The Department calls: partner interviews, employer verification and site visits

MARN 1576536

Why the Department verifies

The Department decides on the balance of the evidence, and where the evidence is a document that someone could have written to order, a reference, a statutory declaration, a lease, it checks with the person behind it. Verification is targeted, not routine: it follows a risk profile, an inconsistency in the file, a relationship or an employer the officer has seen before, or information received from outside. The methods are a scheduled interview, an unscheduled call, a written enquiry, or a visit. What they have in common is that the answer given is compared to the file, and the comparison is the evidence.

Partner visa interviews

An interview is scheduled by letter or email with a date and a method: a phone or video call, or an appointment at an office or a post overseas. The applicant and the sponsor are interviewed separately, often one after the other, by the same officer, and the officer compares the two accounts. An interpreter is arranged where English is not strong enough, and it is better to accept one than to misunderstand a question. A registered agent may attend a scheduled interview and may object to an improper question but does not answer for the client. The interview is recorded or noted, and the notes go on the file.

What a partner interview asks

The questions follow the four pillars of the relationship evidence: the financial aspects, the household, the social recognition and the commitment. In practice they are concrete and ordinary. How you met, where and when; the first date; when you began living together and the address; who pays which bills and from which account; what your partner does for work and their hours; the names of their parents and siblings; what you did last weekend; what you ate for dinner last night; the colour of the bedroom walls; plans for children; what happens if the visa is refused. The officer is not looking for romance. They are looking for two people who live the same life and describe it the same way without having rehearsed it. The ones that go wrong are the ones where a date on the form does not match the date remembered, where a partner does not know the other's workplace, or where the two accounts of the first meeting differ. Those are followed up in writing.

Employer verification

For an employer-sponsored nomination the officer may call the business on the number on the ABN record or the nomination, ask for the person who signed, and confirm that the business is trading at that address, that the position exists and is as described, who the nominee will report to, the salary and hours, and how the advertising was done and who applied. For a skilled visa the officer calls the employers named in the employment references, asks whether the applicant worked there, in what role and period, with what duties and at what level, and whether the reference was written by the signatory. The call may be to HR, to the signatory or to a director, and it may be followed by an email asking for payroll or contract records. An employer that cannot be reached at the published number, that no longer exists, or whose answers differ from the reference, leaves the claim unproven, and the skilled visa guide sets out where that leads. Telling the employer the call may come, and making sure the signatory has the reference in front of them, is the applicant's preparation.

Site visits

The Department's sponsor monitoring officers visit approved sponsors, announced or unannounced, to check that the business is operating, that sponsored workers are employed in their nominated occupations at the nominated salary, that records are kept, and that no worker has paid for their sponsorship. They speak to the sponsored workers, sometimes apart from the employer, and ask about duties, hours, pay and any deductions. A business that has been sponsoring a worker in a different role, paying below the nomination, or recovering costs from the worker is found at the visit, and the consequences fall on the sponsor first and the worker's visa second. The obligations guide covers what the visit checks.

Referees and institutions

Beyond employers, the Department writes to or calls the people who signed statutory declarations in a partner application, the universities and training organisations that issued qualifications, the licensing bodies that issued registrations, and the police authorities that issued certificates. Institutions are usually asked by email through a verification channel and the applicant hears nothing. Referees are called and asked whether they made the declaration, how they know the couple, and what they know of the relationship. A referee who cannot be reached, or who barely knows the couple, weakens the declaration; a referee who was not told they might be called sometimes denies the call out of caution, which is worse. Tell them.

Genuine call or scam

Scammers call visa applicants claiming to be from the Department, and the Department has published what a genuine call looks like. Department staff identify themselves by name and area, and will give you a way to verify the call, such as a reference you can check in ImmiAccount or a number to call back through the Department's published lines. They never ask for payment, card or bank details, or a fee to progress the application, and they never threaten arrest or deportation on the call. A caller who demands money, who insists you stay on the line, or who will not let you call back is not the Department. Hang up and report it. A genuine officer will not mind being verified.

Handling the call

• Confirm who is calling and from where, and note the name.
• If the moment is wrong, say so and ask for a time. Officers accept that; a rushed answer from a car park is not in their interest either.
• Answer the question asked, briefly and truthfully. Do not volunteer theories, and do not fill silences.
• If you do not know or do not remember, say so. A guess that turns out wrong is an inconsistency; a gap is not.
• Do not consult your partner or your agent mid-call. The officer is testing what you know.
• If a question is improper or you do not understand it, ask for it to be put in writing.

After the call

Write down what was asked and what you answered while it is fresh, and tell your agent. If you realise an answer was wrong, correct it in writing to the Department promptly, with the right answer and why the wrong one was given; a correction before the officer raises it is the evidence that it was a mistake. If the officer identified an inconsistency that matters, you will receive a natural justice letter under section 57 setting it out and inviting a response; the natural justice guide covers how that response is built. If you hear nothing, the call confirmed the file, which is what most calls do.

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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Interview and verification practice is the Department of Home Affairs’ administrative practice at the date above; the natural justice obligation is section 57 of the Migration Act 1958. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.