Partner Visa Sponsorship: What the Australian Sponsor Needs to Provide and Declare

• Australian citizen partner
• Australian permanent resident partner
• eligible New Zealand citizen partner

The relationship may be a qualifying spouse or de facto relationship.

The sponsor's status needs to be supported with appropriate evidence.

Home Affairs identifies documents such as an Australian passport,
Australian birth certificate or other evidence of the relevant status.

The applicant lodges the Partner visa application.

The sponsor separately lodges the online sponsorship application.

Home Affairs currently advises the applicant to give the sponsor the
visa application's Transaction Reference Number (TRN) or Application
ID after lodgement.

The sponsor can then use that information to submit the online
Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia.

The sponsorship and visa application are connected, but they are
assessed as separate parts of the Partner visa process.

Delaying the sponsorship can delay the overall application because the
Partner visa generally requires an approved sponsorship.

The sponsor should therefore prepare their own documents rather than
waiting until Home Affairs asks for them later.

Depending on the sponsor, evidence can include documents such as:

• Australian passport
• Australian birth certificate
• Australian citizenship evidence
• evidence of permanent residence
• evidence relevant to eligible New Zealand citizen status
• identity documents
• evidence of name changes where applicable

The exact documents depend on the sponsor's circumstances.

Home Affairs currently states that Partner visa sponsors need to provide
police certificates to show they meet the additional sponsor
requirements.

The certificates should be provided when the sponsor submits the
Sponsorship for a Partner to Migrate to Australia, or as soon as
possible afterwards.

The sponsorship rules allow Home Affairs to request Australian police
checks and police checks from relevant foreign countries.

Sponsors should deal with police-check requirements early rather than
assuming only the visa applicant needs character documentation.

The exact police-check requirement should be confirmed against the
sponsor's residence history and the Department's current instructions.

A sponsor should not omit overseas history simply because they are now
an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

The Migration Regulations identify relevant offences including matters
involving:

• violence against a person
• sexual assault
• threats of violence
• harassment, intimidation or stalking
• breaches of apprehended violence or similar orders
• firearms or dangerous weapons
• people smuggling
• human trafficking
• slavery or forced marriage
• kidnapping or unlawful confinement

A sponsor with a significant criminal record for a relevant offence can
face refusal of the sponsorship, subject to the statutory discretion
provided in the Regulations.

This includes circumstances such as:

• imprisonment for life
• a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more
• two or more terms of imprisonment that total 12 months or more

Other specified sentencing situations are also covered.

The effect of criminal history can be legally technical, so sponsors
with relevant convictions should have the sponsorship rules assessed
against their actual record.

For relevant Partner visa criteria, the sponsor must consent to Home
Affairs disclosing specified convictions for relevant offences to the
visa applicant.

This means sponsorship should not be approached on the assumption that
relevant criminal history can simply remain private from the person
being sponsored.

The Regulations contain detailed rules about which convictions are
relevant and when a conviction can be disregarded.

Under regulation 1.20J, Partner and Prospective Marriage sponsorship
history can restrict approval of a later sponsorship.

As a general rule, the sponsorship cannot be approved if more than one
other person has already been granted a relevant permission based on the
sponsor's Partner or Prospective Marriage sponsorship or nomination.

This is often described as a lifetime limit of two successful
Partner/Prospective Marriage sponsorships, although the precise
regulation and exceptions should be checked in the individual case.

Where another person has previously been granted the relevant permission
through the sponsor, the regulation generally requires at least five
years to have passed from the date of the earlier relevant
application.

A five-year restriction can also apply where the proposed sponsor was
themselves previously granted the relevant permission as another
person's spouse, de facto partner or prospective spouse.

The calculation is technical and is tied to the dates and circumstances
specified in the Regulation rather than simply the date a previous
relationship ended.

Regulation 1.20J gives the Minister discretion to approve a sponsorship
despite the usual limits where there are compelling circumstances
affecting the sponsor.

This is not an automatic waiver.

Sponsors with previous Partner sponsorships or a previous sponsored
Partner migration history should check the exact dates and legal
circumstances rather than assuming they are either eligible or
ineligible based only on a simple five-year count.

The Migration Regulations contain specific restrictions concerning
certain registrable offences by a sponsor in cases involving minor
applicants.

Police-check requirements can also become particularly important.

Where children are included, the sponsor's criminal and sponsorship
history should be reviewed carefully.

• financial assistance, and
• accommodation

The standard undertaking generally covers the two years immediately
following grant of the temporary Partner visa where the applicant is
in Australia, or the two years after first entry following grant where
the applicant was outside Australia.

This sponsorship undertaking is part of the migration process and should
not be confused with an Assurance of Support used in some other family
visa categories.

The sponsor gives the required sponsorship undertaking and Home Affairs
assesses the sponsorship under the Partner visa rules.

There is not a general Partner visa rule that simply says a sponsor must
earn a particular fixed annual salary to be eligible.

However, the sponsor still needs to answer the sponsorship questions
accurately and meet the applicable sponsorship criteria.

The applicant's Partner visa application contains the substantive
relationship evidence, but the sponsor also provides information about
the relationship through the sponsorship process.

The applicant's and sponsor's accounts should be accurate and consistent
with the documentary evidence.

Relationship evidence can address matters such as:

• how the relationship developed
• financial arrangements
• household arrangements
• social recognition
• commitment
• periods living apart
• future plans

The sponsor should describe the real relationship rather than attempting
to reproduce generic migration wording.

Home Affairs currently directs sponsors to use the Partner processing
enquiry process and provide a statement withdrawing sponsorship.

However, withdrawal does not necessarily mean the visa application
will automatically be refused.

Home Affairs notes that there can still be grounds on which an applicant
may be granted a permanent Partner visa, including circumstances covered
by the Partner visa framework.

Once sponsorship is withdrawn, privacy law also limits what Home Affairs
can tell the former sponsor about the applicant's visa application.

Partner visa law contains provisions that can remain relevant in
situations including:

• family violence
• death of the sponsoring partner
• certain circumstances involving children

A sponsor should notify Home Affairs accurately rather than assuming
they personally decide whether the visa application can continue.

Home Affairs makes the visa decision under the migration law.

Home Affairs states that an eligible Partner visa applicant or holder
may still be able to obtain a permanent visa in specified circumstances
where the relationship has ended because of family violence.

The sponsor's withdrawal of sponsorship does not override those
statutory provisions.

Family violence cases are highly circumstance-specific and should not be
treated as an ordinary relationship-breakdown case.

Sponsorship approval deals with the sponsor-side requirements.

The visa applicant still needs to satisfy the relevant Partner visa
criteria.

These can include:

• qualifying spouse or de facto relationship
• genuine and continuing relationship
• identity
• health
• character
• application validity
• other visa-specific requirements

Both sides of the process need to be satisfied.

• Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand
  citizen status
• identity documents
• applicant's TRN or Application ID
• current address and contact details
• police certificates
• overseas residence history
• criminal charges and convictions
• previous Partner or Prospective Marriage sponsorships
• whether you were previously sponsored as a partner
• relevant dates for any five-year limitation
• children included in the application
• relationship information
• financial and accommodation undertaking
• any circumstances that may require specific legal consideration

The sponsor's side of the application deserves the same preparation as
the visa applicant's side.