Offshore Partner Visas (309/100): The Complete Reunion Guide

Like its onshore twin, the offshore route is one application, assessed twice:

• Subclass 309: the temporary provisional visa, letting you enter and live in Australia with work rights
• Subclass 100: the permanent stage, normally assessed from two years after lodgement

You apply from outside Australia, and since late 2023 the 309 can be granted while you are inside or outside Australia. From the moment you land you can work, study, and enrol in Medicare, and couples together three or more years (or two with a child) are frequently granted the permanent 100 straight away.

The strategic beauty of the offshore route: your Australian partner can go home first, re-establish the household and career, and your arrival lands into a ready-made life.

The tests are the classic partner trio:

• The relationship: genuine, continuing and exclusive; married, registered, or de facto with usually 12 months of shared life. Married couples can apply even while living in different countries, provided the relationship evidence holds
• You: outside Australia at lodgement, meeting health and character requirements
• Your sponsor: an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible NZ citizen, with no disqualifying sponsorship history

Distance is not a disqualifier, but it reshapes the evidence. Couples living apart must document commitment across the separation: communication, visits, shared plans and finances that bridge the gap.

The four pillars still decide the case, adapted for couples divided by geography:

• Financial: transfers between you, shared savings toward the move, joint commitments even at distance
• Household: the households you have shared, and the concrete plans for the one you will share in Australia
• Social: visits documented with passports and photographs, families who know you as a couple, joint invitations across two countries
• Commitment: the daily fabric of long-distance love: calls, messages, plans made and kept across the separation

Offshore refusals almost always trace to evidence that stopped when the couple was separated. We build files that prove the relationship never paused, only the geography did.

The offshore sequence, done properly:

1. Lodge from outside Australia with a decision-ready file: you should lodge with complete evidence rather than counting on further requests
2. Continue your life, and your visits. You can visit Australia while the 309 processes on an ordinary visitor visa, and since late 2023 the 309 can be granted whether you are inside or outside Australia
3. Grant and arrival: enter Australia, work from day one, enrol in Medicare
4. The permanent 100: updated evidence from two years after lodgement, or immediately for long-established couples

Compare the other road in our onshore 820/801 guide; the right choice depends on where your lives, jobs and family sit today.

Cost: AUD 11,710 for the primary applicant from 1 July 2026, covering both the 309 and 100 stages, plus AUD 5,860 per additional adult and AUD 2,935 per child.

Processing: around half of offshore cases are decided within 14 months (measurably faster than the onshore median) with nine in ten finalised inside roughly two years.

The reunion dividend: because the Australian partner can re-establish first, offshore couples often land into housing, schools and work already arranged, turning the visa wait into a head start.