Drafting the 801 Sponsor Statutory Declaration: Evidence Standards for 2026

At the permanent stage of an onshore partner application, the sponsor does not lodge a fresh sponsorship application. Under the Department of Home Affairs Partner visa (Permanent) (Subclass 801) official page (as of October 2026), the sponsor attaches the personal details page of their most recent passport showing their signature, or an Australian driver's licence, plus a completed Commonwealth statutory declaration that speaks to nine listed aspects of the relationship. The declaration is the sponsor's own account of the relationship, and it is the one document at this stage where the sponsor's voice carries formal weight.

Everything below is general information about how that declaration is read and drafted, not advice tailored to any particular relationship; the official page and, where your circumstances are complicated, a qualified professional remain the reference points.

What does the sponsor actually need to provide at the 801 stage?

Two things go into ImmiAccount. The first is identification: the personal details page of the sponsor's most recent passport, showing the signature, or an Australian driver's licence. The second is the completed Commonwealth statutory declaration form published by the Attorney-General's Department.

The Home Affairs page is explicit that no further sponsorship application is required at this stage. The 801 stage is a documentary step, not a re-approval of the sponsorship itself, so the practical task is to supply what is missing rather than to restart anything.

What must the declaration cover?

The official page asks for information about any of the following:

• whether you and your partner have a mutual commitment to the exclusion of all others
• whether the relationship is genuine and continuing
• whether you live together, or do not live permanently apart
• when the relationship began, and how long you have lived together
• the financial commitments you and your partner share
• the nature of your household, including any joint responsibility for the care and support of children
• the social aspects of your relationship
• the nature of your commitment to each other
• your plans for the future

Read as a drafting brief, these nine prompts fall into four recurring themes — shared finances, the household, social recognition, and commitment — wrapped around two framing facts: when the relationship began and whether it is still continuing. A declaration that covers all four themes and both framing facts will have answered every prompt on the list.

How much weight does a statutory declaration actually carry?

A statutory declaration is a statement the maker declares to be true; making a false one carries legal consequences. That formality gives it more weight than an unsigned letter, but it does not turn the sponsor's account into independent proof. Its evidential role is narrower and more useful than that: it tells the decision-maker what to look for in the rest of the file, and it supplies the connective tissue — dates, sequences, explanations for gaps — that individual documents cannot supply on their own.

This is the standard to draft against. A declaration earns weight through specificity, internal consistency, and agreement with what the documentary record shows. It loses weight the moment it becomes a list of adjectives, or the moment a document already in the file contradicts it.

Claim in the declaration	What makes it weak	What makes it credible
"We are committed to each other"	No timeframe, no conduct, nothing to check	A dated account of what the commitment looked like at identified points
"We share finances"	States the conclusion only	Names the arrangements, when they began, and how they operate
"We live together"	Ignores periods apart	Gives the living-together period and explains any separation
"Our relationship is genuine"	Pure assertion	Each assertion tied to an event or pattern already evidenced

What are the most common drafting defects?

The defects that most often undermine an otherwise genuine declaration are predictable:

• Assertions without dates. "We have been together for years" cannot be checked. "We began living together in March 2021 and have shared the same address since, apart from six weeks in 2023" can.
• Conclusion in place of facts. "We have a genuine and continuing relationship" is the question, not the answer. The declaration should show the answer.
• Silence on the awkward parts. Periods spent apart, an address change, a gap in joint arrangements — left unmentioned, they read as gaps in the record rather than as ordinary events with explanations.
• Only one theme covered well. A declaration that is rich on social aspects and silent on finances or household leaves three of the nine prompts effectively unanswered.
• Copy of the applicant's wording. Two declarations in identical language invite the reading that one was transcribed from the other rather than written from separate recollection.
• Length mistaken for thoroughness. Padding dilutes the checkable facts. A shorter declaration with a clear timeline does more work than a long one without dates.
• Numbers and names left vague. "Recently", "a while ago", "our friend" are uncheckable. Specific dates, places, and full names are checkable.

Consider a hypothetical: a sponsor writes three pages about how close the couple is, but never states when the relationship began or how long they have lived together. Two of the nine prompts go unanswered, and the decision-maker is left to reconstruct the timeline from documents alone. The declaration has added volume without adding proof.

How should the sponsor draft it, step by step?

The Commonwealth statutory declaration form is the one published by the Attorney-General's Department.

Open the Home Affairs 801 page and read the nine points as your section headings.

Write the timeline first: when the relationship began, when you started living together, and any period apart.

Draft one short section for each point that applies to you.

Replace every general claim with a dated, named fact.

Check each claim against something already attached to the application, and correct any mismatch.

Complete and sign the declaration as the form requires.

Attach the declaration and your passport signature page or Australian driver's licence to ImmiAccount.

What if one of the nine points does not apply?

The official page asks for information about any of the listed points, which is best read as: address each point that describes your relationship, and do not leave a relevant one blank. Where a point genuinely has little to say — no children, so no joint responsibility for their care and support — say so plainly in one line rather than omitting the heading. An explicit "not applicable" is easier to assess than a silence that could mean either "does not apply" or "was forgotten".

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the sponsor need to apply for sponsorship again at the 801 stage?

No. The Home Affairs page states that you do not need to submit another application for sponsorship; you provide additional documents instead. The task at this stage is documentary, not a fresh sponsorship assessment.

Which identity document does the sponsor attach?

Either the personal details page of the most recent passport, showing the signature, or an Australian driver's licence. The page presents these as alternatives, so one is sufficient.

Does the declaration have to cover all nine listed points?

It should cover every point that applies to your relationship. The page asks for information about any of the nine, so the practical approach is to work through all nine and mark the ones that genuinely do not apply rather than skipping them silently.

How long should the statutory declaration be?

Long enough to answer the nine prompts with dated, checkable facts; no longer. Length does not substitute for specificity, and a short declaration with a clear timeline is more useful than a long one built on adjectives.

Can the applicant write the declaration for the sponsor?

It should be the sponsor's own account. Two declarations in identical wording undermine the point of having a sponsor's statement at all, since the value lies in an independent, first-hand account of the relationship.

What if we have lived apart for part of the relationship?

Address it directly. The prompt is whether you live together or do not live permanently apart, so what matters is the nature and duration of the separation and the reason for it — stated in the declaration rather than left for the decision-maker to infer from address records.

Where does the sponsor get the correct form?

The Commonwealth statutory declaration form is published by the Attorney-General's Department. Use that form rather than a template, since the official form carries the declaration and signature provisions the department expects.

References

Department of Home Affairs — Partner visa (Permanent) (Subclass 801)

Attorney-General's Department — Commonwealth statutory declaration form