If you can
the Partner visa 309 leading to the permanent 100 visa is the cleaner route. You marry overseas and skip the second-stage application. Our step-by-step 309 visa guide walks through it.
The Prospective Marriage Visa Ends the Long Distance
One visa brings your fiancé to Australia, one wedding turns it into permanent residency. Book a strategy session and find out if the prospective marriage visa fits your situation.
Which One Is Yours, the 300 Visa or the 309/100 Visa?
One question settles it. Can you legally marry your partner before you apply?
If you cannot
because family will not travel, an overseas ceremony would not be recognised, or the wedding belongs in one specific place, the prospective marriage visa subclass 300 exists for exactly that situation.
| Subclass 300 Visa | Subclass 309 and 100 Visas | |
|---|---|---|
| Married when you apply | No, engaged | Yes, or registered de facto |
| Where the wedding happens | Usually in Australia | Overseas, before you apply |
| Deadline to marry | Before the visa expires, no extensions | Already done |
| First charge | AUD 11,710 | AUD 11,710 |
| Second-stage charge | About AUD 1,955 for the 820 visa | None |
| Best for | Couples who need the wedding in Australia | Couples already married or 12 months de facto |
The subclass 300 visa costs about AUD 1,955 more across the whole journey. That buys you a wedding in Australia with your people in the room.
Still weighing it up? Read onshore versus offshore partner visas, or see every option on our partner visa hub.
What Does the Prospective Marriage Visa Give You?
The Subclass 300 visa is recognised as the fiance visa Australia offers to couples who plan to marry here. It runs for 9 to 15 months from the day it is granted, and you need to be outside Australia when you apply and when the decision is made.
You come to Australia to marry.
You pick the kind of wedding you want. A registry ceremony, a religious service or a family celebration all count.
You can work straight away.
There is no waiting period and no limit on who you work for. Employers check your work rights through VEVO, and our guide to VEVO shows how. You can study too, if you pay your own fees.
You can travel in and out.
You are free to leave Australia and come back as often as you need while the visa is valid.
Your children can come with you.
They are included in the same application when they meet the health and character rules. For a child who cannot be included, our child visa page explains the separate pathway.
Your next application costs much less.
After the wedding you lodge the Partner visa 820. Lodge it while your 300 visa is still valid and the charge drops from AUD 11,710 to about AUD 1,955, because you already paid in full once. The permanent 801 visa follows, usually about two years later.
What Are the Prospective Marriage Visa Requirements?
The 300 visa takes two applications rather than one. You lodge the visa itself on Form 47SP through ImmiAccount, and your partner lodges the sponsorship separately. Both applications have to succeed. Run our partner visa eligibility check before you start.
Both partners are 18 or older
The applicant is outside Australia when you apply and when the visa is granted
You have met your partner in person at least once after you both turned 18, because photographs and video calls alone do not satisfy this requirement
You genuinely intend to marry before the visa expires
You pass the health requirement, which means a medical examination booked through a panel clinic such as Bupa Medical Visa Services. The appointment usually covers a physical check, a chest X-ray and blood tests, and our visa medicals guide walks you through it
You meet the character requirement, which means you get an AFP National Police Check and get police certificates from every country where you spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years
You have no outstanding debt to the Australian government
You have signed the Australian Values Statement
Same-gender and opposite-gender relationships are treated identically. Full detail sits in our guide to partner visa eligibility.
What you need as the sponsor?
You need to be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen. You then lodge your own application, Form 40SP, through your own ImmiAccount. That form only becomes available after your partner has lodged and paid for their visa, which is why so many sponsors forget it. Put it in your calendar for the same week. Our guide to sponsor requirements and obligations explains what you are agreeing to.
The check most sponsors skip.
Under regulation 1.20J, you can be approved as a partner sponsor twice in your lifetime, and five years must pass between partner visa applications. The five years run from the date the earlier application was lodged, and the limit is assessed when your sponsorship is decided rather than when you lodge it.
Two points people ask about.
The limit counts your sponsorships, so it normally means two different partners across your life. It also counts against you if you were once sponsored as a partner yourself, rather than only when you have sponsored someone else. If you have already reached the limit, you need a waiver, and waivers turn on compelling circumstances affecting you as the sponsor.
Run this check before either of you spends anything.
What Counts as Genuine Relationship Evidence?
Your file turns on whether a case officer accepts that the relationship is real and that you genuinely intend to marry. Home Affairs looks for specific pieces of evidence rather than general goodwill.
Two supporting statements on Form 888 from people over 18 who know you both, and our Form 888 walkthrough shows what a strong one says
Proof you met face-to-face as adults, with dates, places, and photographs
Evidence the wedding is real, usually a letter from your celebrant
A written relationship history, from how you met to your plans as a married couple
Long-distance relationships pass all the time
Message history, video calls, money transfers, flight records and family involvement on both sides do the work a shared lease does for other couples.
Thin evidence drives most refusals.
See the most common partner visa refusal reasons before you build your file. And never pad it, because bogus documents carry consequences far beyond one refusal.
Which Four Things Control Your File?
Do not marry before the decision arrives.
Marrying while the 300 visa is still being assessed ends your eligibility for it. You then update ImmiAccount under Change in Situation, attach the certificate, ask to be considered for the 309 visa and the 100 visa, and withdraw the prospective marriage application. Skipping the withdrawal produces a refusal.
Your first entry date.
Your grant letter names it, and you have to arrive in Australia before it passes.
The Notice of Intended Marriage.
You give it to an authorised celebrant at least one month and no more than 18 months before the ceremony. If you are considering an online ceremony, check first whether Australia recognises the marriage it produces.
The visa expiry date.
Condition 8519 requires you to marry before the visa ends, and you should lodge the 820 visa before that date as well. No extensions exist, so a wedding that slips past the date costs you the visa and the reduced fee.
What Is the 300 Visa Processing Time?
Plan for roughly two years apart. The current published figures sit in the FAQ below, and you can always check them yourself on the processing times tool, since Home Affairs updates them monthly.
What you can influence is the quality of the file. A complete application at lodgement avoids the request-for-information cycle, and that cycle is where most of the avoidable delay sits. Our partner visa processing time guide explains what else moves the clock.
What Does the Prospective Marriage Visa Cost in Australia?
Charges index every 1 July, so it is worth checking these figures yourself on the Home Affairs fees page before you pay anything. If you would like the fuller picture, our breakdown of partner visa fees in Australia sets out the whole spend.
Home Affairs does not refund the charge if the visa is refused.
The reduced second-stage charge also depends on lodging the 820 visa while your 300 visa is still valid, so the expiry date is a financial deadline as well as a legal one.
What Do People Miss?
A child from a previous relationship.
Children under 18 need identity documents, proof of your relationship to them, medicals, and character documents if they are 16 or 17. Where another person has a legal right to decide where the child lives and is not travelling, you need their consent on Form 1229, a court order, or evidence the child's home country permits permanent departure. Dependants aged 18 and over need Form 47A. Start this early, because that consent stalls more family files than anything else. See also our guide to the dependent child visa.
New Zealand passport holders.
Tell the border officer you hold a prospective marriage visa and do not want a Special Category visa. A subclass 444 visa granted on arrival ceases your 300 visa, and you cannot get it back.
Forced marriage and family violence.
Forced marriage is a crime in Australia, and support is available through the Attorney-General's Department. If you are experiencing family violence, visa options may still exist. Contact us and the conversation stays confidential.
If the relationship ends.
Lodge a Notification of Relationship Cessation through the Update Details tab in ImmiAccount, and change your passwords the same day.
If a refusal or cancellation sits on your file.
It does not end this pathway, though it does change how the application should be built. See our guide to visa cancellation in Australia.
Frequently Asked Questions
The subclass 300 visa lets you travel to Australia to marry your Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen partner. It runs for 9 to 15 months. After the wedding you apply for the Partner visa 820 and 801 to reach permanent residency. Confirm current rules on the Department of Home Affairs page.
Home Affairs recorded a median of 23 months for Partner provisional and temporary visas in July 2026. Published subclass figures have run between roughly 14 and 26 months, updated monthly on the processing times tool.
AUD 11,710 for the main applicant, AUD 5,860 per additional applicant aged 18 and over, and AUD 2,935 per child. Medicals, police checks, translations and professional fees sit on top.
They suit different couples. Choose the 300 visa when you cannot marry before applying. Choose the 309 and 100 visas when you are already married or have 12 months of de facto history, because that route removes the second-stage application.
The 309 and 100 visas reach permanent residency in fewer steps, since the 300 visa adds a wedding and a second application before the same destination.
Only on a visa that already permits it, such as a Visitor visa 600. Check whether condition 8503 applies before you book anything. You must be outside Australia when you lodge and when the 300 visa is granted.
The visa lapses and no extensions exist. Other options may apply, and they need arranging well before the expiry date.
You can self-lodge. A registered agent reduces refusal risk where evidence is complex, where either party has a prior refusal, where the sponsor has sponsored before, or where children are included.
More answers sit on our frequently asked questions page.
Start the Application That Brings Them Home
You have a wedding that has to happen in one place, and a system that decides whether it can. We handle the system so you can plan the wedding.
The Migration follows the MARA Code of Conduct at every stage. No registered migration agent can guarantee a visa outcome, and a proper strategy session materially reduces your risk of refusal.