Partner Visa After Relationship Breakdown: What Happens to Your Application?

Home Affairs requires applicants to tell the Department when
circumstances change.

For Partner visa applicants, a separation, divorce or end of a de facto
relationship can be directly relevant to the visa criteria.

Home Affairs provides an online Notification of Relationship
Cessation process through ImmiAccount for relevant Partner visa
applicants.

You should provide accurate information about when the relationship
ended and the circumstances that apply.

A sponsor can withdraw their sponsorship.

But the sponsor does not personally decide whether the visa is
cancelled, refused or granted.

Home Affairs makes the visa decision under the Migration Act and
Regulations.

Home Affairs specifically advises sponsors that withdrawing sponsorship
does not necessarily mean the former partner's visa application will be
refused.

There may be other grounds under the Partner visa framework on which the
application can continue.

Home Affairs will assess the case under the applicable law and visa
stage.

Applicants should not continue presenting the relationship as genuine
and continuing after it has ended.

The Department should be given accurate information about the change.

Home Affairs states that an applicant may still be eligible if:

• the relationship would have continued if the sponsor had not died,
  and
• the applicant has developed close business, cultural or personal
  ties in Australia

The precise criteria depend on the Partner visa pathway and stage.

Evidence may need to address both the relationship before the sponsor's
death and the applicant's ties to Australia.

Home Affairs identifies circumstances where the applicant and sponsoring
partner share responsibility for a child and the applicant has been
granted specified legal rights or responsibilities relating to that
child.

The Migration Regulations contain detailed criteria.

Simply having a child together should not be treated as an automatic
guarantee that the Partner visa will continue.

The child's legal and care arrangements matter.

Home Affairs states that an eligible Partner visa applicant or holder
may still be able to obtain a permanent Partner visa where the
relationship has ended and the applicant, or an eligible family member,
experienced family violence committed by the sponsoring partner.

The provisions are intended to ensure that a person does not need to
remain in an abusive relationship solely to maintain their migration
pathway.

Family violence claims have specific legal and evidentiary requirements.

This can include applicants progressing through:

• Partner visa subclasses 820 and 801
• Partner visa subclasses 309 and 100
• certain Prospective Marriage visa circumstances after marriage and a
  Partner visa application
• other specified family or dependent pathways

The exact availability of the provisions depends on the visa and
circumstances.

Do not assume that every person who has ever held a relationship-based
visa automatically falls within the provisions.

The framework is broader than physical assault alone.

Home Affairs describes family violence as conduct, whether actual or
threatened, that causes a person reasonably to fear for, or reasonably
to be apprehensive about, their wellbeing or safety.

The legal definition and evidentiary framework should be applied to the
actual circumstances.

Evidence can potentially include specified court orders or findings and
prescribed non-judicial evidence.

Home Affairs publishes guidance and evidence forms for the family
violence provisions.

Because the evidentiary rules are specific, applicants should not assume
that any single document, statement or police report automatically
satisfies the migration requirements.

The Regulations provide a non-judicial evidence pathway in specified
circumstances.

That pathway has its own evidence requirements.

Where the prescribed evidence framework is not satisfied or the
decision-maker is not satisfied about the claim, referral to an
independent expert can arise under the regulatory process.

The family violence provisions can be relevant where the alleged family
violence was experienced by the visa applicant or, in specified
circumstances, a member of the applicant's family unit.

The precise legal relationship between the applicant, family member and
alleged perpetrator matters.

Cases involving children or dependent family members should therefore be
assessed against the exact provisions.

The family violence provisions are not a general humanitarian waiver for
every relationship breakdown.

The applicant needs to fall within the relevant Partner visa framework
and satisfy the applicable statutory criteria.

A timeline of the relationship, visa applications, alleged conduct and
separation can therefore be important.

Home Affairs, not the sponsor, determines whether the applicant
satisfies the visa criteria.

An applicant relying on family violence provisions should notify Home
Affairs and provide the evidence required for the relevant process.

The former sponsor is not entitled to control or receive unrestricted
information about the Department's later assessment.

This is particularly important where family violence or other sensitive
circumstances are involved.

If a couple separates and later genuinely reconciles, the Department
should receive accurate information about the circumstances.

Whether the Partner visa criteria are met depends on the actual
relationship and the relevant visa stage.

Applicants should not alter dates or minimise a genuine separation
simply because reconciliation later occurred.

However, the legal effect cannot be assessed only from the divorce date.

Home Affairs still needs to consider the visa stage, whether another
qualifying relationship basis exists and whether any statutory
continuation provisions apply.

A divorce should be notified accurately.

The application may no longer satisfy the ordinary continuing de facto
relationship requirement.

But family violence, sponsor-death or child-related provisions can
potentially remain relevant where their criteria are met.

The fact that the couple was not married does not by itself prevent
those provisions from being considered.

• Partner visa subclass and stage
• visa application date
• temporary or provisional visa grant date, if applicable
• date the relationship ended
• whether the sponsor has withdrawn sponsorship
• whether there are children of the relationship
• current parenting or legal arrangements
• whether the sponsoring partner has died
• whether family violence is relevant
• what evidence is available
• current visa status and conditions

The correct next step depends on that factual timeline.

• continue describing a relationship as genuine and continuing if it
  has ended
• assume the sponsor can personally cancel the visa
• assume sponsorship withdrawal automatically means refusal
• assume having a child automatically guarantees the visa
• assume any allegation automatically satisfies the family violence
  provisions
• delay notifying Home Affairs because you are uncertain about the
  outcome
• submit inaccurate dates or relationship information

Accurate disclosure is important even where a statutory exception may
allow the application to continue.

• exact visa subclass
• current application stage
• relationship cessation date
• Home Affairs notification
• sponsorship status
• children of the relationship
• parenting and legal arrangements
• sponsor death, if relevant
• family violence circumstances, if relevant
• prescribed evidence requirements
• current visa status
• any other visa options that may need to be considered

Relationship breakdown is not a situation where a single general rule
applies to everyone.