful website, well-needed when we start that long and complicated process, so thank you lots for taking the time to help us all! 🙂
I’ve been married two years with an Aussie and will be back to Oz in november on a Tourist Visa, and I will lodge my Partner Visa straight away, and I am preparing everything that is needed at the moment.
My question is on the Health Check: so do I understand it correctly and first I have to lodge my application, and then, once it’s lodged, do the health check? (I’m under the impression that I can’t book an appointment until I have lodged the application and been given a special code)
So Idon’t have to provide anything health -related with all the other documents when I lodge my application?
I struggle finding answers on this, so thank you very much in advance for your precious help! 🙂
Hi Julie,
We had special circumstances. Because I had a working holiday visa, I already had an immi account, and some fluke made it possible for me to submit my medicals before we lodged our application. I would guess that maybe isn’t possible now. I’d recommend calling a migration agent and asking. They are super nice, helpful, and usually willing to answer questions about stuff like this for free!
Good luck with your visa!
Cheers,
Jema 🙂
Hi Jema, I am preparing my documents to be submitted for my onshore partners visa application. My visitor visa will expire next month (July 14, 2018) and I wonder if I could stay in Australia while still preparing more documents for my application. Or do I have to leave Australia when my visitor visa expires? I am planning to pay the cost of the visa on June 21, 2018 and will submit documents on June 30, 2018.
Hi Cherie – you might call a migration agent and ask them if you’re eligible for a bridging visa if you’re applying onshore. We didn’t need a bridging visa, so I don’t know any of the technicalities, but I’ve heard dozens and dozens of stories about people getting them and being able to stay on in Australia. Good luck!
Hi Cherie,
I’m sort of in the same boat! But I just found this:
Bridging visa
If you lodge your Partner application and your current visa ends before you are granted a temporary Partner visa (subclass 820), you can stay in Australia on a Bridging visa A (BVA) while the temporary visa is being processed. You do not have to apply for a BVA – it is automatically granted when you apply for your partner visa. The BVA starts when your temporary visa ends.
Shouldn’t it just go automatically then? What’s your experience with the immigration lawyer? Thanks!
HI. What is the difference between the 820/801 Partner visa/s and the 309/100 Partner Visa? Can you enlighten me? Thank you!
When you apply from within Australia (“onshore”), the visa is called an 820/801 visa. When you apply from outside Australia (“offshore”), the visa is called a 309/100.
Hi Jema, my partner who is sponsoring me was sent email asking the police check from DIBP. Does it mean my case officer is assigned but it’s just been 3 months we have submitted application ?
And I am not able to retrieve the emedical referral letter for my partner visa . But I know my hap Id. What should I do ?
Hi Rosy – It’s such a mystery how the DIBP system works (and my case officer never responded to my direct questions about it). I would guess that if DIBP has reached out to your sponsor, the dominoes have begun to fall. If you haven’t been assigned a C.O. yet (maybe they wait until the risk of being excluded on a technicality- like a bad police check – has passed?), you probably will soon.
Not sure what you should do about the medical letter, but I’d recommend asking one of the services centres.
Hope that helps a bit!
This is such amazing information, thank you!
I have just come to the point of paying and have been putting it off before I am ready to upload documents.
I have been reading around and many people have included stat decs from themselves and their partner together regarding finances, the nature of the household etc. and it seems you might have done the same. Do you think that’s an important thing to do?
Thanks again for all your hard work on this site, it’s truly brilliant.
Hi Jenny – So glad you’re finding the Australian Partner Visa pages helpful! We didn’t provide Stat Decs, specifically. We wrote a personal statement and had it notarized (the American version of certified… we applied from the U.S.). Hope that helps – good luck with your visa!
Hi Jema! Thanks so much for providing all of this information. My fiancé and I are currently preparing to apply for the partner visa and it is very helpful! We will be paying for the visa soon, however we are just beginning to gather evidence. It will take us some time to get everything together and upload it to the application, and I want to make sure we aren’t making a mistake by diving in and paying for the visa before we’ve collected all of our evidence. Is there a deadline or certain timeframe in which you must upload all supporting documents? I’m sorry if you’ve mentioned this on a prior post as well 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Kaity – so glad you found the info helpful! It’s my personal opinion that people should pay the visa fee as soon as possible. I wish we would have paid the day we became eligible! That’s what starts the clock. The department is so backlogged, visas are taking months to even be looked at by a human for the first time. However, paying the fee gets you in the queue. There is no deadline or timeline. Someone from the department (not the C.O) will check your file when your number comes up (probably after a few months – you can check Australian Partner visa forums to try and get an idea of wait times people are experiencing right now). If you have all the basic things uploaded, I believe they then pass you on to a C.O. who reviews your file in depth. Hope that helps!
Hi Jema,
Thank you for your helpful infomation. I’m applying for subclass 300 Prospective Marriage Visa, i just wonder which evidence type and document type should i go for when it comes to our engagement photos?
Also, i wanna ask if i have to attach all of my sponsor’s documents in stage 1, are those documents still required to be provided in sponsorship’s part?
Hi Ellen – I’m not sure which evidence type and document type you will choose to use. Do you feel like they show the social aspect of your relationship? (many photos end up up “social aspects”). Do you feel like they show nature of the relationship? It’s really up to you how you choose to label them and therefore communicate with your C.O.
Your second question is a good one for one of the Service Centres. See #4 here.
Good luck with your visa!
Thank you very much for your response. It was very helpful. I just have another one to ask, regarding the photograph (other), they ask to provide a recent photograph other than passport photo, is it compulsory, if yes, what kind of photo should i provide?
Also, as of my case, me and my fiance, we haven’t actually moved in together yet, therefore, we don’t have any evidence of financial aspects and nature of household at all, but for the document type, there’s still some suggestions to provide personal statement, for example, statement regarding housework responsibilities or statement regarding future plans. Should we write our own statement stated what we plan for future marriage life and provide them instead?
Hi Ellen- I’m not sure if “a recent photograph” is compulsory… another great services centre question! I know we didn’t do this, but ours was a 309 Australian Partner Visa.
As for your second question, I’d look at Australian Partner Visa Forums to try and find other people in your situation and see what they did. Because we did have financial ties and shared a household, I didn’t think a lot about what to provide instead. Putting your future plans sounds like a good idea to me, but I’m no expert.
Good luck with your visa!
Hi Jema, do you have some guidance on what documents have to be certified and which do not? For example, for bank statements, do you just download them from your bank and upload them to the system or do they have to be certified? Also, my partner and I have been together for 4 years, so we are actually going for a permanent resident visa at the same time. Do you know if we will need to provide bank statements for example for the entire 4 year period (every single month) or do you just provide statements for the months you are referencing something to show financial support? Thank you
Hi Susan, I don’t know for sure what needs certified. I read recently (maybe in the comments on the other visa page) that the department is asking for less and less to be certified if they are full color scans. I remember certifying our passports and personal statements. Everyone who did stat decs for us had them certified. We didn’t certify much else (definitely not bank statements).
It’s up to you guys to decide how you want to use your bank statements to support the claims you are making about your relationship. I think it’s important to keep in mind that immigration officers are busy people and can always ask for more. But the tricky part is, only you know your evidence and the story it tells. Good luck making a decision!
Thanks so much Jema for the guidance on certifying. Do you happen to know if the certified documents need to be in color or is black and white okay? Also, we are about 5 months out from applying for the partnership visa due to other circumstances, so I am using the time to gather all of the partnership evidence. I was thinking of going ahead and working on getting the FBI background check and medical check as well. Do you know if there is a time frame that those 2 items need to be done in relation to submitting for the partnership visa? I don’t want to do them now and then find out we have to do them again. Thanks so much for all the guidance!
Hi Susan, if you can move your question over to the comment section here (where more people looking for Australian Partner Visa help will see it and perhaps also benefit from the answers), I’ll be happy to take the time to write out what I can for you. Cheers!
Certainly! I just moved the question there. Thanks so much!
Awesome!
Hi Jema,
I had my 309 visa granted in October (yay) – I’m having to do a visa activation run of sorts as my IED is 12 January and we can’t move out there in the time frame I was given. I was just wondering what, if anything, I’m required to do to activate my visa? I land in Aus on 8 January (so a few days before my IED) and am staying for a week in order to meet the requirements – do I literally just have to go through border control and my visa will be activated automatically, or do I have to get a stamp or something?
Thanks
Claire
Hi Claire – Congrats! By IED, you mean that’s the “enter Australia by” day? Initial entry date? If so, yes – since the visa has been granted, all that remains is for you to activate by entering Australia, as I understand it. When passport control scans your passport, they’ll see the visa and it will be activated. There is no stamp.
I would get some advice – from either forums or a services centre or your C.O. if you’re comfortable – about what to say to the passport control person. It’s always a gamble whether or the person will know much about this relatively small niche of visas and then whether or not they’ll know much about the rules. I don’t know anything about the one week requirement to activate your visa, etc. But there’s a chance if you say, “I’m here for a week to activate my partner visa,” they’ll mentally think, “Uh-oh. I don’t know anything about that. Better sort it out before I let her though.” And to you they might say, “Ma’am, could you please step aside?”
If you find out what to tell them, then you’ll feel confident and everything should be smooth sailing.
Hope that helps and doesn’t make you more nervous. My advice is half from the partner-visa prospective and part from the “I’ve crossed dozens of international borders” perspective.
Cheers!
oh oh! and do u need to print 12 months worth of bank statement submitted or how much do i need to submit?
thanks! 😀
sorry for so many qs! is it ok if i use internet banking transaction history as screenshots or does it need to be a paper bank statement scanned in? also, when u do screenshot does it need to be the whole window view or u can cropped it out? also, u cant see the full page of transaction i need to take multiple screen shot for the same page for different parts, do i need to zoom out and take a full page screen shot? hope u can understand me!
Oh that’s helpful! Thanks! Oh and also what’s the difference between document type label and evidence type label?
On this page, read this section “Great to Know – Australian Partner Visa Document & Evidence Type Dropdown Lists” It’s the section before, “Good Luck!” at the end.
Hope that helps!
That’s alright! What about if we do not have much financial evidence? He’s the main income earner and I moved in to his place a year ago so my name weren’t on the lease and we don’t have a joint account…. How do we show financial aspect in our relationship?
Hey there! Financial evidence… I’m rushing like crazy to try and get a sample of our evidence ready. We had a similar situation. We highlighted our bank statements showing that we were spending money at the same grocery stores in the same neighborhoods. You could do something to show that you contribute as much as you can, financially, to the relationship. Or explain what other contributions you make?
Hope that helps a bit!
Hi Jema so if theres one document eg statements from parents do you upload them in both document and evidence??
Hi Sandy – I’m not really sure I understand your question.
Sorry I can’t be of more help!
I have a doubt regarding the appropriate Evidence Type.
For uploading scholarship form, the document type is Scholarship Document but what will be the evidence type. (subclass 574)
Hi Anshuman, I’m sorry I don’t know anything about subclass 574 -this is page about Partner Visas. Good luck!
Hi, did you figure out how to upload the scholarship document? I have the exact same problem right now.
Thanks