The family violence provisions: your visa when the relationship ends

What the provisions actually do

A partner visa is normally a two-stage process. You are granted a temporary visa, you stay in the relationship, and the permanent visa follows. If the relationship ends before that second stage, the application would ordinarily fail.

The family violence provisions carve out an exception. Where the relationship was genuine and it ended because of family violence committed by your sponsoring partner, the Department can still grant the permanent visa. Your immigration status stops being something your partner controls.

Which visas are covered

The provisions reach further than most people expect. They apply to partner applicants and, in many cases, to family members included in someone else's application.

• Partner and family — Partner (820), Partner provisional (309), Prospective Marriage (300) and Dependent Child (445).
• Skilled and business secondary applicants — including 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, 192, 858, 887 and 888.
• Family visa secondary applicants — including Parent (103), Contributory Parent (143), Aged Parent (804), Contributory Aged Parent (864), Remaining Relative (115 and 835) and Carer (116 and 836).

If you were included on someone else's application as a partner and that relationship has become violent, the provisions may apply to you. This is the part people most often do not realise.

Step one: telling the Department, safely

Use the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in the Update Details tab of ImmiAccount. The form asks when the relationship ended, whether you have experienced family violence, and whether you have children with your former sponsor.

Select the family violence option. When you do, your partner visa application and the sponsorship are automatically removed from every ImmiAccount that could see them, including your former sponsor's account and their migration agent's account. If both family violence and children apply to your situation, select both. The application is only removed automatically if the family violence option is chosen.

Afterwards, create a new ImmiAccount using an email address your former sponsor cannot access. The Department will contact you to move your application across.

If you cannot get into ImmiAccount, the Partner processing enquiry form does the same job. A registered migration agent or lawyer can also notify the Department for you.

Step two: two separate things to show

The claim is assessed in two parts, in order.

First, the relationship. The Department must be satisfied you were in a genuine and continuing relationship with your former sponsor before it ended. This is the same test as any partner application, applied to a period that has now closed.

Second, the violence. The evidence must show that at least part of the family violence happened while you were in the relationship, and that your former sponsor was the alleged perpetrator.

The Department accepts that gathering documents is hard in these circumstances and will give you more time if you ask for it. That is worth knowing, because the deadline on a request for information can feel like a closing door when it is not one.

What counts as evidence

Claims fall into two categories, and the difference decides how much you need.

Where a court has already decided. One document is enough. An injunction under the Family Law Act 1975, a court order under state or territory law, a conviction, or a finding of guilt for a family violence offence against you. If an interim order is later replaced by a final order, the final order has to be provided too.

Where no court has decided. Either a joint undertaking given to a court, or at least two pieces of evidence from prescribed professionals together with a Commonwealth statutory declaration setting out the claim. The Department publishes Form 1410i as a guide to completing that declaration.

The professionals whose statements are accepted include medical practitioners, nurses and midwives, police officers, child welfare officers, family violence support services, social workers, psychologists, family consultants and relationship counsellors, and school professionals. Each has to be acting in their professional capacity, and only one document counts from each category, so two statements from two doctors will not do what one statement from a doctor and one from a social worker will.

If the Department is not satisfied

The claim is not simply refused. It goes to an independent expert, who will contact you to arrange an interview and then give an opinion on whether family violence occurred. The Department is bound by that opinion.

If the expert finds the violence did not occur, you are given the chance to respond before a decision is made. If the expert finds it did, the application continues, and you may then be asked for health and character documents in the normal way.

This stage takes time. It is not a sign the claim is failing.

What to do first

• Deal with safety first. 000 in an emergency, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 for support at any hour.
• Keep what you already have. Medical records, police event numbers, messages, and the names and dates of anyone you have spoken to. Store them somewhere your former partner cannot reach.
• Notify the Department before you do anything else with the application, using the family violence option so the file is removed from your former sponsor's view.
• Get advice early. These claims turn on how the relationship and the violence are evidenced, and that is easier to get right the first time than to repair later.

If you are unsure whether the provisions apply to your visa, that question is worth asking before the relationship formally ends, not after.

General information only, current at 18 July 2026. Not immigration assistance or advice for your circumstances. Visacorp Pty Ltd — MARN 0317382 · 1799004.