The short answer
The Subclass 820 and Subclass 309 are the same visa in almost every way that matters. They lead to the same permanent residence, cost the same, and give you the same rights once granted.
The difference is one thing: where you are standing on the day you lodge the application.
- In Australia when you apply → Subclass 820, leading to permanent Subclass 801.
- Outside Australia when you apply → Subclass 309, leading to permanent Subclass 100.
This is not a preference. It is a legal requirement, and it applies to every family member included in your application, not just you.
Subclass 820 — applying in Australia
You must be in Australia when you apply, and so must any family members applying with you. You can be either in or outside Australia when the Department decides your temporary visa.
Once granted, the 820 lets you live, work and study in Australia, travel in and out as many times as you like, apply for Medicare, and attend free English classes through the Adult Migrant English Program if you are eligible.
It costs from AUD 11,710 for most applicants. If you already hold a Prospective Marriage visa (Subclass 300), the cost drops to from AUD 1,955.
Visa application charges are subject to change, and typically rise at the start of a new financial year on 1 July. Treat any figure you read online — including this one — as indicative, and confirm the current charge with the Department’s Visa Pricing Estimator before you budget.
Subclass 309 — applying from outside Australia
You must be outside Australia when you apply, along with any family applying with you. As with the 820, you can be in or outside Australia when the temporary visa is decided.
The rights are identical once granted — live, work, study, travel, Medicare, English classes. The cost is the same: from AUD 11,710, and subject to the same annual changes.
Since 1 July 2026, a lower visa cost applies to eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens on both pathways.
The change most people have missed: onshore now goes first
This is the part worth paying attention to.
On 25 July 2026, Ministerial Direction 117 replaced Direction 102. It sets the order in which the Department must consider family visa applications, and it is explicit:
Highest priority goes to family visa applications made while the applicant was in Australia, for a visa that can be granted while the applicant is in Australia.
Lower priority goes to applications where the applicant was outside Australia when they applied, or must be outside Australia at the time of grant.
In plain terms: a Subclass 820 lodged onshore sits ahead of a Subclass 309 lodged offshore in the queue.
That does not mean an offshore application is a mistake. For many couples it is the only lawful option, and for some it is genuinely the better one. But if you have a real choice about where you will be when you lodge, the priority order is now a factor it would be careless to ignore.
The Direction does allow an application to be prioritised where there are compelling and compassionate circumstances. That is assessed case by case, and it is not something to count on.
What you can do while you wait
Both visas allow you to live, work and study in Australia once granted. The practical difference is what happens between lodging and grant.
If you apply onshore and your current visa expires while you are waiting, a bridging visa generally keeps you lawfully in the country. If you apply offshore, you simply remain overseas until the 309 is granted, then travel.
That is why the onshore route appeals to couples already living together in Australia, and the offshore route suits couples who are not yet in the same country.
The travel trap that catches onshore applicants
This one costs people real money and real time.
If you are in Australia on a bridging visa waiting for your 820, only a Bridging visa B will let you leave Australia and come back. A Bridging visa A will not. If you leave the country on a Bridging visa A, it ceases, and you may not be able to return.
If you have a wedding overseas, a sick parent, or any prospect of needing to travel, sort this out before you book anything.
A 309 applicant has the opposite position — you are already outside Australia and free to move, but you cannot enter Australia on the strength of the pending application alone.
Both roads end in the same place
Whichever pathway you take, the structure is the same. You lodge one application and pay one charge, and it covers both the temporary and the permanent stage.
If you hold a temporary Partner visa — 309 or 820 — and two years have passed since you applied for it, you become eligible for assessment of the permanent visa. That is two years from application, not from grant.
There is no second visa application charge. But do not mistake that for “nothing to do.” The permanent stage is not automatic. You and your sponsor will need to complete further forms and provide fresh evidence that the relationship has continued since you first applied — updated joint financial records, living arrangements, social evidence, statements. In practice it works like a second application without the fee, and it is assessed on what you put in at that point, not on what you filed two years earlier.
Couples who stop keeping records after the temporary visa is granted are the ones who struggle here.
Where your application is processed
A common worry is that applying from a particular country will slow things down. The Department operates a global processing model: partner applications can be processed at any office, inside or outside Australia, and the office is not determined by your nationality or where you are.
For context on scale, the Government has allocated 52,460 places to the Family stream for 2026-27, with around 41,500 of those estimated for Partner visas.
Mistakes worth avoiding
Lodging from the wrong side of the border. If you apply for an 820 while offshore, or a 309 while onshore, the application is not valid. Location is checked at the moment of lodgement.
Forgetting that it applies to the whole family. Every member included in the application must meet the same location requirement.
Applying onshore without a substantive visa. If you do not hold a substantive visa when you lodge an 820, the Schedule 3 criteria apply, and they are not easy to satisfy. A waiver is possible, but it turns entirely on the facts of the individual case. This is one to get advice on before you lodge, not after.
Assuming processing times published online apply to you. They describe applications recently decided, not yours.
Getting it right for your situation
The 820 and 309 look interchangeable on paper. In practice the choice interacts with your current visa, your travel plans, your work, and whether you are already living together in Australia. Direction 117 has now added processing priority to that list.
If you are weighing up which side of the border to be on when you lodge, that is a conversation worth having before you commit to flights.
Sohail Cheema is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1170438) at OZ Visa & Education Consultants in Canberra.
Official sources
- Subclass 820 Partner visa (temporary) — Department of Home Affairs
- Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional) visa — Department of Home Affairs
- Family visa processing priorities (Ministerial Direction 117)
- Travel on a bridging visa
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and is current as at 7 September 2026. It does not take your personal circumstances into account and should not be relied on as advice for your own application. Visa criteria, application charges and processing priorities change, and charges are typically updated at the start of each financial year. For advice specific to your situation, speak to a Registered Migration Agent.
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