Do We Need to Have Met in Person for a Fiancé Visa?

Why does the fiancé visa require couples to have met in person?

The fiancé visa requires couples to have met in person because the Migration Regulations treat personal knowledge of each other as a basic test of a genuine intention to marry. Without a meeting, the Department has no reliable way to see that the relationship exists outside a screen. The requirement is applied strictly, and no amount of online contact can stand in for it. Our page on the Subclass 300 visa sets out this criterion with the other requirements.

Is meeting once enough for a prospective marriage visa?

Meeting once can satisfy the in-person requirement for a prospective marriage visa, but a single short meeting often makes the rest of the case harder to prove. The Department still has to be satisfied that the couple knows each other personally and genuinely intends to marry. More time together, meetings with each other's families and a steady history of contact all strengthen the application. Our article on a partner visa short relationship explains how brief relationships are assessed.

How do we prove that we have met in person?

Couples prove that they have met in person with records such as boarding passes, passport stamps, hotel bookings, photographs taken together in identifiable places and statements from people who saw them together. The evidence should show where and when each meeting happened. Our guides to partner visa photo evidence and preparing evidence of a genuine relationship explain what makes this material persuasive.

We met online. Can we still get a fiancé visa?

Couples who met online can still get a fiancé visa, provided they have since met in person and can show a real relationship. Meeting online is common and is not a ground for refusal. The Department does look closely at how quickly the relationship moved, the pattern of contact and whether the couple's accounts match. Our article on a partner visa after meeting online explains how online relationships are presented.

What if travel to meet in person is difficult?

Where travel to meet in person is difficult, the couple still needs to meet in person before applying for the Subclass 300, so they should plan a meeting in Australia, the applicant's country or a third country. Visa refusals, cost and family obligations are understood as reasons for delay, but they do not remove the requirement. Our article on the partner visa long-distance relationship explains how couples evidence a relationship conducted mainly at a distance.

How does My Migration Lawyers help couples who have met only a few times?

My Migration Lawyers helps couples who have met only a few times by building a clear timeline of each meeting and the contact between them, and by identifying whether more time together before lodgement would make the application safer. The firm also checks that the couple's accounts of the relationship match before anything is lodged. Couples can speak with our partner visa lawyers about whether their history is ready for a fiancé visa, or whether another trip together should come first.