Adding Your Partner to a Subclass 835 Application in 2026: Relationship Evidence
Your partner can be included in your Remaining Relative visa (Subclass 835) application, and the documentary test depends on which of two paths you are on: you lodge either your current marriage certificate, or enough documents to prove you have been in a de facto relationship with your partner for at least 12 months before you apply. That is the partner document list published by the Australian Department of Home Affairs on its Remaining Relative visa (Subclass 835) page. This article is general information only and is not advice tailored to your circumstances; where your own history matters, rely on the official page and on professional advice rather than on this summary.
Can my partner be added, and in which role?
A partner enters a Subclass 835 case as a secondary applicant, not as a separate visa applicant. The official page lists partner documents under the documents you gather before applying: identity documents, character documents, documents about their other relationships where relevant, and then the relationship evidence itself.
Keep the second, easily confused role separate. Your Subclass 835 sponsorship must come from your eligible relative, or from that relative's eligible partner, and the sponsor must be aged 18 or over and be a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen. The Migration Regulations 1994 criteria for this subclass also require the sponsor to be usually resident in Australia, and require a sponsor who is the Australian relative's partner to be living with that relative. Those regulatory details are worth confirming against the Department's current published guidance before you rely on them.
The practical consequence is that sponsorship has to cover your partner as well. Under the Migration Regulations 1994 secondary criteria, the sponsorship must include the secondary applicant, and the partner must be a member of your family unit in the regulatory sense.
Married or de facto: which evidence does the page actually ask for?
If you are married, the official page asks for your current marriage certificate. If you are not married, the page asks for enough documents to prove a de facto relationship of at least 12 months before you apply.
The 12-month period is measured backwards from the date you apply, not from the date you decided to apply. So the useful question is not "have we been together for a year?" but "which documents cover the 12 months ending on my lodgement date?" Where a document covers only part of that window, it still helps; the gap is what weakens a file.
What counts as proof of a 12-month de facto relationship?
The official page gives four categories of documents that prove a de facto relationship:
- joint bank account statements
- billing accounts in joint names
- joint leases or mortgages
- documents that show your partner has lived at the same address as you
The list is illustrative rather than a checklist with a fixed pass mark, and it uses the word "enough". That means the four types work together to answer one question: have you two organised your lives as a couple for at least the past 12 months?
How should joint bank account statements be used?
A joint bank account is only useful if the statements show the account being used. A letter confirming the account was opened, with no transactions, tells a decision-maker very little.
Statements that carry weight are the ones that show ordinary shared life over time: salaries being paid in, rent or groceries coming out, both names on the account, and activity spread across the full 12 months rather than a burst of transactions in the month before lodgement. If the account only became joint partway through the period, say so plainly and cover the earlier months with other documents.
What do billing accounts in joint names show?
Billing accounts in joint names cover utilities, internet, phone, insurance and similar household accounts held in both names. They are useful because they are generated by a third party, dated, and addressed to you both at a shared address.
They also solve a common problem. Suppose an applicant and their partner each kept their own bank accounts and never opened a joint one; household bills in both names, month after month, can still demonstrate that the couple ran a shared household. Where only one name is on the bill, the document falls into the fourth category instead — proof that your partner lived at your address.
Do joint leases or mortgages carry more weight than bills?
They usually cover a longer stretch of time in a single document, which is why they are efficient evidence. A lease signed by both of you a year ago, or a mortgage in both names, establishes a shared commitment from its start date.
Read the dates carefully. A lease that began four months ago does not prove the eight months before it, and a fixed-term agreement that has expired says nothing about where you live now. Pair an expiring lease with renewal records or with ongoing correspondence addressed to you both at the same address.
How do you show your partner lived at the same address?
The fourth category is broader than it looks: any document that shows your partner has lived at the same address as you. Official correspondence, bank statements, electoral or government records, employers' letters, and tenancy records can all serve, provided they name the person and show the address and a date.
The most convincing sets are the ones where several independent senders place both of you at the same address across overlapping months. Assume an applicant who moved twice during the year: three addresses can still be evidenced, but each move creates a seam, and the seams are where files tend to look thin.
What else does your partner have to lodge?
Relationship evidence is one part of the partner's document set. The official page also asks for your partner's identity documents and character documents, and for documents about their other relationships where those apply.
Identity documents follow the same passport and national identity card pattern as for any applicant. For character documents, the page is explicit: do not arrange for police certificates until the Department asks you to. Your partner should also have their own health and biometrics steps handled if and when the Department requests them, since the main applicant and everyone included are assessed together.
Does your partner's evidence affect your own outcome?
Yes, and this is the part people underestimate. The partner is part of one application, not a passenger on someone else's.
The Migration Regulations 1994 criteria for this subclass apply a "one fails, all fails" public interest rule to the family unit, which means a secondary applicant who does not meet health or character requirements can affect the whole case. Treat your partner's documents with the same care as your own, and keep the relationship evidence consistent with what both of you declare elsewhere in the forms.
What happens after you lodge?
The Subclass 835 application is a paper application, made on Form 47OF Application for migration to Australia by other family members, with Form 40 Sponsorship for migration to Australia completed by your sponsor. You must be in Australia when you apply, and again when the Department decides the application.
You pay the first instalment when you apply, through the ImmiAccount payment function, and include evidence of payment with the paper application. The Department invoices the second instalment once the other requirements are met, and the visa cannot be granted unless it is paid. No application fee is refunded if the application is refused, so incomplete relationship evidence is an expensive thing to discover late.
Two obligations deserve attention while you wait. Tell the Department about changes to your marital or de facto status, and correct mistakes on the application using Form 1023 Notification of incorrect answers. A relationship that ends, or that begins, during processing can change what your partner's inclusion means.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my de facto partner be included if we have lived together for less than 12 months?
The official page asks for enough documents to prove a de facto relationship of at least 12 months before you apply, so a shorter period does not meet the stated documentary test. Married couples take the other path and lodge a current marriage certificate instead. If your 12 months will be complete soon, the timing of your lodgement date is the variable to think about.
Do we need all four types of de facto evidence?
The four categories are listed as documents that prove a de facto relationship, not as four mandatory items. What the page requires is "enough" documents, so the aim is continuous coverage of the 12 months from several independent sources rather than one of each type.
Does a joint bank account on its own prove a de facto relationship?
Not by itself, because the page asks for enough documents to prove the relationship, and a single account says little about shared living. It becomes useful when the statements show both names, an address, and regular joint activity across the relevant months.
Can my partner act as my sponsor instead of being a secondary applicant?
Sponsorship must come from your eligible relative or from that relative's eligible partner, so the partner you add to the application is not the sponsor: your partner joins as a secondary applicant while the sponsor role stays with your Australian relative or that relative's partner. The sponsor must be 18 or over and be a settled Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen. Check the current official guidance on the additional usual-residence and cohabitation requirements before relying on that route.
What identity and character documents does my partner need?
Your partner needs identity documents and character documents, plus documents about any other relationships where relevant. Police certificates should not be arranged until the Department asks for them, so there is no need to gather them at lodgement.
Should my partner get police certificates before we apply?
No. The official page says the Department may ask for character documents including police certificates, and that you should not arrange for police certificates until asked. Wait for the request, then respond within the timeframe given.