Subclass 820 vs Subclass 801: What's the Difference and When Do You Apply for Each?

The difference between the subclass 820 and the subclass 801

The subclass 820 is the temporary onshore partner visa. The subclass 801 is the permanent one. They are two stages of a single application, not two separate visas you apply for at different times.

You lodge both at once, from inside Australia, and you pay one Department application charge that covers both. The Department assesses the 820 first. If it is granted you can live, work and study in Australia and access Medicare, but you are not a permanent resident. Roughly two years after your original lodgement date the Department returns to the same file and decides the 801. That is when permanent residence is granted.

So the question of when you apply for each has a short answer: you do not. You applied for both on the day you lodged. What happens later is an assessment, not a new application.

The reason this confuses people is that the second stage does require something from you. The Department will contact you and ask for updated evidence that the relationship is continuing, and there is a form to complete. That feels like applying again. It is not, and in particular there is no second government charge.

Why one application covers two visas

The structure exists because the Department is testing two different things at two different times.

At the 820 stage it is asking whether you are in a genuine and continuing relationship right now, at the point of decision. At the 801 stage it is asking whether that relationship has in fact continued over the intervening period. A relationship that looks convincing on paper at lodgement but has ended eighteen months later should not lead to permanent residence, and the two stage structure is how that is caught.

The practical consequence for applicants is the one most people miss. Your evidence obligation does not end when the 820 is granted. The 801 is assessed on evidence covering the period after lodgement, which means the documents that decide your permanent residence are the ones you gather during the wait, not the ones you filed at the start.

The offshore pathway works the same way with different numbers. The subclass 309 is the temporary stage and the subclass 100 is the permanent stage, lodged together from outside Australia. If you are overseas, the subclass 309 is your equivalent of the 820.

There is one further reason the two stage structure matters commercially. Because the charge is paid once and is not refunded, choosing the wrong pathway is expensive. An applicant who lodges the onshore 820 while outside Australia, or the offshore 309 while inside it, has not merely made a form error. The application is invalid for the pathway chosen, the charge is gone, and the two year clock never started.

What happens at the subclass 820 stage

The 820 is decided first, and it is the stage that takes the longest.

On the Department's published figures, 50% of subclass 820 applications are decided within 23 months and 90% within 29 months. While you wait, if your existing substantive visa expires, you will usually hold a Bridging Visa A, which keeps you lawful and generally carries full work rights.

At this stage the Department is assessing everything: the sponsor's eligibility and approval, your relationship against the four criteria in Migration Regulation 1.15A, your health, your character, and whether Schedule 3 applies because you lodged without a substantive visa.

When the 820 is granted you get a visa with no expiry date in the ordinary sense. It remains in effect until the 801 is decided, so there is no gap and nothing to renew. You have full work and study rights, you can travel in and out of Australia, and you can access Medicare.

What you do not have is permanent residence. That matters for several things people assume come with the 820: you are not yet eligible to apply for citizenship, you cannot sponsor a family member as a permanent resident, and your access to some government payments is limited.

What happens at the subclass 801 stage

Roughly two years from the date you lodged, not from the date the 820 was granted, the Department will write to you about the permanent stage.

You will be asked to confirm the relationship is continuing and to provide updated evidence covering the period since lodgement. The same four criteria apply. In practice the Department is looking for the same categories of document as before, but dated after your lodgement date: a current lease, recent joint statements, ongoing shared liabilities, and evidence that other people still know you as a couple.

The 801 is usually decided faster than the 820, because the Department already holds the file and the bulk of the assessment was done at the first stage. It is not instant, and it is not guaranteed.

If the 801 is granted you become a permanent resident. From that point the usual permanent residence consequences follow, including eligibility to apply for citizenship once you meet the residence requirements.

The timing of each stage

Two dates control everything, and both run from lodgement rather than from grant.

The eligibility date for the 801 is generally two years from the date the combined application was lodged. That is why lodging early has a value beyond queue position: it starts the two year clock sooner.

The decision date for the 820 is whenever the Department reaches your file, currently around 23 months at the median. Because that is close to two years, many applicants find the two stages arrive nearly together, and some are granted the 820 and then contacted about the 801 within months.

There are limited circumstances where the two year period does not apply and permanent residence can be considered earlier, including where the relationship is long standing at the time of application or where there is a dependent child. Those provisions are narrow and depend on your specific facts.

It is also worth being clear about what the two year period is not. It is not a probation period during which the Department monitors you, and it is not a period you have to spend continuously in Australia. You can work, travel, move house and change jobs. What it is, is a window over which evidence accumulates, and the only thing you have to do during it is keep that evidence.

What can go wrong between the two stages

The gap between the 820 and the 801 is where partner visa matters most often come apart, precisely because applicants treat the 820 grant as the finish line.

The relationship ends. If it ends before the 801 is decided, you are not automatically out of options. The family violence provisions may allow the permanent visa to be granted where the relationship ended because of family violence, and separate provisions exist where there is a child of the relationship or where the sponsor has died. Each depends on evidence, and the position is considerably better for applicants who seek advice early rather than after the Department has been told.

The evidence trail stops. An applicant who filed a strong application, was granted the 820, and then gathered nothing for two years has to reconstruct the period from memory. That is the single most avoidable problem at the 801 stage.

The Department loses contact. The 801 request goes to the address and email on your ImmiAccount. If those are out of date, the request still counts as sent. Keep them current and check the account periodically even when nothing appears to be happening.

Circumstances change without being disclosed. A change of address, the birth of a child, a period living apart or a change in either party's circumstances should be notified rather than discovered. Silence followed by a surprise is worse than a timely update.

If the 820 or the 801 is refused, there is usually a right of review to the Administrative Review Tribunal, but the deadline is short and strict, and it runs from the date you are taken to have been notified rather than the date you read the letter. Our page on partner visa refusals sets out how that works.

If you are approaching the permanent stage and are not sure what the Department will want, our partner visa lawyers can review the position before the request arrives. You can book a consultation online.