Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300): the fiancé visa questions couples actually ask in 2026

The Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) is the visa most people mean when they say "fiancé visa." It lets the engaged partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen travel to Australia to get married, then apply for a Partner visa onshore. It sounds simple. The questions couples ask before lodging are not.

This guide works through the ones that come up again and again in forums, migration agent inboxes, and Facebook groups: whether the 300 is even the right visa, how long it really takes, what "met in person" means when you started online, and what the whole thing costs once you add up every stage. It is a companion to our guides on the partner visa 820/801 and where partner visa applications go wrong, which cover the stage that comes after the wedding.

Should we even do the 300, or go straight for a partner visa?

This is the first question, and for a lot of couples it is the only one that matters. The 300 is not the only way to bring a partner to Australia, and it is not always the cheapest.

The honest answer is that the 300 is a marriage-specific visa. It exists for couples who are engaged but not yet married, and who want to marry in Australia. If that describes you, it fits. If you are already married, or you have been living together as a de facto couple for twelve months or more, you are usually better served by an offshore Partner visa (subclass 309/100) instead.

The reason is cost and steps. The 300 is effectively a three-stage path: you pay the full application charge for the 300, you marry, then you lodge an onshore Partner visa (subclass 820/801) at a reduced fee, and finally that converts to permanent residency. The 309/100 is a two-stage path where you pay once and the permanent stage carries no separate charge. So a couple who could qualify for either will generally pay more, and wait through more steps, on the 300 route.

The 300 earns its place in specific situations:

• You want a wedding in Australia and cannot easily marry in your home country first, for legal, cultural, or family reasons
• You are engaged but have not lived together for twelve months and cannot register your relationship to skip that requirement
• You want your partner physically in Australia, working and settling in, before the larger partner visa assessment runs its course

If none of those apply, price the 309/100 before you commit to the 300. A registered migration agent can tell you in one conversation which path is cheaper for your exact circumstances.

How long does it actually take right now?

Many couples hear "nine months" and assume that is the processing time. It is not. Nine months is the deadline to marry after the visa is granted. The wait to get the visa in the first place is much longer.

Recent figures from migration agencies put most subclass 300 grants somewhere between 15 and 28 months, with a large share landing around the two-year mark. Processing times shift with the Department's caseload and the migration program's annual planning levels, so treat any single number as a snapshot rather than a promise. The Department of Home Affairs publishes a visa processing times tool that is worth checking close to when you lodge.

What you can control is whether your file gives a case officer a reason to pause. A complete application with strong relationship evidence, completed health checks, and police clearances already attached tends to move faster than one that arrives thin and triggers a request for more information. Front-loading the evidence is the single most effective thing applicants do to avoid adding months to an already long wait.

We met online. Have we "met in person" enough?

A lot of modern relationships start on an app or across a border, and this requirement worries people more than almost any other. The rule itself is narrow: you and your sponsor must have physically met in person, as adults, at least once. Pen-pal or video-only relationships do not qualify, no matter how genuine.

One real, documented in-person meeting clears the bar. What the Department wants is proof it happened: passport stamps showing you were in the same country at the same time, flight itineraries and boarding passes, dated photos together at identifiable places, and accommodation bookings in both names. If your time together has been short or infrequent, expect to provide more of this evidence, not less, to show the relationship is real beyond the screen.

Australia recognises cultural differences, including arranged marriages, but the in-person meeting requirement still applies. There is no exemption for never having met.

Can I visit Australia while the 300 is being processed?

Yes, but with a trap that catches people. You can apply for a Visitor visa (subclass 600) and come to spend time with your partner during the long wait. What you cannot do is be inside Australia at the moment your 300 is granted.

The 300 requires you to be offshore both when you apply and when the decision is made. If you are physically in Australia on a visitor visa when the grant comes through, the visa cannot be granted to you. Couples manage this by tracking the likely decision window and making sure the applicant is overseas as the decision approaches. If you visit, plan your trips so you are not caught onshore when a grant is imminent, and keep your details updated in ImmiAccount the whole time.

What if we just get married before the visa is granted?

This happens more than you would expect. The wait drags on, a wedding date gets set, and the couple marries before the 300 is decided. The consequence is structural: once you are married, you no longer meet the "prospective marriage" definition, so the 300 cannot be granted.

The good news is that a pending 300 can usually be converted to an offshore Partner visa (subclass 309) at no extra application charge, because you have already paid the partner-pathway fee. Your application is then assessed against the 309 criteria, which look at a married or de facto relationship rather than an intention to marry, so you may need to add evidence. If you are considering marrying mid-process, talk to a migration agent before you do, so the conversion is handled cleanly rather than discovered after the fact.

Does the wedding have to be in Australia?

No. You can marry in Australia or overseas, as long as the marriage is legally valid under Australian law. The catch is about entry order, and it trips couples up.

If you intend to marry overseas, you must still enter Australia on your 300 at least once before you leave to get married, so that you can return and lodge the onshore Partner visa afterwards. If you marry overseas without ever having entered on the 300, you fall outside the onshore pathway and end up needing a fresh offshore application instead. When in doubt, enter Australia first, then travel for the wedding.

What happens if we don't marry within nine months?

The nine-month marriage deadline is a hard condition of the visa (condition 8519), and it runs from the grant date, not from when you arrive. If you do not marry within that window, the pathway closes: you cannot transition to the Partner visa, and you are expected to leave Australia when the visa ends. The period cannot be extended.

In practice, nine months is tighter than it sounds once you factor in a Notice of Intended Marriage, celebrant availability, and family travel. Couples who treat the grant date as the start of a countdown, and who have a celebrant and a rough date lined up before they arrive, rarely have a problem. Those who treat arrival as the start of planning sometimes run out of road.

What evidence do we actually need?

The Department assesses the 300 against the same four-pillar framework it uses for partner visas: the financial side of your relationship, the nature of your household, the social aspects, and your mutual commitment. On top of that, the 300 has its own requirement that you genuinely intend to marry.

For the intention to marry, the strongest evidence is a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) lodged with an authorised marriage celebrant in Australia. A NOIM must be lodged at least one month before the wedding and is valid for eighteen months, so it doubles neatly as proof that wedding planning is genuinely underway. Statutory declarations from both of you confirming your intention to marry, plus venue or celebrant correspondence, round it out.

For the relationship itself, build evidence across all four pillars rather than leaning on a stack of photos. Communication logs over time, travel records of your visits, any shared financial commitments, and statements from people who know you as a couple all carry weight. The application forms are the 47SP for you as the applicant and the 40SP for your sponsoring partner.

One sponsor limit catches couples by surprise: a person can sponsor at most two partners in their lifetime, with at least five years between sponsorships. If your partner has sponsored someone before, check this before you lodge, not after.

Can I work, bring my kids, and access Medicare?

On the 300 itself, you have full rights to work, study, and travel in and out of Australia during the visa period. There is no work restriction. You support yourself, since the visa does not come with government benefits.

Dependent children can be included as secondary applicants and, if granted, hold the same conditions as you. Each additional applicant adds to the cost, covered below.

Medicare is the part people get wrong. The 300 on its own does not give you Medicare access. That generally comes once you have lodged the onshore Partner visa (subclass 820) after marrying and are holding a bridging visa, at which point access usually opens up. So the sequence is: arrive, marry, lodge the 820, then sort out Medicare.

What does the whole thing actually cost?

The base application charge for the subclass 300 is AU$9,365 for the main applicant (2025 to 2026). That figure is indexed and typically rises each July, so confirm it before you lodge. Additional applicants aged 18 and over add AU$4,685 each, and those under 18 add AU$2,345 each.

That is only the government charge for stage one. Budget on top of it for:

• Health examinations, roughly AU$300 to AU$600 per adult depending on what is required
• Police clearances from every country you have lived in for twelve months or more in the last ten years, with costs that vary by country
• NAATI certified translations for any document not in English
• The onshore Partner visa (subclass 820/801) after you marry

The good news on that last point: as a 300 holder, the Partner visa charge drops sharply. You pay AU$1,560 if your 300 is still valid when you lodge, or AU$1,980 if it has ceased, rather than the full charge a direct applicant would pay. That reduced fee is the main financial upside of the 300 route, and it is why the path still adds up for couples who genuinely need it.

What happens after we marry?

Once you marry within the nine-month window, you lodge the onshore Partner visa (subclass 820/801) before your 300 expires. Lodging onshore gives you a bridging visa that lets you stay in Australia while the 820 is assessed, and it is at this stage that Medicare access usually opens up.

From there it follows the standard partner visa timeline: the temporary 820 is granted first, and roughly two years after you lodged, the permanent 801 is assessed, provided you are still in the relationship. Our guide on what derails partner visa applications covers what to watch for at that stage, since the evidence bar only gets higher.

If the 300 is refused, you generally have a limited window to seek a merits review at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), which replaced the AAT in October 2024. The deadlines are strict and stated on the refusal letter, so act quickly and get advice if it happens.

Getting your translations ready

For applicants from non-English-speaking countries, several of the documents in a 300 application have to be translated before they will be accepted: birth certificates, police clearances, and, if either of you was previously married, divorce or death certificates. Once you marry, the marriage certificate feeds straight into your onshore Partner visa application as well.

All of these must be translated by a NAATI certified translator to be accepted by the Department of Home Affairs. A translation done by a friend or an uncertified service is one of the avoidable reasons applications get held up.

EzyTranslate provides NAATI certified translations accepted for prospective marriage and partner visa applications, delivered as a PDF to your inbox within 24 to 48 hours. Individual documents start from AU$69, and the partner visa bundle covers birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce certificate, and police check at a reduced rate.