Partner visas · Sponsorship limitations
The partner visa sponsorship limitations and the compelling circumstances waiver: the five years, the two-sponsorship limit, what counts, and the evidence
Australians who have sponsored a partner before, or who came to Australia as a sponsored partner, learn when they try to sponsor again that the regulations stand in the way: no second sponsorship within five years of the first, no third sponsorship ever, and no sponsorship within five years of having been sponsored oneself, unless the Minister is satisfied that compelling circumstances affect the sponsor. The limitation was written for the serial sponsor, and the waiver for the genuine second relationship the rule catches with it, and the Department’s policy recognises a short list of what compelling means: a child of the new relationship, a long relationship with dependants, the earlier partner’s death, the earlier relationship ended by that partner’s violence. A new relationship that is merely genuine is not on the list. This guide sets out each limitation, how the years are counted, what a refused earlier application does and does not do, the circumstances that are recognised and the evidence for each, the separate bar for sponsors with certain convictions, and what a couple inside the limitation does while the years run.
By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536) since 2015 · WIDEN, Sydney · Reviewed October 2026
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - Limitations
- Two sponsorships in a lifetime; five years after sponsoring; five years after being sponsored
- Counted from
- The date of the earlier partner application
- Refused earlier application
- Does not trigger the limitation
- Waiver
- Compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor
- Recognised
- A child of the relationship; long relationship with dependants; former partner’s death; family violence by the former partner
- Not enough
- A genuine new relationship on its own
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The three limitations
The regulations provide that a sponsorship for a partner visa, including the prospective marriage visa, must not be approved where the sponsor has previously sponsored two other persons as partners or fiancés; where the sponsor sponsored another person as a partner or fiancé and the application for that sponsorship was made within the last five years; or where the sponsor was themselves granted a partner or prospective marriage visa on another person's sponsorship, and the application for that visa was made within the last five years. Each applies unless the Minister is satisfied that there are compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor. The three together are the sponsorship limitations, and they sit beside the sponsor's other criteria, age, status, character, in the sponsor requirements guide.
How the five years is counted
The five years runs from the date the earlier application was made, as the regulations frame it: for a sponsor who sponsored before, from the date their former partner's visa application was lodged; for a sponsor who was sponsored, from the date their own partner visa application was lodged. It is measured to the date the new sponsorship application is made. A sponsor whose former partner applied in March 2022 can sponsor freely from March 2027; a sponsor who came to Australia on a partner visa applied for in June 2023 can sponsor from June 2028. The grant date, the date the relationship ended and the date of a divorce are not the measure, though they are often confused with it, and a sponsor counts from the lodgement date on the earlier application's receipt. The lifetime limit of two has no period; a third sponsorship is never approved without a waiver.
Earlier applications that were refused or withdrawn
The limitations attach to sponsorships that produced a visa: a sponsor whose former partner's application was refused, or withdrawn before decision, has not sponsored a person who was granted a partner visa, and the five years and the lifetime count are not triggered by it. The earlier sponsorship is still disclosed on the new sponsorship form, which asks about previous sponsorships, and the Department reads it as part of the sponsor's history; a sponsor with a refused sponsorship for a relationship the Department found not genuine has a history that the new application is examined against. A sponsor whose former partner's temporary visa was granted and whose permanent visa was later refused, because the relationship ended, has sponsored a person who was granted a partner visa, and the limitation applies.
The waiver
The limitation does not apply where the Minister is satisfied that there are compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor, and the waiver is argued in the sponsorship application with a submission and evidence. The words are the sponsor's circumstances, and the Department reads them so: the question is whether something about the sponsor's own situation compels the approval of this sponsorship now, against the policy of the limitation, not whether the applicant would suffer or the relationship is real. The decision is discretionary, made by the officer under the Department's policy guidance, and refusals are reviewable with the visa refusal that follows. The waiver is applied for at lodgement; a sponsorship lodged inside the limitation without a waiver submission is refused on the limitation.
The circumstances the Department recognises
- A child of the new relationship, or a child dependent on both the sponsor and the applicant, whose welfare the sponsorship bears on; the strongest and commonest ground.
- A long-standing relationship, usually of more than two years, particularly with dependent children, where refusing the sponsorship would separate an established family.
- The death of the former partner, where the earlier sponsorship ended by the death rather than a separation, so that the limitation's purpose does not apply.
- Family violence by the former partner against the sponsor, where the earlier relationship ended because of it, shown by the kinds of evidence the family violence provisions accept.
- The sponsor's own serious circumstances, an illness or a disability for which the applicant's presence is needed, where the Department accepts them as compelling.
- Circumstances of equivalent weight, which the policy leaves open and the Department applies narrowly.
The family violence guide sets out the evidence for that ground, and the death guide the position where the earlier partner died.
What is not compelling
The limitation was written to catch a person who sponsors a succession of partners, and the Department does not waive it for the facts that every second relationship has: that the new relationship is genuine, that the couple are in love, that they have married, that the applicant's visa is ending, that the couple will be separated by distance, that the earlier relationship ended through no fault of the sponsor, or that the sponsor did not know of the limitation. Those are the circumstances of the case the rule is for. A couple without a child, without a long relationship, without a death or violence behind the earlier sponsorship, and two years short of the five, are told that the sponsorship will be refused, and that the plan is the years. The relationship breakdown guide covers the sponsored partner who later wants to sponsor.
The evidence
The waiver submission sets out the circumstance relied on and attaches its proof: the child's birth certificate, the household and the care arrangements; the relationship's history across the four aspects, with the dependants' documents; the former partner's death certificate; the family violence evidence, court orders, police reports, medical and counselling records, the statutory declarations the provisions allow; the sponsor's medical evidence where the ground is the sponsor's own condition. It explains, in a page, why the circumstances compel approval now as they affect the sponsor, and it is lodged with the sponsorship form, which asks about previous sponsorships and is answered fully. A submission that argues the relationship's genuineness has argued the wrong thing.
The conviction bar
Separately from the limitations, a sponsor who has a conviction for a registrable offence, broadly sexual and serious violent offences against children, must not be approved as a sponsor unless the Minister is satisfied that compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor or the applicant exist, and the Department's practice is to refuse; a sponsor with other convictions, or with violence orders, is examined under the discretion to refuse where the sponsor's history indicates a risk to the applicant or children. The sponsor's police certificate is required with every partner sponsorship, and the applicant is given the sponsor's disclosed history. The violence orders guide covers the sponsor with an order.
If the sponsorship is refused
A sponsorship refused under the limitation takes the applicant's partner visa with it, and the visa refusal is reviewable at the Tribunal where the applicant is in Australia, within the period on the letter, with the Tribunal considering whether compelling circumstances exist on the evidence at its hearing; circumstances that arise after the refusal, a child born, the years running, are before the Tribunal if it has not yet decided. An applicant outside Australia has review only where the sponsor can apply for it, which the regulations allow for some refusals and not others. A refusal is on the record of both, and the next application discloses it. The partner refusal guide covers the review.
Waiting out the years
- Count the five years from the earlier application's lodgement date, to the day.
- Decide honestly whether a recognised compelling circumstance exists; if it does, lodge with the waiver and the evidence.
- If it does not, identify the visa the applicant holds while the years run: the current visa, a student, skilled or sponsored visa in their own right, or visits from abroad.
- Keep the relationship evidence running, because the application lodged when the years have run is assessed on the relationship as it then is, and a couple with three more years of shared life have a strong file.
- Lodge on the day the limitation lifts, with the earlier sponsorship disclosed.
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General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Regulation 1.20J of the Migration Regulations 1994 (the sponsorship limitations and the compelling circumstances waiver), regulation 1.20KB and the related provisions on sponsors with convictions, and the partner and prospective marriage visa criteria in Schedule 2, as in force at the date above; the circumstances the Department treats as compelling are a matter of its policy and the current position governs. 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.
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I sponsored my ex-wife three years ago. Can I sponsor my new partner?
Not without a waiver. The regulations prevent a person from sponsoring a partner where they sponsored another partner within the last five years, or were themselves sponsored as a partner within the last five years, or have sponsored two partners in their life, unless the Minister is satisfied there are compelling circumstances affecting the sponsor. With three years run, you are two years from sponsoring freely, and in the meantime a sponsorship is approved only if your circumstances are compelling in the sense the Department recognises, which a genuine new relationship on its own is not.
How is the five years counted?
From the date the earlier partner visa application was made, as the regulations count it, to the date of the new sponsorship application, for a sponsor who sponsored before; and for a sponsor who was themselves sponsored, from the date of their own partner application. The earlier sponsorship counts where the earlier partner was granted the visa; an earlier application that was refused or withdrawn before grant does not trigger the limitation, though it is disclosed. The lifetime limit of two counts sponsorships that resulted in a grant.
What are compelling circumstances?
The regulations do not define them, and the Department's policy recognises a short list: the sponsor and the new partner have a child of the relationship, or a child dependent on both; the new relationship is long-standing, usually more than two years, and there are dependent children; the sponsor's earlier partner has died; the earlier relationship ended because of the earlier partner's family violence against the sponsor; and circumstances of equivalent weight. A relationship that is genuine, recent and without children is the case the limitation was written to catch, and it is not a compelling circumstance; the couple wait.
What evidence is needed for the waiver?
The evidence of the circumstance relied on: the child's birth certificate and the household; the relationship's length and the dependants; the former partner's death certificate; the family violence, by court orders, police reports or the kinds of evidence the family violence provisions accept; and a submission explaining why the circumstances are compelling as they affect the sponsor, not the applicant. The waiver is about the sponsor's circumstances, and evidence about the applicant's hardship is relevant only as it bears on the sponsor.
What if the sponsorship is refused under the limitation?
The applicant's partner visa is refused with it, because a partner visa needs an approved sponsor, and the refusal is reviewable at the Tribunal where the applicant is in Australia, with the Tribunal considering the waiver afresh; an applicant outside Australia has review only through the sponsor in limited cases. The practical alternative is to wait until the five years have run, or until the circumstances become compelling, and apply then, which for a couple two years short is often the realistic plan, with the applicant on another visa meanwhile.
What does the consultation cost?
A$330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video with Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), credited in full if you engage WIDEN. For a sponsor within the limitation the session counts the five years exactly, says whether the circumstances are ones the Department recognises as compelling, and, if they are not, sets out the visa the applicant holds while the years run.
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