Proving a genuine relationship: what actually counts as evidence

The four things Home Affairs actually checks

This comes from the partner visa evidence requirements published for the 820, 801, 309 and 100. Every partner visa application is tested against the same four categories, regardless of which subclass or which pathway.

Category	What it covers	Evidence that supports it
Financial	Whether you share financial matters as a couple	Joint bank accounts, joint mortgage or lease documents, joint loans for cars or major appliances, household bills in both names
Household	Whether you share domestic life	A statement on how housework is divided, mail or emails addressed to both of you, documents showing joint responsibility for children, proof of your living arrangements
Social	Whether others know you as a couple	Two witness statements (Form 888), joint invitations, proof of friends in common, evidence you've told government or commercial bodies about the relationship, evidence of travelling together
Commitment	Whether the relationship is genuine and long-term	Knowledge of each other's background and family, evidence you've combined your personal affairs, contact maintained during any time apart, that you're not related by family, the terms of your wills

No single document in any row does the job by itself. A joint bank account opened the week before you lodge is weaker than a joint account with two years of transactions in it. The pattern Home Affairs is looking for is a relationship documented as it happened, not assembled after the fact.

Form 888: the witness statements

Under the social category, Home Affairs specifically asks for statements from two witnesses, each 18 or older, who know both of you and know about your relationship. These go on Form 888, a supporting statement each witness signs as true. Making a false statement in it is an offence under the Migration Act.

• Each witness needs to be someone who actually knows the relationship, not just knows one of you.
• If a witness is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, they provide evidence of that, such as a passport or birth certificate.
• Form 888 sits alongside the other social evidence, not instead of it. Joint invitations, shared friends and travel together still matter.

The de facto 12-month rule, and when it doesn't apply

If you're applying as a de facto couple rather than a married one, you usually need to have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before you apply. Home Affairs says time spent dating or in an online relationship might not count.

The 12-month requirement doesn't apply in four situations:

• You've registered the relationship with an Australian state or territory births, deaths and marriages agency.
• Compelling and compassionate circumstances exist for the visa to be granted anyway. These are assessed case by case.
• Your partner holds or held a permanent humanitarian visa, your de facto relationship existed before that visa was granted, and your partner told the Department about the relationship before the grant.
• Your partner has applied for a permanent humanitarian visa.

Married couples don't face this requirement. A valid marriage, including one held overseas, settles that question. The evidence categories above still apply, but there's no minimum period first.

How this plays out across the three pathways

The evidence standard doesn't change depending on where you apply. What changes is timing and structure.

Onshore (820/801) and offshore (309/100). Same four categories, same fee, same two-stage temporary-then-permanent structure. The only difference is where you are when you lodge and where you wait for a decision.

Prospective Marriage (300). You haven't married yet, so the evidence at this stage is different: proof you've met in person as adults, that you're known to each other personally, and evidence the wedding itself is being planned. Once you marry within the visa period, the 820/801 application that follows is assessed on the same four pillars as any other partner visa, and the file you build for the 300 stage becomes the starting point for the one after your marriage.

What weak files tend to have in common

A few patterns show up often enough to be worth naming as general observations, not a checklist that guarantees anything.

• Evidence clustered in one short period rather than spread across the relationship.
• Everything written by the couple, with nothing independent: no witnesses, no third-party records.
• Only one category well covered, with the other three thin. A strong financial picture doesn't make up for no evidence of social recognition.

Strong evidence helps the Department assess a relationship as genuine. It doesn't guarantee a particular outcome, and a refusal on relationship grounds is expensive to redo, because Home Affairs doesn't usually refund the application charge when a visa is refused. That's the practical reason to get the file right before lodging rather than after a request for more information.

General information only, current at 15 October 2026. Not immigration assistance or advice for your circumstances. Visacorp Pty Ltd — MARN 0317382 · 1799004.