Do I Need a New Police Check for Partner Visa 801 in 2026?
In most cases, yes. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official page for the Partner visa (Permanent) (Subclass 801), you usually need to provide a current Australian police certificate for the permanent stage if you did not attach one with your subclass 820 application, and you may be asked for a new one if your earlier certificate has expired. For immigration purposes a police certificate is valid for 12 months from its issue date, and only a complete disclosure National Police Certificate issued by the Australian Federal Police is accepted. This is general information rather than advice tailored to your circumstances; the requirements that apply to you and how they should be met are set out on the Home Affairs pages, and anyone whose situation is complicated may want professional help applying those rules.
Why is another police certificate asked for at the 801 stage?
Character is assessed again at the permanent stage, not only when you lodged the temporary visa. The Department's page asks you to submit character documents along with identity documents, updated relationship evidence, and details of any family members still in the application.
The relevant point is timing. Many applicants lodged their 820 and 801 applications together at least two years before any case officer looks at the second stage, and a certificate that was current at lodgement may no longer cover the period up to the decision.
Do I need a new check if I already gave one with my 820?
Not automatically, but often. The page draws the line at expiry rather than at whether you have previously been cleared: a new Australian police certificate may be requested if your previous certificate has expired, and validity runs 12 months from the date of issue.
Put another way, holding an old check does not exempt you. What matters is whether the certificate is still inside that 12-month window when the permanent stage is assessed. Because partner visa processing can be long, a certificate obtained near the start of the two-year wait will usually have run out long before someone reviews the file, which is why re-checking the issue date is the practical first step.
Which Australian certificate counts — and why a state police one does not
Only one type is accepted. The Department accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police and does not accept standard disclosure certificates, nor national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police.
This trips people up because the labels sound interchangeable. A certificate obtained through a state police force, or a product described as a "standard disclosure" check, looks like a police check and is used for employment purposes, but it will not satisfy the immigration requirement. Before paying for a check, confirm the product is the AFP's complete disclosure National Police Certificate; the Australian Federal Police publishes its National Police Checks service details.
How does the 12-month clock actually work?
It starts on the issue date printed on the certificate and runs for 12 months. It is not reset by the date you attach the document to ImmiAccount, by the date your 820 was granted, or by the date you are invited to provide documents.
A useful implication: applying earlier rather than later can waste a certificate. If you obtain a check many months before you are eligible to submit second-stage documents, part of its validity may pass before anyone assesses it, and it may then need to be done again.
Do I also need overseas police certificates?
Yes, if the residence threshold is met. You need an overseas police certificate from any country — including your home country — where you have spent a total of 12 months or more since the grant of your 820 visa.
Note that this is a separate test from the Australian certificate's expiry. It counts time spent, accumulated across separate stays, since the 820 grant date; the 12-month validity rule for the Australian certificate instead counts months since the document was issued. Short trips back home that together add to 12 months can therefore trigger an overseas certificate even for applicants who have lived mainly in Australia. The Department lists overseas posts where such certificates can be requested.
What about dependent family members?
For every family member who currently holds a subclass 820 or 445 visa, the Department asks for copies of their passport, documents showing changes to their situation, and police certificates where applicable for dependents aged 16 or older. That Australian certificate requirement is the same AFP complete disclosure one; it is not a separate, looser test for family members.
When can I submit, and to which application does this attach?
Eligibility for consideration comes two years after you applied for the temporary and permanent visas together. The Department may grant the 801 in less than two years if you were in a long-term partner relationship with your sponsor when you applied, and if the permanent visa was granted immediately with the 820 there is nothing further to do — always worth confirming in VEVO which visa you currently hold before acting on anything here.
Assuming the usual two-stage case, second-stage documents should not be attached before that two-year point. In ImmiAccount the path is: select "New application"; select "Family"; select "Stage 2 – Permanent Partner Visa Assessment"; then attach documents. Each document only needs to be attached once even if it supports several requirements, labels should be clear, the limit is 100 documents per person and cannot be increased, and no document needs to be certified. Non-English documents must be translated into English, with translators in Australia accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.
Should I refresh an unexpired certificate anyway?
That is a judgement call rather than a stated rule. The official position is that an expired certificate can lead to a request for a new one, and missing documents can delay processing, so keeping an eye on the expiry date and uploading a fresh certificate through ImmiAccount before it lapses is a reasonable precaution for anyone whose file sits in a long queue. At the same time, there is no stated obligation to obtain one that is not yet due, and repeatedly re-attaching a valid document adds nothing to the assessment.
The general guidance to update documents and relationship evidence regularly through ImmiAccount reflects that partner applications can take considerable time to decide; the safest reading is that your police certificate should be current whenever the decision is made, not merely valid on the day you submitted it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a state police check acceptable if it is a national police certificate?
No. The Department of Home Affairs states it accepts only complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police and does not accept standard disclosure certificates or national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police. The document's name matters more than the service it came from.
Do I need a new police certificate if my 820 application already included one?
Possibly. The page explains you usually need one at the permanent stage if you did not attach one with the 820, and separately that a new certificate may be requested if a previous certificate has expired. Having supplied one before does not exempt you once the 12-month validity has passed.
How long is an Australian police certificate valid for immigration?
Twelve months from the date of issue, according to Home Affairs. Validity is counted from the issue date on the certificate, not from when you upload it or when you were asked for documents.
Do I need a police certificate from my home country?
Only if you have spent a total of 12 months or more there since your 820 visa was granted. The requirement covers any country, including your home country, and the 12 months is a cumulative total rather than a single continuous stay.
What if my certificate expires while my 801 is still being processed?
You may be asked to provide a new one. Because partner visa processing times can be long, applicants commonly need to refresh both police certificates and relationship evidence; nothing in the official guidance suggests an expired certificate can simply be left until the decision.
Do dependent children need police certificates too?
Family members holding a subclass 820 or 445 visa are covered by the same request for updated documents, and police certificates are required for dependents aged 16 or older where applicable. The accepted document is the same AFP complete disclosure certificate.