When Can I Apply for the Permanent Partner Visa (801/100) in 2026?
If you hold a temporary Partner visa (subclass 309 or 820), you can put yourself forward for the permanent stage once two years have passed since you applied for that temporary visa. The clock starts on the day your Partner visa application was lodged — not on the day the temporary visa was granted, and not on the day you arrived in Australia. That is how the Australian Department of Home Affairs puts it on its Partner Visa Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page as of October 2026: two years must have passed since you applied for the subclass 309 or 820 before you are eligible for assessment of the permanent visa.
Read everything below as general explanation of how that rule fits together rather than advice on your own case; if your history includes anything unusual, check the current official pages or get advice from someone qualified to look at your circumstances.
So when exactly does the two-year clock start?
It starts on the date your temporary Partner visa application was received. A Partner visa application covers both stages at once — the department's withdrawal guidance requires both subclasses to be withdrawn together if your application is for a Partner visa (subclass 820 and 801) or (subclass 309 and 100), which tells you the "date you applied" is the date that single combined application went in.
That gives you one operative date for both the temporary and the permanent subclass. Whatever happened afterwards — how long the temporary visa took, when you travelled, when the relationship began — does not move it.
How do I know whether my two years are up?
Start with the lodgement date on your acknowledgement of application received letter, then add two years. Take a hypothetical applicant who lodged a combined subclass 309/100 application in September 2024: the two-year point falls in September 2026, and only from then can the permanent subclass be assessed.
Before you submit anything, read the Eligibility section of the subclass 100 or subclass 801 visa page. The department directs applicants to 'Visa Requirements' on those pages to check when they become eligible for the permanent Partner visa assessment. Because the test runs off your own lodgement date, treat any date you calculate by hand as provisional until it matches what those pages say.
Where do I find my Application ID?
You need it to complete the permanent stage. The department says it appears in the correspondence it sent you about your application:
- your acknowledgement of application received letter
- your notification of visa grant letter
- the subject line of emails the department sent you
Keep all three sources somewhere you can still find them two years later. Applicants who applied on paper, or through an older process, often discover the ID sitting in the same letters they filed away at the start.
What if I never used ImmiAccount, or my application won't appear in it?
Create an ImmiAccount if you did not use one to apply, because the path for submitting the permanent assessment runs through it.
Importing an older application is not always possible. The department handles requests to transfer a Partner visa application into ImmiAccount through the ImmiAccount Technical Support Form, where the relevant option is 'Enquiry/Issue – Unable to import application'.
How do I submit the Stage 2 assessment once I'm eligible?
The department's steps are short:
- Log in to ImmiAccount.
- Select 'New application'.
- Select 'Family'.
- Select 'Stage 2 - Permanent Partner Visa Assessment (100, 801)'.
- Complete the online form using your application ID.
Partner visa applications are lodged online through ImmiAccount. Paper applications are accepted only by invitation, and an uninvited paper application is invalid and will not be processed.
What if I'm not at two years yet?
Very little, and that is deliberate. The department states that if you are not yet eligible for the permanent visa, it cannot consider a request for priority processing — the two-year point is a gate, not something a compelling reason shifts.
Once you are past it, priority processing under Ministerial Direction 117 is still discretionary. It needs special circumstances of a compassionate nature and compelling reasons to depart from the normal order, all supporting documents must already be in, most requests cannot be approved, and there is no guarantee even where circumstances are strong. Meeting the relevant legislative requirements is what gets an application granted.
On timing expectations: Partner visa applications are processed under Ministerial Direction 117, with highest priority given to onshore subclass 820/801 applications and lower priority to offshore subclass 300 and 309/100 applications, and lower-priority applications are likely to experience longer processing times. Processing times vary, and applicants may wait longer than expected; the department's visa processing time guide tool shows times for recently decided applications and is a guide only, not specific to your application. The department also asks applicants not to seek progress updates while an application is still within standard processing times, since it cannot give further updates — status and outstanding documents can be checked in ImmiAccount.
What should you line up before the two-year mark?
Health examinations are the main timing trap. You can complete them after you apply. Results are valid for 12 months from the date you complete the examinations, and a health undertaking you are asked to sign is valid for 6 months. The department may ask you to repeat them if they expire before the decision, and it advises checking visa processing times before you complete them.
The rest is about keeping the file current. Change of contact details, address or passport goes through the 'Update Us' tab in ImmiAccount, and relationship changes are notified through the 'Update Details' tab, with Form 1022 used where required. If you cannot provide requested documents in the given timeframe, you can ask for more time through the Partner processing enquiry form, attaching evidence of the steps you have taken such as a payment receipt or booking confirmation — the request has to be made before the original deadline, and extra time is not guaranteed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the two years start from the date my 820 or 309 was granted?
No. The department ties eligibility to two years having passed since you applied for the temporary Partner visa, so the start point is the date the combined application was lodged. The grant date can be much later, and counting from it would push your eligibility later than the rule requires.
I can't find my grant letter — can I still recover my Application ID?
Yes. The department says the Application ID appears in the correspondence it sent about your application, which includes the acknowledgement of application received letter, the notification of visa grant letter, and the subject line of its emails. Search old email inboxes and any paperwork kept from when you first applied.
Can I ask for priority processing before the two years are up?
No. The department states that if you are not yet eligible for the permanent visa, it cannot consider a request for priority processing. After the two-year point, requests are still only considered where all supporting documents are in, most cannot be approved, and meeting the legislative requirements remains necessary for a grant.
How long will the permanent stage take after I submit?
The department does not publish a fixed timeframe for individual applications. It offers a visa processing time guide tool showing times for recently decided applications, described as a guide only and not specific to your application. Offshore subclass 309/100 applications are given lower priority than onshore subclass 820/801 under Ministerial Direction 117 and are likely to experience longer processing times.
Can my sponsor withdraw sponsorship while I wait for the permanent visa?
Yes, any time before the department decides the permanent Partner visa application. If your relationship with your sponsor ends, you are expected to notify the department through the 'Update Details' tab in ImmiAccount, or, where you do not have ImmiAccount access, by the Partner processing enquiry form with a signed and completed Form 1022 attached. Where family violence is involved, the Family Violence Provisions may still allow the permanent visa to be granted.
What happens if the permanent visa is refused?
You no longer hold a temporary Partner visa, so your status changes immediately, and you should check your visa details and conditions using VEVO. Your refusal notification letter will tell you whether you have the right to seek review by the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), which has jurisdiction to review certain visa decisions made under the Migration Act 1958.