Australia Partner Visa Health Requirements: What to Know

For an Australian Partner visa, the health requirement is a standard condition of the application: you must meet the health criteria, and the Department will ask you to complete health examinations after you lodge. The results of your health assessment are valid for 12 months from the time you complete the examinations. If you are asked to sign a health undertaking, that undertaking is valid for 6 months. If your health results expire before your visa is decided, the Department may ask you to provide them again.

Where the health requirement fits in the application

The health requirement is not a separate document you attach at lodgement. It is a step that occurs after you apply. The Department’s guidance on Partner visas states that you can complete your health examinations after you apply, and directs you to the page on arranging your health examinations. The results of your assessment are then considered as part of the decision on your application.

This means you do not need to have a medical examination completed before you lodge your Partner visa application. You do need to be ready to complete the examinations when the Department asks you to, and you should be aware that the validity of your results is time-limited.

How long your health results remain valid

The Department states two validity periods that apply to health assessments for Partner visa applicants:

Item	Validity period
Results of your health assessment	12 months from the time you complete your examinations
Health undertaking (if you are asked to sign one)	6 months

If your health results expire before the Department decides your application, you may be asked to provide them again. This is a practical point to keep in mind: if your application is likely to take a long time to decide, your initial health results may not cover the whole period. The Department’s own processing time guidance for Partner visas shows a median of 23 months for Partner (Provisional/Temporary) visas as of July 2026, which is longer than the 12-month validity of a health assessment. That does not mean your application will take that long, but it does mean you should not assume your health results will still be current when a decision is made.

What to do before you complete your health examinations

The Department advises that, before you complete your health examinations, you should refer to the visa processing times. The reason is straightforward: if your results expire before your application is decided, you may need to do them again, which adds time and cost. Checking the current processing times for the Partner visa subclass you are applying for helps you decide when to complete the examinations.

You should also note that the Department may ask you to provide further information or documents during the processing of your application. You can attach these to your ImmiAccount. If you cannot provide requested documents within the specified timeframe, you can request additional time using the Partner processing enquiry form. Your request must include evidence showing the steps you have taken to provide the requested information, such as a payment receipt or booking confirmation. The Department will only consider the request if it is made before the original timeframe for response expires, and it cannot guarantee that additional time will be given.

Processing priorities and how they affect timing

Partner visa applications are processed according to Ministerial Direction 117. Applications are generally assessed in the order in which they are received, with highest priority given to onshore Partner visa applications for subclasses 820 and 801. Lower priority is given to offshore applications for the Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) and the Partner visas (subclasses 309 and 100). Applications with lower priority are likely to experience longer processing times.

The practical effect for health requirements is that the timing of your health assessment matters more if your application is in a lower-priority group, because the decision may come later. The Department’s processing time guide tool shows processing times for recently decided applications, and it is a guide only — it is not specific to your application.

Priority processing and health evidence

Under Ministerial Direction 117, the Department may prioritise a Partner visa application if you can show that it involves special circumstances of a compassionate nature and there are compelling reasons to depart from the order of priority. There is no guarantee that your application will be given a higher priority, because other applicants might have equally or more compelling and compassionate circumstances.

The Department will only consider applications for priority processing if all supporting documents and information are submitted with your application. Most requests for priority processing cannot be approved. You must meet all relevant legislative requirements before the Department can grant an application. If you hold a temporary Partner visa (subclass 309 or 820), two years must have passed since you applied for that visa before you are eligible for assessment of the permanent visa. If you are not yet eligible for the permanent visa, the Department cannot consider your request for priority processing.

What to check on the official pages

Because the health requirement is part of a broader set of criteria, you should verify the specifics for your own situation on the official pages. The Department’s Partner visa FAQ page sets out the health examination process and the validity periods. The visa processing times page gives median times for key programs, including Partner visas, and links to the processing time guide tool. The page for the specific Partner visa subclass you are applying for will have the step-by-step tab with the full list of requirements.

If you are unsure whether your health results are still valid, or whether you need to complete a new examination, the Department’s guidance is that you can complete your health examinations after you apply and that results are valid for 12 months. If your results expire before a decision, the Department may ask for them again. There is no published way to extend the validity of a health assessment — the validity period is fixed at 12 months from the date you complete the examinations.

What to do next

If you have already lodged a Partner visa application, check the date you completed your health examinations and compare it to the current processing times for your visa subclass. If your results are close to expiring, be prepared for the Department to ask for a new assessment. If you have not yet lodged, you do not need to complete health examinations before you apply — but you should check the processing time guide before you do complete them, so you can make an informed decision about timing.

Verify the current processing times for your specific Partner visa subclass on the Department’s visa processing time guide tool, and confirm the health examination process on the Partner visa FAQ page. The Department’s pages are the authoritative source for your situation.