How the two-stage test works in a 2026 partner visa family violence claim

Yes — proving the relationship comes first, and it is the part most applicants underestimate. On a Partner visa family violence claim, the Department of Home Affairs has to be satisfied that your relationship with your former sponsor was genuine and ongoing before it ended, and only after reaching that view does it turn to your evidence of family violence. As at October 2026, this sequence is set out on the Department's official pages "Family violence provisions – Partner visa applicants" and "Family violence evidence", the latter stating plainly that relationship genuineness is assessed before the family violence evidence is assessed. What follows describes that published process in general terms; it is not advice on any individual case, and your own claim has to be measured against the Department's current pages.

That ordering has one practical consequence worth holding on to: two different bodies of evidence, requested at two different points, each tested against its own question. Preparing them as one bundle is how applicants lose time.

Why does the relationship get assessed before the violence?

Because the claim is built on a relationship that no longer exists. The family violence provisions require that you are no longer in the relationship with the perpetrator, so the separation itself is not the obstacle — the Department still needs to see that what ended was real. A genuine relationship that broke down because of violence is exactly the situation the provisions were written for.

The reverse sequence never happens. Evidence about injuries, police attendances or counselling letters is not weighed until the decision maker has accepted the relationship stage. Weak relationship paperwork can therefore stall a claim before the violence you experienced is ever looked at, which is why the relationship request deserves the same urgency as everything else.

Both the partner route and the secondary applicant route follow this order. The secondary applicant version uses the primary applicant instead of the sponsor as the reference person, but the structure is identical: genuineness first, violence second.

Which partner visa situations actually qualify?

Before either stage begins, the threshold conditions on the Department's "Family Violence Provisions" page have to line up: you experience family violence, the perpetrator is your former partner or spouse, at least part of the violence happened while you were in that relationship, and you are no longer in the relationship. For Partner visa applicants there is an extra condition — the perpetrator must be the former sponsor of the visa application.

The visa you hold or applied for determines which route you are on:

Visa	Condition attached
Temporary Partner (subclass 820)	You hold it, or you have applied for it
Provisional Partner (subclass 309)	You hold it, or you have applied for it and entered Australia since applying
Prospective Marriage (subclass 300)	You hold or previously held it, and you must be in Australia

For a subclass 300 visa that has already ceased, the Department also requires that you currently do not hold a substantive visa and that you have applied for the Partner (subclasses 820 and 801) visa.

A dependent child can come along a separate but related path: if you are the dependant of a Partner visa-holding parent who has made a family violence claim, and you have applied for a Dependent Child (subclass 445) visa, you may be eligible in your own right.

How does telling the Department about the break-up start the process?

Notification sets the machinery in motion and, on the partner route, it also controls what your former sponsor can still see. The steps, in order, are those published by the Department:

Open your own ImmiAccount.
Find the "Notification of Relationship Cessation" form in the Update Details tab.
Answer the three questions about when the relationship ceased, whether you experienced family violence, and whether you have children with your former sponsor.
Select the family violence option if it applies, because that selection triggers the automatic removal described below.

Once submitted, the Partner visa application and the sponsorship application are automatically removed from all ImmiAccounts, including your former sponsor's and any migration agent's account. If both family violence and children of the relationship apply, select both; the application is only removed automatically if you choose the family violence option.

If you cannot access ImmiAccount, the Department accepts notification through the Partner processing enquiry form. A migration agent or legal practitioner can notify on your behalf, though they may opt out of removing the Partner visa application from ImmiAccount — the sponsorship application is always removed.

The Department then contacts you with a request for your new ImmiAccount username and email address so the application can be transferred. Use an email address your former sponsor cannot reach. For safety reasons the Department's guidance points to private browsing and to clearing browsing history, and it notes that calls to helplines still appear on phone bills.

What does stage one test, exactly?

Stage one asks a single question: was there a genuine and ongoing relationship with your former sponsor before it ended? Nothing in this stage is about the violence. The Department may send a request for information asking for evidence of the relationship, and it points to a dedicated relationship evidence page for what to supply; the published instruction is to provide as much information as you can.

Time pressure is not something you should assume. The Department states that it understands gathering evidence after violence can be difficult and that there are sometimes delays outside your control, and it gives more time to submit documents when you need it. That applies to relationship documents as well as violence documents.

Suppose an applicant stopped sharing a household months before lodging anything and has kept almost no joint paperwork. Nothing in the published rules says that fact alone decides the outcome, but it does mean stage one will take longer and will likely generate a request for further information before anyone reads a single line about the violence.

A former sponsor withdrawing sponsorship does not quietly end your case. Where the Department receives information that a relationship has ended, it must tell the visa applicant and give them a chance to respond before deciding the application, and privacy law prevents the Department from giving the withdrawn sponsor any details about the application, its outcome, or whether you are in Australia.

What must the violence evidence show in stage two?

Stage two is narrower than most people expect. Whatever form your documents take, the evidence has to establish two things and nothing else besides:

At least part of the family violence happened while you were in a relationship with your former partner or spouse.
Your former partner or spouse was the alleged perpetrator.

All evidence must be in writing, in English, and in the format and level of detail requested. Evidence is accepted either as judicial evidence or as non-judicial evidence, and nothing has to be duplicative.

Do I need a court order?

Not necessarily. Judicial evidence means a document from a court of law, and the Department lists four types, of which you need only one:

A court injunction against your former partner or spouse under the Family Law Act 1975.
A court order made against them under a state or territory law.
A record of their conviction of a family violence offence against you or your dependants.
A record that the court recorded a finding of guilt against them for family violence offences against you or your dependants.

Interim orders sit in their own category. In some situations an interim order meets the threshold on its own; where it does not, you can submit a copy while you wait for the final outcome, and once a final order is made you must give the Department a copy.

What counts as non-judicial evidence?

Non-judicial evidence is either a joint undertaking made before the court, or a minimum of two pieces of evidence drawn from the categories below. If you take the two-piece route, you must also complete a Commonwealth statutory declaration, and the Department's Form 1410i explains how to complete it for a family violence claim.

The trap here is the one-document-per-category rule. Only one document from each category can be given, so a hospital report from a nurse plus a statutory declaration from a medical practitioner will not count as two — both sit in the medical category. Every item must also be produced by someone acting in their professional capacity; the Department's own example is that medical evidence must come from a medical practitioner, registered nurse or midwife. Additional material can still be submitted, but only once the minimum requirements are met, and the decision maker may then weigh it as part of the whole assessment.

Evidence category	Document types listed	What each item must do
Medical	Medical report, hospital report, discharge summary, letter, statutory declaration	Identify the alleged victim and detail injuries or treatment consistent with family violence
Police	Report, record of assault or family violence, risk assessment, witness statement, statutory declaration, witness statement by someone other than the victim made to police during an investigation	Identify the victim, identify the perpetrator or give enough information for the identity to be reasonably inferred, and detail the incident or incidents
Child welfare officer	Report, letter, statutory declaration	Detail fears for the dependent child's safety from family violence in the household, and identify the perpetrator or allow reasonable inference
Family violence support service provider	Report, letter, risk assessment, statutory declaration	State that a claim was made, give a professional opinion on whether the claims are consistent with having been subjected to family violence, and identify or allow inference of the perpetrator
Social worker	Report, letter, statutory declaration	Same three requirements as above
Psychologist	Report, letter, statutory declaration	Same three requirements as above
Family consultant or family relationship counsellor	Report, letter, statutory declaration	State that the victim was treated or counselled by them, give a professional opinion on consistency with family violence, and identify or allow inference of the perpetrator
Education professional	Report, letter, statutory declaration	State observations made or become aware of that are consistent with the victim's claims, give details of those observations, and identify or allow inference of the perpetrator

What happens if the Department is not satisfied about the violence?

The claim does not end there. Where the decision maker is not satisfied that you experienced family violence, you are referred to an independent expert for assessment, and the Department will tell you that it has referred you. The expert contacts you to arrange an interview about your claims and gives the Department an opinion on whether you experienced family violence, and that opinion is binding on the Department — it accepts it.

If the expert determines family violence did not occur, you are given an opportunity to comment on that opinion before anything is finalised. If the expert determines it did occur, the file moves forward. Either way, once family violence is accepted, the Department may ask for further information, which can include a health examination and character documents such as Australian or overseas police certificates.

Does your visa status affect your safety rights?

No. The Department states that you do not have to stay in a relationship where you fear for your own or your family's safety, and that you have a right to a safe environment in Australia regardless of your visa status. Support is not conditional on the claim succeeding or even on eligibility for the provisions.

That point deserves to sit outside the visa analysis entirely: leaving is not a migration risk calculation. Even where someone is not eligible for the family violence provisions, help is available, and the Department's "Where to get help" page lists national and state or territory services covering counselling, housing, finances, medical needs and legal matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to prove my relationship was genuine before my family violence claim is assessed?

Yes. The Department assesses whether your relationship with your former sponsor was genuine and ongoing before it ended, and only then assesses the family violence evidence. This order is stated on the Department's "Family Violence Evidence" page and in Step 2 of the partner visa applicant process.

Does it hurt my claim that I have already left my former partner?

No — it is a requirement. Being no longer in the relationship with the perpetrator is one of the conditions for the provisions to apply, so ending the relationship is consistent with eligibility rather than fatal to it. What the Department still needs to see is that the relationship was genuine while it lasted.

Can the violence have happened after we separated?

Part of it must have happened during the relationship. The published requirement is that at least part of the family violence occurred while you were in a relationship with your former partner or spouse, which is the same test the Department applies when assessing the claim. Incidents after separation do not satisfy that element on their own.

What if I never went to court and have no court order?

You can still claim using non-judicial evidence. That means either a joint undertaking made before the court, or a minimum of two pieces of evidence from different categories — for example one police document and one psychologist report — plus a completed Commonwealth statutory declaration. Only one document per category is accepted, so the two pieces must come from different categories.

Can my former sponsor still see my visa application after I report family violence?

If you notify the Department through ImmiAccount and select the family violence option, both your Partner visa application and the sponsorship application are automatically removed from all ImmiAccounts, including your former sponsor's and your migration agent's. A separate sponsorship withdrawal does not give your former sponsor any information: privacy law stops the Department from disclosing details about the application or applicant to them.

If I previously held a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) visa, where do I have to be?

You must be in Australia. If that visa has ceased, the Department additionally requires that you do not currently hold a substantive visa and that you have applied for the Partner (subclasses 820 and 801) visa.

Will I lose the claim if the Department is not satisfied at first?

Not automatically. If the decision maker is not satisfied that family violence occurred, you are referred to an independent expert who interviews you and gives an opinion the Department must accept. If that opinion is negative, you are given the chance to comment on it before a decision is made.