What Happens to Your Subclass 820 Application If the Relationship Breaks Down?

What happens to your subclass 820 application if the relationship ends

If your relationship ends while a subclass 820 application is pending, you may still have options. The application is not automatically refused, your visa is not automatically cancelled, and in several situations permanent residence can still be granted.

Which option applies depends on three things: whether the relationship ended because of family violence, whether there is a child of the relationship, and whether you have already been granted the temporary subclass 820 or are still waiting for it.

There is one thing to know before anything else, because it is the single most common and most damaging misunderstanding in this area. Your sponsor cannot cancel your visa. A sponsor who says they will withdraw the visa, or have you deported, or have you removed from the country, is describing a power they do not have. Sponsors can withdraw their sponsorship and can notify the Department that the relationship has ended, but the decision about your visa belongs to the Department, and it is made on the law and the evidence.

Get advice before the Department is told, not after. The options in this area depend heavily on evidence, and evidence is easier to gather while you still have access to documents, a shared address and your own records.

If you are in immediate danger, contact police on 000. For confidential support at any time, 1800RESPECT is available on 1800 737 732.

Your obligation to tell the Department

You are required to notify the Department of a change in your circumstances, and the end of the relationship is such a change.

That obligation is real, and not complying with it creates problems of its own, including under the provisions dealing with false or misleading information. This is not a situation where saying nothing is a strategy.

What you do control is the sequence. Getting advice first, understanding which provision you fall under, and gathering the evidence that supports it before notifying is not concealment. It is preparation. A notification that arrives with an explanation and supporting material puts you in a materially different position from one that arrives bare, or from a situation where the Department hears it from your former sponsor first.

The timing point that matters most is whether the temporary subclass 820 has been granted. Before the grant, the relationship is a criterion for the visa you are seeking, and its end goes directly to whether the visa can be granted at all. After the grant, the question is about the permanent subclass 801 stage, and the specific provisions allowing it to be granted despite a relationship ending come into play.

The family violence provisions

Australian migration law recognises that a partner visa applicant should not be forced to remain in a violent relationship to secure permanent residence. The family violence provisions exist for that reason.

Where a relationship has ended and the applicant, or a member of their family unit, has suffered family violence committed by the sponsor, the permanent partner visa can still be granted. The applicant must generally have been granted the temporary visa first, and must still meet the other criteria such as health and character.

Several points matter in practice.

You do not need a police report. The provisions accept a range of evidence, including judicially determined claims and non judicially determined claims supported by prescribed types of evidence from qualified people. A criminal charge or conviction is not a precondition.

Family violence is defined broadly and is not limited to physical assault. Conduct that causes a person to fear for their wellbeing or safety, including coercive, controlling and financially abusive behaviour, falls within it.

The provisions were extended in 2024 to cover prospective marriage visa holders without requiring them to marry. If you hold a subclass 300 and the relationship ended in violence, that change may apply to you.

Your sponsor is not asked to agree, and their account is not determinative. This is an assessment made by the Department on the evidence.

Our page on the family violence provisions sets out the evidence requirements in more detail.

Where there is a child of the relationship

Separate provisions apply where there is a child of the relationship.

Where a relationship ends and there is a child, the permanent partner visa can still be considered, with the assessment turning on matters including parental responsibility, contact with the child, and obligations to support the child. As with the family violence provisions, the applicant generally needs to have been granted the temporary visa first.

This is an evidence driven assessment rather than an automatic entitlement. Court orders, parenting arrangements, evidence of contact and evidence of financial support all matter. Where arrangements are informal, documenting them becomes important rather than optional.

There is also a provision dealing with the death of the sponsor, which allows the permanent visa to be considered where the applicant would have continued in the relationship and has developed close business, cultural or personal ties in Australia.

If the relationship ends before the subclass 820 is granted

This is the hardest position, and it needs to be said plainly.

The relationship is a criterion for the grant of the subclass 820. If it has ended before a decision, the criterion is not met, and the family violence provisions generally operate at the permanent stage rather than allowing the temporary visa to be granted to someone no longer in the relationship.

That does not mean there is nothing to do. There may be other visa options depending on your circumstances, including protection where returning home would expose you to harm, or another temporary visa to keep you lawful while you decide. What matters is dealing with it promptly, because your bridging visa is tied to the partner visa application and the position changes when that application is finally determined.

Applicants in this position who are also affected by violence should get advice urgently rather than waiting, because the available options narrow as time passes.

One further point on the sequence. Your bridging visa remains in effect while the partner visa application is being decided, and generally continues through a review at the Administrative Review Tribunal if one is lodged in time. That means an application that cannot succeed on the relationship criterion still buys time in which to deal with your position, provided nothing is withdrawn prematurely. Withdrawing an application is a decision with immediate consequences for your status, and it is not one to take without advice.

What to do now

Five steps, in order.

Deal with safety first. If you are in immediate danger, contact police on 000. 1800RESPECT is available on 1800 737 732 for confidential support and can help with safety planning. Nothing in a visa matter is more urgent than this.

Gather your documents while you can. Identity documents, your visa grant notices, the lease, bank statements, your ImmiAccount login, medical records and anything relating to the relationship. Applicants who leave a shared home without these find them very hard to obtain later, and the evidence requirements in this area are document heavy.

Get advice before notifying the Department. Which provision applies to you determines what evidence you need and how the notification should be framed. This is not a step to take on your own.

Do not rely on what your sponsor tells you about your visa. They cannot cancel it, they cannot have you removed, and their agreement is not required for the family violence provisions to apply.

Keep your contact details current in ImmiAccount. If you have moved, the Department's correspondence still goes to the address it holds, and a request or a decision sent there counts as sent. Missing a deadline because a letter went to a former shared address is an avoidable disaster.

A note on what these conversations involve. You do not have to be ready to file anything to have one, and you do not have to have decided anything. Nothing you tell a lawyer goes to the Department or to anyone else without your instruction. If the position is that you have no realistic option, you will be told that plainly rather than being signed up.

These matters are among the most fact specific in migration law, and the difference between a strong position and a lost one is often evidence that was available at the time and is not available later. If your relationship has ended or is ending, our partner visa lawyers can tell you which provision applies before anything is filed. You can book a consultation online.