The Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) is for someone who is engaged to an Australian and wants to come to Australia to get married. It is an offshore visa, which means you have to be outside Australia when you apply and when it is granted. You marry your fiance during the visa period, then apply for a partner visa to stay long term. If you are already married, this is not your visa, and we explain the better fit further down.
This guide is for engaged couples where one of you is an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, and the other is living overseas. We will walk through who can apply, what evidence the Department of Home Affairs is looking for, the meeting requirement that trips a lot of people up, and what happens after the wedding.
What is the Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa?
The subclass 300 is the visa for fiances. It lets an engaged person travel to Australia, marry their Australian partner, and then lodge a partner visa application to stay. Think of it as a bridge between an engagement overseas and a married life in Australia.
It is a temporary visa. You are expected to marry your sponsor within the visa period and then move on to the partner visa pathway. The full eligibility, conditions, and current costs are set out on the Home Affairs Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa listing, which is the page to check before you do anything else.
A few things people often get wrong. You cannot already be married to your sponsor when you apply, because then you are a spouse, not a fiance. You also need to apply from outside Australia. If you are onshore and already married, the partner visa requirements are where you should be reading instead.
Who can apply: the core requirements
Most subclass 300 refusals are not about love. They are about evidence in the wrong category or a missing requirement that the couple did not realise applied to them. Here is what the visa asks for.
You and your sponsor must genuinely intend to marry during the visa period, and you must intend to live together as a married couple afterwards. This is the “intention to marry” element, and it is not enough to simply say it. Home Affairs wants to see real wedding planning.
You must also have met in person as adults, since turning 18, and be personally known to each other. A relationship built entirely online or through family arrangement, with no in-person meeting, will not meet this requirement. This catches couples who got engaged during travel restrictions or who relied on video calls.
There is a genuine relationship element too. The relationship has to be real and continuing, not arranged solely to obtain a visa. You will need evidence that you know each other, that you have spent time together, and that families and friends are aware of the engagement.
Other points to be aware of:
- You apply from outside Australia, and you also need to be outside Australia when the visa is decided.
- You generally need to be of marriageable age under Australian law by the time you marry.
- You need an eligible sponsor (more on that next).
- Health and character requirements apply, as they do for most Australian visas.
We have set out the evidence side in more detail in our guide on how much evidence you really need for a spouse visa. The four evidence categories used for partner applications are a useful framework for a subclass 300 too, because the same relationship test runs through both.
Who can sponsor a subclass 300 applicant?
Your sponsor is usually your Australian fiance. They need to be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen, and they take on formal sponsorship obligations once the visa is granted.
Sponsorship is not a formality. There are limits on how often a person can sponsor a partner or prospective spouse, and there can be a required gap between sponsorships. A sponsor with a relevant criminal history may also need to provide police checks, and certain convictions can affect whether they can sponsor at all. The current rules are explained on the Home Affairs page covering additional sponsorship requirements for partner and prospective marriage visas.
If your sponsor has sponsored someone before, or has anything in their background that might be flagged, it is worth getting advice early. A sponsorship problem can sink an otherwise strong application, and it is far easier to deal with before you lodge.
How long is the visa valid, and when must you marry?
The subclass 300 is granted for a set period, and you are expected to marry within that period. The visa lets you travel to and from Australia during that time, so you are not locked in the country once it is granted.
The subclass 300 is generally granted so that you can stay in Australia for 9 to 15 months from the date of grant, as set out on the official subclass 300 visa listing. The exact period for your grant is stated on your visa grant letter, so read it carefully, because the marriage and your partner visa application both need to fit inside that window.
The practical takeaway is simple. Do not treat the validity period as a loose target. Book the wedding, keep the documents, and plan to lodge your partner visa application before the period runs out. Leaving it late is one of the more stressful situations we see, and it is avoidable.
What happens after you marry: the partner visa step
Marrying your sponsor is the start of the next stage, not the finish line. Once you are married, you generally apply for a partner visa to live in Australia long term.
Because you will already be in Australia as a married person at that point, the onshore partner pathway is the usual route. That is the subclass 820 and 801 partner visa, where the 820 is the temporary stage and the 801 is the permanent stage. The official Home Affairs Partner visa (apply in Australia) (subclass 820 and 801) listing sets out how that application works.
There can be a reduced second visa application charge for the partner visa when you held a subclass 300, but you should confirm the current arrangement on the official fees pages rather than assume it. The point is that the prospective marriage visa is designed to flow into the partner visa, and the relationship evidence you build for the 300 carries straight over.
Here is the path at a glance:
- Apply for the subclass 300 from outside Australia, while engaged.
- Obtain a grant, then travel to Australia.
- Marry your sponsor within the visa period.
- Lodge the onshore partner visa (820/801) before the period ends.
- Hold the temporary 820, then progress to the permanent 801.
Subclass 300 at a glance
| Feature | Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) |
|---|---|
| Who it is for | A fiance of an Australian sponsor, not yet married |
| Where you apply from | Offshore (outside Australia at application and decision) |
| Relationship status | Engaged, intending to marry, not already married to the sponsor |
| Key tests | Met in person, intention to marry, genuine relationship |
| Visa type | Temporary, generally a 9 to 15 month stay from the date of grant |
| Next step | Marry, then apply for a partner visa (820/801) onshore |
For the wider family picture and how this sits alongside other options, our family migration service page is a good starting point.
How long does a subclass 300 take to process?
Processing times for partner and prospective marriage visas vary a lot, depending on demand, where you apply, and how complete your application is. Home Affairs publishes current global processing time estimates, and these move over time, so we are not going to put a fixed figure here that could be out of date by the time you read it.
What you can control is the quality of your lodgement. A complete application, with the relationship evidence organised and the meeting requirement clearly addressed, tends to move more smoothly than one the Department has to chase for documents. Thin or disorganised evidence is the most common cause of delay and refusal that we see.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for a prospective marriage visa if I am already married?
No. The subclass 300 is for engaged couples who have not yet married. If you are already married to your Australian partner, you would look at a partner visa instead. You can read our guide on how to apply for a partner visa while still married overseas for that situation, or speak to us about which pathway fits your circumstances.
Do we really have to have met in person?
Yes. Having met in person and being personally known to each other is a core requirement for the subclass 300. A relationship conducted only online, or an engagement arranged without the couple ever meeting, will not satisfy this. If you have met but your evidence of that meeting is thin, it is worth strengthening it before you lodge.
Can I work in Australia on a subclass 300?
The subclass 300 generally allows you to work in Australia during the visa period, but your grant letter is the authority on the exact conditions attached to your visa. Always check the conditions on your grant notification and on the official subclass 300 listing, because conditions can differ between visas and can change.
What if we do not marry within the visa period?
The visa is built around marrying within the validity period and then applying for a partner visa. If circumstances change and the wedding does not happen in time, your options narrow and you should get advice quickly. This is one of the situations where leaving it late causes real problems, so plan the timing carefully from the start.
Is the prospective marriage visa cheaper than a partner visa?
The first cost is the prospective marriage visa application charge, and then there is a separate partner visa charge later. There can be a concession on the later partner visa charge for people who held a subclass 300, but you should confirm the current figures on the official Home Affairs fees pages before you budget. We do not quote fees here that may have changed.
The realistic next step is to confirm your eligibility, check the meeting and intention requirements against your own situation, and map out the timing through to the partner visa. If you would like that mapped to your circumstances, book a consultation with our migration lawyers and we will talk it through with you.
About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is an Australian Legal Practitioner and a Registered Migration Agent, and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or migration advice. Visa rules change frequently and outcomes depend on individual circumstances. Speak with a registered migration lawyer or agent before making any application. Figures were current as of June 2026; always check immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before lodging.
