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Early this year, The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) have announced that they will introduce changes of Partner visa application process.

There are no specific web page for this changes but here are some summary of details that we understand so far.

  • Sponsors of Partner visa applicants must pass sponsorship approval process to allow applicant to apply Partner visa application. This will include a mandatory requirement for the sponsor to provide police clearance certificates.
  • The sponsorship approval process must be completed prior to partner visa application, which may significantly impact the timing of the Partner visa application;

DIBP intend to introduce enforceable sponsorship undertakings;

These changes will make it much more difficult to lodge a Partner visa application in time critical situations, such as where a currently held visa is about to expire. This will be particularly important for onshore Subclass 820/801 visa applicants.

Current Partner visa application Process

The DIBP announced that this change will apply from July 2017.

We have got many inquiry about this changes and actually, many applicants prepared Partner Visa with us to avoid this changes.

However, the Bill had not been enacted as it was still before the Senate. Therefore, this requirement has not commenced on 1 July 2017 as previously announced and has been deferred until 2018.

Time line for announcement

  • DIBP announced that they will required sponsorship application prior to 820 Partner visa Application. Thus, applicants only can make a partner visa application if sponsorship application is approved by DIBP.
  • On 18 November 2016, DIBP introduced changes to the partner visa process, which require sponsors to obtain police clearance certificates if requested. The sponsor is also required to provide a consent which allows DIBP to disclose any convictions for ‘relevant offences’ to the visa applicant.
  • On June 2017, DIBP announced that changes which Partner visa sponsorship applications would need to be lodged and approved before the overseas partner visa application could be made, will defer until 2018.  => DIBP has not announced exact date to apply this new change.
  • From 18 November 2017, Partner visa (subclasses 820 and 801) applications must be lodged online, via Immi Account.

Recently many announcements for a Subclass 820/801 Partner Visa indicate that DIBP will take strict look to assess Partner visa Application.

If you need any support to apply Partner visa, please contact us to get a free eligibility check.