Family visas · Prospective marriage
Prospective Marriage Visa (Subclass 300)
The 300 is the fiancé(e) route: it brings your partner to Australia to marry you, then converts onshore to the 820/801 partner visa. Its two decisive requirements are simple to state and heavily evidenced in practice — you must have met in person as adults, and the Department must be satisfied you genuinely intend to marry and live together as spouses.
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - Where lodged & granted
- Outside Australia
- Then
- Marry within validity → 820/801
- Decisive requirements
- Met in person · genuine intention
MARN 1576536
How the 300 works
- Lodge offshore — the applicant must be outside Australia at lodgement and at grant; the sponsor is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen
- Enter and marry within the validity window — the grant letter states the dates; after first entry, the wedding itself can be in or outside Australia, as long as it happens within the window
- Apply onshore for the partner visa — after the marriage, the 820/801 application is lodged in Australia at a substantially reduced application charge
- Work and travel — the 300 carries work rights and multiple travel while valid
The met-in-person requirement
The couple must have met in person as adults and be known to each other personally. A relationship conducted entirely online — however long and however real — does not satisfy the requirement until there has been a physical meeting with both parties over 18. Evidence is practical: passport stamps and travel records placing you in the same place, photographs together, accommodation bookings, and consistent statements about when and where you met. Couples introduced through family or a marriage arrangement can qualify — the requirement is the in-person meeting and personal knowledge of each other, not a particular courtship style.
Evidence of genuine intention
The Department must be satisfied you genuinely intend to marry and to live together as spouses. For a couple who may never have shared a household, the evidence adapts the partner-visa framework:
- Relationship history — how the relationship developed; communication records over time; visits
- The wedding itself — a notice of intended marriage or celebrant letter, venue arrangements, dates inside the validity window
- Future plans — where you will live, work and settle after the marriage
- Third parties — statements from family and friends who know about the relationship and the planned marriage
- Consistency — both parties' accounts agreeing with each other and the documents; inconsistency is the most common trigger for doubt
300 now, or wait and apply as partners?
Couples who could either marry soon or live together first often face a genuine strategic choice: lodge the 300 now, or establish a de facto relationship (typically 12 months of cohabitation, or a registered relationship where available) and apply directly for the partner visa. The right answer turns on where you can lawfully live together in the meantime, the total cost of each sequence, processing times, and how quickly you want to be in Australia together. It is exactly the kind of decision worth pricing out both ways before committing — the sequencing difference can be months and thousands of dollars.
Is the 300 your right route?
Tell us where you both are, your citizenship or visa status, whether you've met in person, and your rough wedding timeline. A registered migration agent will come back within one business day with the pathway that fits — 300 now, or partner visa later. Free, no obligation.
Related
- Partner visa Australia — complete guide
- Partner visa cost 2026 — full fee breakdown
- Partner visa evidence checklist
- Child visa Australia — 101, 802 & 445
General information only, not migration advice. Migration advice is provided by Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536) after a paid consultation under section 43 of the Migration (Migration Agents Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021, with a written service agreement issued before further work commences. No outcome can be guaranteed (s 15).
Questions we get asked first
What is the Prospective Marriage (Subclass 300) visa?
A temporary visa for someone outside Australia who is engaged to marry an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. It lets the fiancé(e) travel to Australia and marry the sponsor within the visa's validity window, then apply onshore for the partner visa (820/801). The applicant must be outside Australia when the 300 is lodged and when it is granted.
What is the met-in-person requirement?
The couple must have met in person as adults and be known to each other personally. An online-only relationship does not satisfy it — there must have been at least one physical, in-person meeting since both parties turned 18. Evidence typically includes passport stamps, travel bookings, photographs together, and statements covering when and where the meetings took place.
How long do we have to marry?
The visa is granted with a defined validity window — the grant letter states your dates. You must enter Australia and the marriage must take place within that window. After first entering Australia on the 300, the wedding itself can be held in or outside Australia, as long as it happens within the validity period. If the marriage will not happen in time, get advice before the window closes — options narrow sharply after it expires.
Do we have to prove a genuine relationship like a partner visa?
Yes — the Department assesses whether the parties genuinely intend to marry and to live together as spouses. The evidence framework is similar in spirit to the partner visa's four areas (financial, household, social, commitment), adapted to a couple who may not have lived together yet: the relationship history, communication records, time spent together, the wedding plans themselves, and statements from people who know the couple.
What happens after we marry?
You apply onshore for the partner visa (820/801). The 820 application from a 300 holder attracts a substantially reduced application charge compared to a fresh partner application, and the relationship evidence continues to build from the marriage onward. The 300 → 820/801 sequence is the standard fiancé(e) route to permanent residence.
How much does the Subclass 300 cost?
The government application charge is similar in scale to the partner visa charge — see our partner visa cost guide for the current figures, and verify on homeaffairs.gov.au as charges are indexed each July. Budget also for health examinations, police certificates, translations, and the reduced-charge 820/801 application after the marriage. Professional fees are separate and quoted under a written service agreement.
Can the 300 be refused — and what then?
Yes — common grounds include the met-in-person requirement, doubts about the genuine intention to marry, sponsor eligibility or character issues, and health or character requirements. As an offshore visa with an Australian sponsor, a refusal generally carries merits review rights, typically exercised by the sponsor, with the deadline stated on the decision letter. See our partner visa refusal guide — the evidence principles at review are the same family.
Can WIDEN guarantee the visa will be granted?
No. Section 15 of the Migration (Migration Agents Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021 prohibits any registered migration agent from guaranteeing visa outcomes. What WIDEN does is confirm the 300 is the right vehicle (versus waiting and applying as de facto partners), build the met-in-person and genuine-intention evidence properly, and sequence the 300 → 820/801 pathway. The decision is the Department's.
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