Permanent partner visa — the second stage for offshore partner applicants
The Partner visa (subclass 100) is the permanent stage of the offshore partner visa. You already applied for it.
When you lodged the temporary Partner visa (subclass 309), you applied for both stages at once on the same form and paid one fee covering both.
Two years after that original lodgement date, the department considers the permanent stage automatically.
You don't need to be in Australia when the 100 is decided. If the department grants it while you're outside Australia, check your grant letter for a first entry arrival date: you have to enter Australia on or before that date.
After your first entry, you become a permanent resident with a 5-year travel facility, full work and study rights, and a pathway to Australian citizenship.
These are the published requirements for the 100. Check each one applies to your situation.
Published processing times for the 100 are measured from when the 2-year eligibility window opens, not from when you first lodged.
If you lodged 2 years ago and current processing is running at 12 months, your total timeline from original lodgement is 3 years.
People quote the published processing times without accounting for the mandatory 2-year wait. The two numbers add together.
Most people know about the long-term-relationship exception that can get the 100 granted in under 2 years. Fewer people know about a second exception.
The second exception applies if your sponsor holds or held a permanent humanitarian visa (a protection visa).
If your relationship existed before that humanitarian visa was granted, and your sponsor told IMMI about your relationship at that time, the department may grant the 100 before the 2-year eligibility date.
This is a specific carve-out for humanitarian families who were separated during the protection visa process.
Unlike the 801 onshore equivalent, the 100 can be granted while you're outside Australia. Some grantees are not yet in the country when the visa comes through.
Your grant letter will specify a first entry arrival date.
Miss that date and your visa may still technically be valid, but it becomes subject to cancellation at the border.
Check your grant letter immediately and plan your first entry. Once you've entered, you can travel freely for the 5-year travel facility.
The 309 required police certificates for countries where you lived for 12 or more months in the 10 years before lodgement.
The 100 requires certificates for countries where you spent 12 or more cumulative months since your 309 was granted.
If you've been back to your home country or spent extended time elsewhere during the 309 wait, those countries need fresh certificates.
Many people assume the original certificates still apply and are caught off guard.
While you hold the 309 and are waiting on the 100, one rule is critical. If you're granted any other substantive visa during that wait, you permanently lose eligibility for the 100.
The rule is explicit: you have to be holding the 309 at the time of grant.
This catches people when an employer switches them to a sponsored work visa, or when someone tries to move to a different pathway during the long wait. The outcome is irreversible.
