Partner Visa Evidence: Proving a Genuine Relationship (820/801)

A Subclass 820/801 onshore partner visa is decided on one question: whether your relationship is genuine and continuing. You answer that question with evidence, and the strongest applications share one feature. Their evidence is consistent, clearly dated, and spread across the four aspects of a relationship that the Department of Home Affairs assesses. Applications tend to fail when the evidence concentrates on one aspect and leaves the others thin.

This article explains what each of the four aspects means, which documents carry the most weight, the 12-month rule that applies to de facto applicants, and the gaps that most often lead to a request for further information or a refusal.

The legal test behind the four aspects

The onshore partner visa is granted in two stages. You lodge one application for both the temporary Subclass 820 and the permanent Subclass 801. The 820 is decided first. The 801 is decided later, usually about two years after you lodge, provided the relationship is still genuine and continuing at that time. Both stages turn on that same question.

The Migration Regulations 1994 set out how a delegate (the Department of Home Affairs officer who decides your application) assesses that question. They direct the delegate to consider four aspects of the relationship: your financial arrangements, the nature of your household, the social aspects of the relationship, and the nature of your mutual commitment. These four aspects are listed in regulation 1.09A and applied to de facto applicants through regulation 1.15A. A delegate weighs all four together. Evidence that is strong in three aspects but silent on the fourth invites questions about the gap. For that reason, organise your evidence under these four headings deliberately, rather than lodging it as a single undifferentiated bundle.

Financial aspects

This aspect concerns whether you share your finances, not whether you are wealthy. A delegate is looking for pooled resources, shared liabilities, and joint financial decisions.

Documents that carry weight include joint bank account statements that show regular, everyday use by both people, rather than an account opened shortly before lodgement. Shared liabilities also demonstrate financial interdependence: a lease in both names, a joint mortgage, joint utility accounts, or shared insurance policies. So do records of one partner supporting the other, transfers between your accounts, and joint ownership of significant assets. Naming each other as a beneficiary on superannuation or an insurance policy is a deliberate step that a delegate will treat as meaningful.

What matters most here is duration and ordinary use. A joint account with only a few transactions suggests it was opened for the application. Statements that span many months and show rent, groceries, and bills paid by both partners reflect a genuinely shared financial life.

Nature of the household

This aspect concerns how you run a shared home and divide domestic responsibilities. Couples who live together often under-document it, because the arrangements feel too obvious to prove.

Useful evidence includes correspondence addressed to both partners at the same address over a period of time, a residential lease or property title in both names, and a signed statement describing how you divide chores, cooking, bills, and any caring responsibilities. Mail sent to both of you at one address by a range of senders, such as government agencies, banks, and service providers, is persuasive because it is difficult to arrange artificially. If you own your home together, that is strong evidence. If you rent, put both names on the lease where you are able to.

If you do not live together full time, state this plainly, explain why, and provide evidence of the living arrangement you do have. An unexplained gap in living together prompts a request for information. An explained one usually does not.

Social aspects

This aspect concerns whether you present to others as a couple, and whether the people around you recognise your relationship.

Strong social evidence includes joint invitations, travel taken together with itineraries and boarding passes, dated photographs across a range of occasions with a note of who is present and where, and evidence that family and friends treat you as a couple. Shared club memberships, joint attendance at events, and naming each other as an emergency contact also assist.

Statutory declarations are important here. A Form 888 declaration from someone who names an event they attended with you, explains how they know you as a couple, and gives dates is far more persuasive than one that simply states the relationship is genuine. Two problems recur. The first is a set of undated, uncaptioned photographs that a delegate cannot place on a timeline. The second is several near-identical declarations. Provide evidence that spans different periods and comes from people who know different parts of your life.

Nature of the commitment

This aspect concerns the depth and continuity of the relationship: how long you have been together, how well you know each other’s circumstances, and your intentions for a shared future.

Your own statements do most of the work here. A detailed statement from each partner, describing how you met, how the relationship developed, the decisions you have made together, and any periods of separation and how you managed them, demonstrates commitment in a way that documents alone cannot. Evidence of regular contact during any time apart is valuable, particularly if one of you has travelled or lived elsewhere during the relationship. Evidence of joint planning for the future, such as wills naming each other, superannuation beneficiary nominations, and powers of attorney, shows that you regard the relationship as permanent.

Where they are required, Form 888 statutory declarations corroborate this commitment when they contain specific detail rather than general praise. A declaration that explains how the writer came to know you as a couple, with concrete examples, is worth far more than one that only asserts the relationship is genuine.

The 12-month rule for de facto applicants

There is a timing requirement that applies to de facto applicants and is separate from the question of whether the relationship is genuine. In most cases, a de facto applicant must show that the relationship existed for at least 12 months immediately before the application was lodged. Married applicants are not subject to this requirement.

Limited exceptions apply. The most common is registering your relationship under a state or territory relationships register, which removes the 12-month requirement. Compelling and compassionate circumstances can also apply in a small number of cases. If you intend to rely on registration or another exception, obtain advice before you lodge, because an error on this point can defeat an otherwise strong application for reasons unrelated to whether your relationship is genuine.

How to present the evidence

Presentation is part of the evidence. Organise your material under the four aspects, arrange the documents within each aspect in date order, and include a short relationship timeline that a delegate can check the documents against. Consistency across that timeline is important, because dates that contradict each other are a common reason for refusal.

Give priority to documents from independent, third-party sources over documents you have created yourselves. A joint lease, a bank statement, and a Form 888 declaration each come from an independent source and are difficult to dispute. Aim for coverage rather than volume: a focused set that addresses all four aspects across the whole relationship is stronger than hundreds of pages concentrated in one aspect. Evidence weighted heavily toward the weeks before lodgement can appear arranged for the application, even when the relationship is genuine, so ensure your file spans the full length of the relationship.

Common gaps that lead to a request or refusal

The problems we see most often are avoidable:

• Evidence concentrated on social photographs, with little on finances or the household.
• Joint accounts and leases opened immediately before lodgement, which suggest arrangements made for the visa rather than for the relationship.
• Statements that are brief, near-identical in wording, or silent about periods of separation.
• A relationship timeline that does not match the documents attached to it.
• A de facto applicant who has not met the 12-month requirement and has not evidenced an exception.

Any one of these can prompt a request for further information, and several together can support a refusal.

If you receive a request for further information, use it to address the specific point the delegate has raised, rather than resubmitting the same bundle. The request identifies the aspect the delegate found insufficient. If the application is refused, you can ask the Administrative Review Tribunal to review the decision and decide it again on the facts, which is called merits review. The better approach, though, is to prepare an application strong enough that it does not need review.

Have your evidence reviewed before you lodge

A partner visa succeeds on the strength and balance of its evidence. If you are unsure whether your documents cover all four aspects, whether your de facto relationship meets the 12-month requirement or qualifies for an exception, or how to explain a gap in your history, a review before lodgement is the most useful step you can take. Visa Plan Lawyers prepares and reviews Subclass 820/801 applications and can identify gaps while there is still time to address them. You can read more on our partner visas page, and speak with our team about your relationship evidence.