Offshore Partner Visa (Subclass 309 and 100): The 2026 Guide
The offshore partner visa lets the partner of an Australian sponsor apply for permanent residence from outside Australia. It comes in two stages: the Subclass 309 (temporary) is granted first, then the Subclass 100 (permanent) is decided about two years later. You lodge once, you pay one Department of Home Affairs application charge, and from 1 July 2026 that base charge is approximately AUD $11,710 for the primary applicant.
That is the short version. The longer version, which is what this guide covers, is where the careful preparation pays off. The offshore pathway looks similar to the onshore 820 and 801, but the timing rules and the practical logistics are different, and getting them wrong can stall an application before the Department has even looked at the relationship.
This is a guide for couples where one partner is overseas and the other is an eligible Australian sponsor. We cover who the 309 and 100 are for, the two-stage structure, eligibility, the sponsor rules, the four pillars of evidence, the cost, health and character, how the offshore route differs from the onshore one, and the mistakes that cost people time.
How the Subclass 309 and 100 fit together
The Subclass 309 (temporary) and Subclass 100 (permanent) are a single application processed in two stages. You lodge once. You pay once. The Department assesses the 309 first, then revisits the file roughly two years later to decide the 100.
The 309 lets the applicant travel to and live in Australia while the permanent stage is assessed. Once the 100 is granted, the applicant holds permanent residence, on the same footing as any other Australian permanent resident for work, study and most government services.
The key feature that sets this pathway apart is where the applicant has to be. This is the offshore counterpart to the onshore 820 and 801. If you want the onshore version, our complete guide to the Subclass 820 and 801 partner visa walks through it in the same depth. The core difference is simple to state: for the offshore route, the applicant must usually be outside Australia both when the application is lodged and when the 309 is decided.
Who the offshore partner visa is for
The offshore partner visa is for a person who is outside Australia at the time of lodgement and who is the genuine partner of an eligible Australian sponsor. If the applicant is already onshore on another visa, the onshore 820 and 801 pathway is generally the right one instead.
The Department recognises three relationship pathways, and you need to fit one of them:
- Married. A legally valid marriage recognised under Australian law. Foreign marriages are generally recognised if they were valid in the country where they took place.
- De facto. You must generally have been living together in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before lodgement, unless an exception applies.
- Registered relationship. Registering the relationship under a prescribed Australian state or territory law can waive the 12-month de facto requirement.
The full eligibility criteria sit on the Department’s offshore partner visa (Subclass 309 and 100) page, and it is worth reading alongside this guide. The relationship must be genuine, exclusive and ongoing, and it must remain so through to the permanent decision.
The eligible sponsor and sponsorship limits
Your sponsor must be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen. The sponsorship has to be approved before the visa can be granted, even if the rest of the application is strong. In our experience, the sponsor’s own paperwork is one of the most underestimated parts of a partner application.
There are two limits that catch people out.
- A sponsor generally cannot have approved more than two partner sponsorships in their lifetime.
- A sponsor generally cannot lodge a fresh partner sponsorship within five years of a previous one.
Both limits can sometimes be waived on compelling or compassionate grounds. A child of the new relationship is the most common ground, but these are case-by-case decisions and not safe to assume in advance. If your sponsor has been through a partner application before, this is one of the first things to check, and it is a common reason people speak to our partner and family migration team before lodging anything.
The four pillars of relationship evidence
The Migration Regulations require the Department to consider four categories of evidence when deciding whether a couple is in a genuine, exclusive, ongoing relationship. These are the four pillars, and they apply to married, de facto and registered relationships alike.
The framework comes from Regulation 1.09A of the Migration Regulations 1994, and Department policy applies the same four-pillar structure across all relationship types.
1. Financial aspects
How you share money. Joint bank accounts, joint liabilities such as loans or leases, shared bills, and any pooling of financial resources towards shared commitments. You do not need every account to be joint. You do need to show your finances are intertwined in ways that go beyond splitting a bill.
2. Nature of the household
How you live together, or how you manage a shared life across two countries when you are not yet living under one roof. Tenancy or property documents, mail addressed to each of you, joint responsibility for children or pets, and statements describing how the household runs. Offshore couples often cannot show a shared address yet, so explain the arrangement directly rather than leaving the case officer to infer it.
3. Social aspects
How the relationship is seen by the people around you. Photos at family and social events, joint travel records, and statements from people who know you as a couple. Evidence that both families and social circles recognise the relationship carries real weight here, especially when the couple has spent time apart.
4. Nature of commitment
The intangibles, evidenced concretely. The length of the relationship, exclusivity, plans for the future, knowledge of each other’s history, and evidence of emotional support through difficult periods. A common error is to over-invest in the financial pillar and treat commitment as an afterthought. The decision maker is deciding whether two people are a couple, and each pillar carries weight.
Cost of the offshore partner visa in 2026
The base application charge for the primary offshore partner visa applicant is approximately AUD $11,710 from 1 July 2026, up from AUD $9,365 in the previous year, after Home Affairs raised most visa application charges on 1 July 2026. This single fee covers both the 309 and the 100 stages. There is no second Department charge when the permanent visa is decided.
That base figure is the same for the offshore 309 and 100 as it is for the onshore 820 and 801. A 1.4% surcharge applies to credit card payments made online, and additional charges apply for secondary applicants and dependent children.
Because charges are reviewed each year, always confirm the current amount on the Department’s current visa pricing page before paying. The application charge is only part of the total. You will also pay for health examinations, police clearance certificates from every country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the past 10 years, NAATI-certified translations of non-English documents, and professional fees if you engage a migration lawyer or agent.
Where you have to be: the offshore timing rule
Here is the rule that trips people up. For the offshore partner visa, the applicant must usually be outside Australia when the application is lodged, and again when the Subclass 309 is decided.
That second part matters. Many couples want to spend the waiting period together in Australia, and there are lawful ways to visit while the 309 is being processed, for example on a visitor visa. The catch is that when the Department is ready to grant the 309, the applicant generally needs to be offshore at that moment. Being inside Australia at the wrong time can hold up the grant.
This is very different from the onshore route, where the applicant must be in Australia both at lodgement and at the 820 decision. If your circumstances make the offshore timing awkward, that is exactly the kind of thing worth planning around before you lodge, and our Sydney immigration lawyers deal with this timing question regularly.
Health and character requirements
Both stages of the offshore partner visa require health and character clearance.
The health requirement for the partner visa is Public Interest Criterion 4007, which means a waiver may be available. Most applicants meet the health requirement without difficulty. Where a condition would be a significant cost to the Australian community or would prejudice access to services in short supply, the applicant may not automatically meet it, but because the partner visa sits under PIC 4007 rather than the stricter PIC 4005, a waiver can be considered, weighing the cost against compassionate and other factors. You can read more about how this works on the Department’s health requirement page. Immigration medical examinations for offshore applicants are arranged through panel physicians.
The character requirement is set by section 501 of the Migration Act 1958. Among other grounds, a person fails the character test if they have a “substantial criminal record”, which includes a single sentence of 12 months or more, or two or more sentences totalling 12 months or more. Character concerns are one of the situations where legal advice early is worth it, because a character issue is far easier to address before lodgement than after a refusal. If a character-based refusal has already happened, our visa refusal and appeals team can talk through the review options.
How the offshore 309 and 100 differs from the onshore 820 and 801
The two pathways share the same base charge, the same four pillars of evidence, the same two-stage structure, and the same sponsor rules. What differs is where the applicant has to be, and when.
| Feature | Offshore 309 and 100 | Onshore 820 and 801 |
|---|---|---|
| Where the applicant is at lodgement | Outside Australia | In Australia |
| Where the applicant is at the temporary decision | Usually outside Australia | In Australia |
| Temporary stage | Subclass 309 | Subclass 820 |
| Permanent stage | Subclass 100 | Subclass 801 |
| Bridging visa on lodgement | Not applicable (applicant is offshore) | Bridging Visa A |
| Base charge from 1 July 2026 | Approx AUD $11,710 | Approx AUD $11,710 |
The practical takeaway is that the offshore route is built around the applicant living overseas at the point of lodgement and grant, while the onshore route is built around the applicant already being in Australia and bridging over their existing visa. Choosing the right one is not a preference. It is dictated by where the applicant genuinely is and can be at each key moment.
Common reasons offshore partner visas are delayed or refused
The most common problems we see, in roughly the order they show up:
- Thin or uneven evidence across the four pillars. Strong financial evidence does not rescue weak social evidence.
- The sponsor application not lodged or not approved. It is a separate decision and must be approved before the visa can be granted.
- The applicant being inside Australia at the point the Department is ready to decide the 309.
- A de facto relationship lodged without the 12-month cohabitation period and without a registered relationship or other recognised exception.
- Sponsorship limits triggered by a previous partner application, either the two-in-a-lifetime cap or the five-year rule.
- Health examinations or police certificates left until late, and expiring before the 100 stage.
- Inaccurate disclosure of past visa refusals or criminal history, which can raise character concerns under section 501.
Each of these is fixable when caught early. Most become hard to recover from once the application has been refused.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the offshore partner visa in 2026?
The base application charge is approximately AUD $11,710 for the primary applicant from 1 July 2026, the same figure as the onshore 820 and 801. A 1.4% surcharge applies to credit card payments, and additional charges apply for secondary applicants and children. Confirm the current amount on the Department’s current visa pricing page before paying, as charges are reviewed each year.
How long does the Subclass 309 take?
Processing times vary with the strength of the file and the applicant’s circumstances, and the Department updates its figures regularly. Rather than rely on a fixed number, check the current bands on the Department’s global visa processing times page. A well-prepared application with complete evidence and no character or health complications generally moves through more smoothly than one with gaps.
Can I be in Australia while my Subclass 309 is processed?
You can generally visit Australia lawfully during the wait, for example on a visitor visa, but the applicant must usually be outside Australia when the 309 is actually decided. That timing catch is the single biggest practical difference from the onshore route, so plan any travel around it.
What is the difference between the 309 and the 820?
The 309 is the offshore temporary partner visa, for applicants outside Australia at lodgement. The 820 is the onshore temporary partner visa, for applicants inside Australia. They lead to the permanent 100 and 801 respectively. The evidence, the sponsor rules and the base charge are the same. Where the applicant has to be is what differs.
What happens at the Subclass 100 stage?
About two years after lodgement, the Department reopens the file to decide the permanent Subclass 100. The relationship must still be genuine, ongoing and exclusive, and you will be asked for updated evidence and a fresh statement. Once granted, the 100 is permanent and does not need to be renewed.
A realistic next step
If you are planning an offshore partner visa, the realistic next step is to map your evidence against the four pillars and confirm two things before you pay anything: that your sponsor is eligible and clear of the sponsorship limits, and that the applicant can be offshore at both lodgement and the 309 decision. Get those settled, then decide whether your situation is a straightforward one or one where professional help is worth the investment.
If you want a second opinion before lodging, you can book a consultation with our migration lawyers and we will assess your eligibility and the evidence on file.
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About the author: Tina Nematian is the Principal Lawyer at One Planet Migration Law. She is admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner and is a Registered Migration Agent, and has guided clients through partner, skilled, employer-sponsored, student, and humanitarian visa applications across Australia.
Visa fees, thresholds and processing times in this article were current as of 3 July 2026. Always check immi.gov.au before lodging.
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.
