Sponsor Eligibility

You must meet the following requirements to be eligible to sponsor an applicant for this visa.

Eligibility criteria

To be an eligible sponsor you must be all of the following:

• an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who want to sponsor the visa applicant as your partner to Australia
• in a married or de facto relationship with your partner
• if married, generally aged 18 years of age or over
• if in a de facto relationship aged over 18 years of age.

If you are married and 16 or 17 years of age, your parent or guardian must be your partner's sponsor.

New Zealand citizen eligibility

If you are an eligible New Zealand citizen who is sponsoring their partner, you must meet health and character requirements. The department will contact you to advise if you need to undertake health examinations and character checks.
See:
Health requirements
Character and penal clearance requirements

When you may not be eligible

You may not be able to sponsor your partner if any one of the following applies:

• you are not an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen
• you have previously sponsored two other partners for migration to Australia (including sponsorships you may have withdrawn where your former partner obtained permanent residence on family violence grounds)
• you have sponsored another partner within the last five years
• you were sponsored for a partner visa as a partner yourself within the last five years
• you are the holder of a Woman at Risk visa (Subclass 204)
• you have a conviction or an outstanding charge for an offence against a child.

If you have previously sponsored or been sponsored, you may still be permitted to sponsor your partner in compelling circumstances, such as:

• if your previous partner has died or abandoned the relationship leaving young children
• if your relationship with your current partner is long standing (that is, two years or more)
• if you and your current partner have dependent children of your relationship.

Current and previous contributory parent category visa-holders

If you have been granted a contributory parent category visa on or after 1 July 2009, you are unable to sponsor your partner or fiancé for five years from your visa grant date if you were in a married or de facto relationship with that person on or before the date you were granted the last contributory parent category visa. There are some exceptions to this limitation in compelling circumstances.

Sponsorship limitation and best interests of the child

Where an applicant includes a dependent family member under 18 years of age in their application, the sponsorship cannot be approved (except in very limited circumstances) where the sponsor has a conviction or an outstanding charge for an offence against a child. There is also a requirement that there is no compelling reason to believe that the grant of the visa would not be in the best interests of the dependent family member.

In order to assess the sponsorship application and the best interests of the child requirement, sponsors of children under 18 years of age are required to submit an AFP National Police Check and/or foreign police certificate/s, depending on the sponsor's circumstances. If the sponsor has spent a total of 12 months or more in Australia since turning 16 years of age, the sponsor must provide an AFP National Police Check. The sponsor must also provide police certificates from each country in which they have spent a total of 12 months or more in the last 10 years since turning 16 years of age.

Note: Sponsors required to submit an AFP National Police Check must complete the National Police Check application form which is available from the Australian Federal Police website. Sponsors should use Code 33 at Question 1 on the form and include details of all names they have been known by. If an AFP Certificate is provided based on incorrect information, the department may request another certificate. Fingerprints are not required for AFP National Police Checks.
See:
Stronger Measures for the Protection of Children
AFP National Police Checks
Character Requirements Penal Clearance Certificates (233KB PDF file)

Before lodging an application, please read all related requirements.
See: Eligibility