801 Partner Visa: When to Expect Your Permanent Decision

You lodged the 820. It was granted. Now you’re on the temporary visa, watching the calendar, wondering when the permanent stage actually happens. This guide sets out when your 801 partner visa becomes decidable, what the Department asks for, why some files decide quickly and others sit for years, and what to do if yours has stalled.

When does the 801 partner visa become decidable?

The rule catches most people out, and it is worth reading twice.

The two-year wait runs from the date you lodged the 820. Not from the date it was granted.

So if you lodged in March 2024 and the 820 was granted in October 2025, the 801 becomes decidable in March 2026.

Not October 2027.

This is the eligibility date, and it is the earliest point the Department can grant the permanent visa.

Before it, no case officer can approve the file even if every piece of evidence is perfect.

801 partner visa processing times, honestly

Home Affairs publishes 50% and 90% benchmarks for every subclass, and refreshes them monthly.

Here is the honest position on the 801: the published figures move a lot, and secondary sources lag behind them.

Checking three sources in September 2026 produced three different answers for the same visa.

So we are not going to print a number here that will be wrong by the time you read it.

How to read the benchmarks once you have them

Two things matter more than the headline number.

First, the 801 clock is measured from your eligibility date, not from lodgement or from the 820 grant.

Second, the gap between the 50% and 90% marks is where the real information sits.

Half of files clear the first mark comfortably. The tail is long, and one in ten runs well past it.

If your file has passed the current 90% benchmark with no contact, you are outside the normal cohort.

That is the signal worth acting on, and the section on stalled files below sets out how.

The long-term relationship exception for an 801 partner visa

Some applicants never wait at all.

Where the long-term relationship provision is met, the 801 can be granted at the same time as the 820.

It applies where, at the relevant time, either of the following is true:

• the couple has been in a married or de facto relationship for three years or more; or
• the couple has been in that relationship for two years or more and has a child of the relationship.

If the threshold is met when the 820 is decided, the officer can grant both stages in one decision.

You skip the temporary-then-permanent structure entirely.

This gets missed constantly, because couples count only the time since the wedding.

Lived together 18 months before marrying, then married 18 months by the time of decision? That is three years.

801 partner visa: what happens around the two-year mark

Usually a month or two before the eligibility date, a request arrives through ImmiAccount.

It asks for updated evidence that the relationship remains genuine and continuing.

This is routine. It is not a sign anything is wrong with your file.

What the Department typically asks for

• An updated relationship statement from each of you
• Fresh Form 888 statutory declarations — Australian citizens or permanent residents, 18 or over, who know you both
• Updated evidence across the four pillars: financial, household, social, and commitment
• A current AFP national police check, plus overseas checks if you have spent 12 months or more in another country since lodging

The four pillars at the 801 partner visa stage

The assessment mirrors the 820 in structure. The same regulation 1.15A definition applies.

What changes is the period being examined.

The 801 covers everything between 820 lodgement and now, which is at least two years.

So a lease from the year you lodged and one old joint account statement do not close the loop.

You need evidence running continuously through to the date you submit.

Millennium Migration builds the four-pillar bundle chronologically, so continuity is visible at a glance.

What you don’t need to redo

The visa application charge. You paid the combined 820/801 fee at lodgement, so no further charge is due.

Your original relationship history stays on file too.

The permanent stage is about proving the relationship continued, not proving it existed.

Incidental costs do still fall on you — new police checks, and medicals if yours have lapsed.

801 stalled, or eligibility date approaching? WhatsApp Sam at Millennium Migration — he’ll assess where your file actually sits →

What slows an 801 partner visa file

Most delays fall into a handful of predictable categories.

Partial evidence

When the Department asks for updated evidence and you send half of it, the file goes back in the queue.

One complete submission beats “some now, more later” every time.

Expired police checks or medicals

Police certificates and health examinations are generally treated as valid for around 12 months.

If yours lapse before an officer picks the file up, they will ask for new ones and processing pauses.

Changes you never notified

Section 104 of the Migration Act 1958 requires you to notify changes as soon as practicable.

New address, new job, a new child, a separation, a criminal charge, a health development.

A file with unnotified changes carries compliance risk, and officers slow down when the record and the evidence disagree.

Character or health complications

A new criminal matter or a flagged health result pauses processing while it is assessed.

These go to specialist teams, and they can add months.

Doubts about genuine and continuing

If the evidence does not clearly show the relationship continued, the officer may raise it formally.

That usually arrives as a Section 56 request, or a Section 57 letter where adverse information is involved.

Both add time, and the quality of the response matters more than its speed.

What genuinely speeds up an 801 partner visa

There is no paid priority processing for partner visas, and nobody can move you up the queue.

What you can do is make sure nothing about your file causes it to be put back down.

Submit before you are asked

Do not wait for the request. Around two months before your eligibility date, upload the updated bundle yourself.

A file that is already complete when it becomes decidable is a file with nothing to chase.

Keep police checks and medicals current

Time them so they are still valid at the earliest realistic decision date.

If something has already expired, renew it before the officer has to ask.

Hand over a bundle that is easy to assess

Case officers work through a lot of files. Make yours quick to read.

Clear file names, a short index of what is included, and evidence grouped by pillar and ordered by date.

Notify changes promptly

Any section 104 event goes in through Form 1022, within weeks rather than months.

A clean compliance record is one less reason for an officer to pause.

What to do if your 801 partner visa has stalled

If your file has been past the eligibility date for a long stretch with no contact, there are legitimate options.

Send one courteous status enquiry

Use ImmiAccount, and keep it polite and short.

One or two well-timed enquiries a year is what the system supports. Weekly messages achieve nothing.

Refresh everything

Upload fresh evidence covering the intervening period, renew expired checks, and lodge any Form 1022 you owe.

A surprising number of stalled files are stalled because something quietly expired.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman

If your file has passed the current published 90% benchmark with no substantive contact, the Ombudsman can look at the delay.

This is not for a file that is merely slow. It is for one that appears to have fallen out of the system.

Merits review, only after a refusal

If the 801 is refused, merits review at the Administrative Review Tribunal may be available.

The deadlines are short and the Tribunal generally cannot extend them.

Both the deadline and who may apply differ depending on whether the application was made onshore or offshore.

Your refusal letter states which applies to you. Read it the day it arrives, then get advice.

801 partner visa: frequently asked questions

801 partner visa timing and cost

Does the two-year wait start from the 820 grant or the 820 lodgement?

From the lodgement date. If the 820 took 18 months to grant, only about six months of the two-year wait remains once it lands. This is the single most misunderstood part of the pathway, and it is worth working out your own eligibility date as soon as the 820 is granted.

Do I have to pay a new fee for the 801?

No. The 820 and 801 are two stages of one combined application, and the visa application charge covered both at the time you lodged the 820. Incidental costs still fall on you, though — new police certificates, and health examinations if yours have lapsed.

How long does the 801 actually take?

Home Affairs publishes 50% and 90% benchmarks and refreshes them monthly, measured from your eligibility date rather than from lodgement. Those figures move, and secondary sources lag behind them, so the only number worth planning around is the current one on the Department’s own processing times tool. Check it directly rather than relying on a figure quoted in any article.

While you wait

Can I travel while waiting for the 801?

Yes. The 820 you hold is a substantive visa with travel rights, so travel during the wait is fine. If you spend 12 months or more in another country during that period, you will generally need a police certificate from that country before the 801 can be granted, so factor that lead time in before a long stay overseas.

Do we have to stay together for exactly two years?

The requirement is that the relationship is genuine and continuing at the time of the 801 decision. A brief separation followed by a genuine reconciliation is not automatically fatal. However, the separation must be notified, and the reconciliation must be properly evidenced with material that carries credible dates.

What if my relationship ends before the 801 is granted?

You must notify the Department. The 801 can still be granted through three pathways: family violence, the death of the sponsor, or a child of the relationship. The family violence provisions sit in Division 1.5 of the Migration Regulations 1994, and the death and child pathways sit in Schedule 2, clause 801.221. Get advice quickly, because which pathway you lead with changes how the case runs.

Can I lodge more evidence after submitting my 801 update?

Yes, through ImmiAccount at any time before a decision. Avoid drip-feeding, though. An officer picking up your file expects one complete, organised bundle rather than several partial ones spread across months, and a fragmented file is slower to assess.

After the grant

Will the 801 show as a new visa or just an update?

You receive a formal grant notice for the 801, which is a distinct visa in its own right. Your VEVO record updates to show the 801 as your current visa, replacing the 820. The 801 itself does not expire, though the travel facility attached to it does and needs to be renewed separately.

When can I apply for citizenship after the 801 is granted?

Citizenship by conferral generally requires four years of lawful residence in Australia, including at least the final 12 months held as a permanent resident. Because that last requirement runs from the day permanent residence is granted, you generally cannot apply at the moment the 801 lands. Confirm your own dates against the current citizenship residence requirement before planning around it.

What’s the difference between the 801 and the 100?

The 801 is the permanent stage of the onshore pathway and follows the 820. The 100 is the permanent stage of the offshore pathway and follows the 309. Substantively they deliver the same thing — permanent residence as a partner — and the difference is where the original application was lodged.

801 partner visa: the bottom line

The permanent stage is not a mystery. It runs on a defined eligibility date and a clear evidence framework.

What is unpredictable is the tail. Files do quietly stall, usually for reasons that are fixable once you find them.

If your eligibility date is approaching, start the updated bundle now rather than waiting to be asked.

If you are past the current 90% benchmark with no contact, it is worth getting eyes on the file.

And if a decision arrives that you did not expect, the review deadline is short and unforgiving. Act the same week.

This article is general information only and does not constitute immigration or legal advice for any particular person. Processing times, evidentiary requirements and review deadlines change, and they turn on individual circumstances — the Department’s own processing tool, your grant notice and your decision letter are the authority on yours. For case-specific advice, take the 820/801 quiz or contact Sam directly. Accurate as at September 2026.