What a partner visa actually costs in Australia

Ask five migration agents what a partner visa costs and you will get five numbers that are not comparable, because most of them are quoting different things. One is quoting their own fee. One is quoting their fee plus the government charge. One is quoting "from", which means the number is the floor of a range whose ceiling is not printed anywhere.

This guide separates the three things that make up the total, so you can put any quote you receive into the right column.

The three parts of the total#

Every partner visa total is made of exactly three things. If a quote does not separate them, the quote is not finished.

The professional fee is the only part that is negotiable, and it is usually the smallest of the three. That is worth sitting with for a moment: people spend weeks comparing agents on a fee that is a quarter of the bill, and almost no time checking that the other three quarters have been disclosed at all.

Part one: the visa application charge#

The visa application charge, or VAC, is set by regulation and goes to the Department. No agent controls it, discounts it, or receives any part of it. If someone offers you a discount on it, something is wrong.

For the onshore partner visa (subclass 820, leading to 801) and the offshore one (subclass 309, leading to 100), the charge as at 1 July 2026 is:

So a couple applying together, where one partner is the applicant and there are no children, pays $11,710. A couple where the applicant brings a 20-year-old child pays $17,570. Add a 10-year-old and it is $20,500.

Is the second stage free?#

Mostly, yes. The 820 and the 801 are lodged as one application, and the charge is paid once at the start. When the temporary stage is granted and you later apply for the permanent stage, there is normally no further visa application charge.

That is why a quote that presents "stage two" as a separate charge deserves a question. The government charge is not repeated. A professional fee for stage two often is, and legitimately so - somebody has to prepare and lodge the second round of relationship evidence two years later - but it should be described as a professional fee, not as a government charge.

The subsequent temporary application charge#

There is a separate charge that catches people out. If you apply for the onshore partner visa while you hold certain temporary visas, an additional subsequent temporary application charge can apply on top of the main charge. It is not large compared to the VAC, but it is real, and it should appear as a line on a quote rather than as a surprise.

Whether it applies to you depends on the visa you currently hold. That is a question for a registered agent, not for a website.

Part two: the professional fee#

This is the part agents compete on, and the part where "from $2,200" does the most damage.

A professional fee for a partner visa in Australia in 2026 typically falls between $2,800 and $7,000 including GST. The spread is not arbitrary. It usually reflects:

• Whether both stages are included. A $2,800 fee that covers lodgement only, with stage two quoted separately at $1,800, is a $4,600 fee described as a $2,800 fee.
• Who does the work. A principal agent doing the file personally costs more than a paralegal doing it under supervision. Neither is wrong. You are entitled to know which you are buying.
• Complexity. A prior refusal, a large age gap, limited cohabitation, a previous sponsorship, a visa cancellation, or a partner with a complicated immigration history all add real hours.
• Whether a request for more information is included. If the Department asks for further evidence eighteen months in, is responding to that inside the fee or is it billed extra? This is the single most common source of an unexpected invoice.

Part three: the disbursements almost nobody lists#

These are the costs paid to third parties. They are usually the difference between the quote you accepted and the amount you ended up spending.

For a couple with a straightforward file, budget $900 to $1,500. For a couple where one partner has lived in four countries since turning 16 and holds documents in two non-English languages, $2,500 is realistic.

Sponsor costs#

The sponsoring partner has their own police check and, if they have sponsored someone before, their own set of questions to answer. It is a small cost, but it belongs on the estimate.

Putting it together#

Here is what a complete, honest quote looks like for a couple applying onshore in 2026-27, with no children and no complications:

And here is the same thing quoted badly: "Partner visa - from $2,200."

Both are describing the same work.

Questions to ask every agent who quotes you#

Copy these. Ask all of them. An agent who answers them clearly is showing you how they will behave for the next two years.

1. Is this fee fixed or hourly? If hourly, how many hours do you estimate?
2. Does it include both the temporary and the permanent stage?
3. Does it include responding to a request for further information from the Department?
4. Does it include a request under section 57 if the Department raises an adverse issue?
5. What happens to the fee if we withdraw, or separate, before lodgement?
6. What happens if the visa is refused - what is included in a review, and what is not?
7. Who will actually work on the file, and what is their MARN or practising certificate number?
8. What is your best estimate of disbursements for our specific situation?
9. When are payments due, and against what?
10. If we go over the estimate, do you tell us before or after?

What this article cannot tell you#

It cannot tell you whether the 820 or the 309 is the right application for your situation, whether your evidence is sufficient, whether a previous refusal will matter, or whether you should apply now or wait. Those are questions about your case, and in Australia only a registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner may answer them. It is a criminal offence for anybody else to do it for a fee, and the penalty reaches ten years.

The good news is that asking costs nothing. Ilarawan ang iyong kaso and several registered agents will send you written, itemised quotes - fee and government charge shown separately - and your name is not released to any of them until you choose one.

Questions people ask#

Is the partner visa charge refundable if we are refused?#

Almost never. The visa application charge buys the assessment, not the outcome, and a refusal means the assessment happened. There are narrow circumstances where a refund is possible, and they are narrow. Assume it is not refundable when you budget.

Can I pay the visa application charge in instalments?#

No. It is paid in full when the application is lodged, and an application is not validly lodged until it is paid. This is why the timing of that payment matters so much to your cash flow, and why it should be an explicit line on any payment schedule an agent gives you.

Why is the offshore partner visa the same price as the onshore one?#

Because the charge is set per visa subclass and the 309 and 820 carry the same figure. What differs is what else the situation costs you - travel, the practical difficulty of gathering evidence across borders, and whether you can work in Australia while you wait.

Do I need an agent for a partner visa at all?#

No. You can lodge it yourself and many people do successfully. What an agent buys you is someone who has seen several hundred of these, who knows what the case officer will look for, and who is accountable to a regulator if they get it wrong. Whether that is worth $4,000 to you depends on how complicated your relationship history is and how much your time is worth.

Is a cheaper agent worse?#

Not necessarily, and not automatically. But a fee well below the market usually means something is excluded, or that the work is being done by someone junior, or that the practice is relying on volume. All three can be perfectly fine as long as you know. The problem is never the price. The problem is the price that turns out not to be the price.