About This Visa 

If you are engaged to an Australian citizen or permanent resident, then you may enter Australia on a Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 130) and marry your intended. Persons engaged to eligible New Zealand citizens may also come to Australia on a Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 130). If you enter the country on this fiancé visa, then you must marry within nine months.

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It is important to note that the Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 130) is a nonimmigrant, temporary visa. That means you are not given Australian permanent resident status. To become a permanent resident, you must marry your Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen partner. Once you enter Australia and marry your partner, you may apply for a Partner Visa (a permanent resident visa).

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What are the requirements to apply for this visa?
You must meet the following requirements when you apply for the Prospective Marriage visa:

• be sponsored by your prospective spouse (note that certain individuals are prohibited from being approved as a sponsor)

• proof of intention to marry within 9 months

• proof your sponsor/fiancé is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen

• proof that you have met your partner in person (after you each turned 18) and be known to each other personally

• you are at least 18 years old and meet health and character requirements

• no legal impediment to the marriage in Australia (this could occur, for example, if either you or your prospective spouse have previously been married and the divorce is deemed not valid under Australian law)

• Your prospective spouse must meet a ‘character’ requirement and provide police clearances as evidence that this condition is satisfied

• meet health and character requirements

You should be outside of Australia when you submit the visa and when the visa is granted.

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The 300 visa process to permanent residency

The prospective marriage visa pathway is, therefore, a 3-stage process to permanent residence, comprising the following steps:

Step 1: You first need to lodge a prospective marriage subclass 300 visa application, which, if granted, will allow you to travel to and reside in Australia for a period of up to 9 months to marry your Australian partner.

Step 2: Once you have married your partner (within the 9-month visa period), you are then expected to lodge a combined application for an onshore partner subclass 820/801 visa.

Step 3: Two years following lodgement of your combined subclass 820/801 visa application, the Department will assess whether you continue to satisfy the requirements for a grant of the subclass 801 visa, with a successful application resulting in a grant of permanent residence in Australia.

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Intention to marry your Australian partner

A key requirement for visa grant is that you must genuinely intend to marry your Australian partner within the 9-month visa period.
You are required to provide evidence documenting that arrangements have been made for the marriage ceremony to take place after your first entry to Australia. This evidence must be in the form of a signed and dated letter (on letterhead) from the authorised marriage celebrant who will be conducting the ceremony, confirming the date and venue of your marriage ceremony.

Under Australian law, if you wish to marry in Australia, you must lodge a Notice of Intention to Marry (NOIM) with the marriage celebrant who will be conducting the ceremony. The NOIM must be lodged no less than 1 month and no more than 18 months before the proposed date of the ceremony and is valid for up to 18 months. As part of your subclass 300 visa application, you should also provide confirmation that you have lodged a NOIM with your marriage celebrant.

Note that there is no requirement for you to marry your partner in Australia. If you intend to marry overseas, you must still enter Australia within the 9-month visa period before you marry. Thereafter you can depart Australia to marry overseas. You must then re-enter Australia within the 9-month visa period and apply for the combined subclass 820/801 onshore partner visa. Note that your overseas marriage must be legally valid in Australia.

If you marry your Australian partner before a decision is made on the application, you will no longer be eligible for the prospective marriage visa. In this case, you will need to take the appropriate steps to notify Immigration of your change in circumstances, withdraw your application and re-apply for a new visa subclass. Otherwise, your subclass 300 visa application will be refused.

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