• You must have a sponsor when you lodge your application and when you are on this visa.
• We must approve your sponsor. There are limitations on approval.
• You can’t change your sponsor. The person who sponsors you when you apply for the visa must be same person who sponsors you for 2 years after we grant your temporary 309 Partner visa
• You can’t change your sponsor. The person who sponsors you when you apply for the visa must be same person who sponsors you for 2 years after we grant your temporary 820 Partner visa.

To be a married applicant:

• you and your spouse must both be committed to a shared life together to the exclusion of all others
• your relationship with your spouse must be genuine and continuing
• you must live with your spouse or do not live apart on a permanent basis
• your marriage must be valid under Australian law

To find out if your marriage is valid under Australian law, contact the relevant state or territory agency for births, deaths and marriages.

To be a de facto partner, you must be in a de facto relationship.

• you and your partner are in a de facto relationship if all these apply:
• you are not married to each other
• you are committed to a shared life to the exclusion of all others
• your relationship is genuine and continuing
• you live together or do not live separately and apart on a permanent basis
• you are not related by family

Usually your de facto relationship must have existed for at least 12 months immediately before you apply for the visa. Time spent dating or in an online relationship might not count as being in a de facto relationship.

The 12-month requirement will not apply if you can show us compelling and compassionate circumstances exist to grant the subclass 820 visa.

The 12-month requirement also will not apply if:

• your partner holds or held a permanent humanitarian visa
• your de facto relationship existed before we granted their visa
• your de facto partner told us about the relationship before we granted their visa 

It also will not apply if you:

• are in a de facto relationship with a partner who is an applicant for a permanent humanitarian visa, or
• you have registered your relationship with an Australian authority such as a registry of births, deaths and marriages

You might still be granted the temporary visa if your relationship has broken down or if your sponsor died.