Many Vietnamese couples in Australia are living together and have long-term plans together but have not registered marriage. A frequently asked question from De1 is: “If you are not married, you can apply Partner Australian visa or not?” The answer is yes. However, just proving that two people are in love or living together is not enough. The important point lies in proving that the relationship has truly become a de facto relationship and meets the requirements of the Australian Immigration Department.
What is De Facto?
To put it simply, de facto is a relationship between two people who are living as a couple or de facto partners but are not married. Australian Immigration doesn’t just look at whether two people live at the same address. When evaluating a relationship, immigration authorities may consider a wide range of factors to determine whether this is truly a long-term, serious and exclusive relationship.
So, a couple may not be married but if they are living together and have appropriate evidence of the relationship, they can still be considered de facto. This is also the reason why the Partner Visa de facto application usually needs to be prepared quite carefully. Having a joint tenancy or living together does not automatically qualify.
Key De Factor Requirements For 12 Months
One of the key requirements for a de facto Partner Visa is that the couple must demonstrate that they have been in a de facto relationship for at least 12 months immediately before the time of application, subject to certain specified exceptions. A special point to note is that these 12 months are not simply counted from the date two people started knowing each other. For example, a couple has known each other since January 2025 but only in May 2025 began to form a life together and the relationship met the characteristics of de facto. In this case, determining the start of a de facto relationship needs to be based on the actual circumstances and evidence of the two people, not simply taking the date of starting dating as a benchmark.
Therefore, if you are preparing for a Partner Visa, determining the correct “de facto relationship starting point” is one of the very important issues.
Is It Required to Live Together for Full 12 Months?
This is one of the quite common misunderstandings. Evaluating a de facto relationship is not simply a matter of checking whether two people have lived in the same house continuously for 12 months. In reality, a couple may have had a real life together but then have to temporarily live apart for legitimate reasons such as work, family responsibilities or other objective circumstances.
It is important that the couple is able to properly explain the situation and provide appropriate evidence to demonstrate that living apart does not mean the relationship is over. For example, if two people lived together, then one person had to move to another state for work for a period of time, the records should show that the relationship continued during that time through appropriate evidence.
If the two of you are not currently living together, the issue needs to be explained more carefully. The Australian Immigration Department can consider whether this is just a period of living separately for a legitimate reason or whether the two people actually no longer maintain the same relationship as before.
The Relationship Must Be Exclusive
Another important factor is that the de facto relationship must meet the exclusivity requirement. In other words, this must be a real relationship between two people and not a situation where one of them simultaneously maintains a marital or similar relationship with another person. In particular, if a person was previously married, the fact that the previous marriage actually ended may become an issue that needs to be proven in the record.
Divorce certificate is an important form of evidence in case the marriage has been ended by law. In situations where divorce procedures have not yet been completed, proving that two people have truly separated and are no longer living together can become more complicated. This is why De1 recommends not just looking at a single type of document. Partner Visa applications need to be evaluated based on the entire history and actual circumstances of the relationship.
What Factors May the Department of Immigration Consider?
A strong de facto record does more than prove that two people love each other. It’s more important to show that two people are truly building a life together and have a stable relationship. Depending on each case, evidence may relate to shared finances, joint management of family activities, residence, responsibilities to each other, how the two people maintain the relationship in daily life and how the relationship is known by family, friends or the community.
This evidence needs to be consistent in the timing and story of the relationship. For example, if a couple claims they started living together at a certain time but their address, financial or other documents show a completely different timeline, questions may arise in the records.
Therefore, preparing a Partner Visa should not be understood as “gathering as many documents as possible”, but rather building a set of evidence that is logical, continuous and accurately reflects the real life of two people.
What If You’ve Been Living Together Less Than 12 Months?
If two people have just started living together and haven’t reached the 12-month mark yet, that doesn’t mean there’s no need to prepare anything. On the contrary, this may be a good time to begin systematically building a dossier of evidence. Instead of starting to look for old documents closer to the time of eligibility, the couple can proactively preserve evidence that arises during the process of living together and building a life together.
This is especially important because a de facto application usually needs to demonstrate the development of the relationship, not just the status at the filing date. De1 recommends that couples who are planning long-term plans in Australia should evaluate their documents early, determine the start of the de facto relationship and build an evidence strategy appropriate to the actual situation.
What lines does Partner Visa have?
Depending on whether the sponsored person is in or outside Australia at the time of application, different Partner Visa streams may be considered. If the applicant is in Australia and meets the relevant requirements, Partner Visa subclass 820/801 is the visa stream for domestic applications. In cases where the applicant is outside Australia, Partner Visa subclass 309/100 may be considered.
However, choosing the right visa stream should not be based solely on where the applicant is located. Current visa status, immigration history, sponsor’s circumstances, relationship history and many other factors can all influence application strategy.
If two people are living together in Australia and determine that the relationship will be long-term, do not wait until 12 months have passed to start paying attention to the profile. The 12-month mark is important, but equally important is the ability to demonstrate actual relationship history before and during that period.
Each couple has a different story. Some people live together continuously, some people live separately because of work, some people have been married, some people have children, some people are holding different types of visas. Therefore, you should not take another couple’s profile as the absolute standard for your case. If the de facto period is less than 12 months, you can still prepare your documents and evidence early and check to see if your case falls under an exception or has any issues that need to be addressed before filing.
Not being married does not mean you cannot apply for an Australian Partner Visa. If two people have a genuine de facto relationship, meet Australian Immigration requirements and can provide appropriate evidence, a de facto Partner Visa may be an option worth considering.
The key point is not in “whether there is a marriage certificate or not”, but in the actual nature of the relationship, the de facto relationship duration and the ability to prove that relationship with consistent evidence. If you and your lover are living together in Australia but not married, especially if you have or are about to reach 12 months of de facto, De1 can assist you in assessing your relationship status, determining an appropriate timeline and developing a direction to prepare a Partner Visa application suitable to your actual circumstances.
Source: IMM
