Schedule 3 and the Partner Visa: Applying Onshore After Your Visa Has Ended

If you apply for a Partner visa (subclass 820) inside Australia without holding a substantive visa (any visa other than a bridging visa), the Schedule 3 rules apply to you. Lodging within 28 days of your last visa ending meets the time limit, but not all of Schedule 3.

Outside 28 days, the visa can only be granted if the visa officer accepts there are compelling reasons to set the rules aside.

Schedule 3 is a set of extra criteria in the Migration Regulations 1994 for people applying onshore without a substantive visa. For the 820 visa the criteria are 3001, 3003 and 3004, and all three can be waived where compelling reasons exist (clause 820.211(2)(d)(ii) of Schedule 2).

Who does Schedule 3 apply to?

Schedule 3 applies to anyone who lodges an 820 application without holding a substantive visa on the day of lodgement. That covers three groups.

• People whose visa has expired — a visitor, student, work or other visa that ended and was not replaced. You are an unlawful non-citizen until you lodge an application or leave.
• Bridging visa holders — a bridging visa A, B, C or E keeps you lawful, but it is not a substantive visa. A person on a bridging visa from an earlier refused application is inside Schedule 3.
• People whose last visa was cancelled — if the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) later set the cancellation aside, the 28 days run from when you were notified of the ART’s decision (criterion 3001(2)(d)).

Schedule 3 does not apply if you hold a substantive visa when you lodge. A partner of an Australian on a visitor, student, 482 or working holiday visa who lodges before that visa ends is outside Schedule 3 altogether, provided the visa does not carry condition 8503 (see below).

Two other groups are outside it too. A former Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) holder who married the sponsor before the 300 visa ended does not have to meet any Schedule 3 criteria (clause 820.211(5)), and neither does a former 300 holder relying on the family violence provisions (clause 820.211(9)).

Children included in the application are not exempt. A dependent child applying with you who holds no substantive visa faces the same criteria (clause 820.312).

What are the Schedule 3 criteria for a partner visa?

• Criterion 3001 — the application is lodged within 28 days after the “relevant day”, which for almost everyone is the last day you held a substantive visa (criterion 3001(2)(c)). A bridging visa does not move the date.
• Criterion 3003 — applies only to people who were in Australia on 31 August 1994 as an illegal entrant or on an entry permit that ended that day, and who have held no substantive visa since. If that is not you, you meet 3003 without further enquiry.
• Criterion 3004 — applies to everyone else: anyone whose last substantive visa ended on or after 1 September 1994, and anyone who entered Australia unlawfully on or after that date and has held no substantive visa since. The visa officer must be satisfied of five practical things, listed below.

Under criterion 3004 the visa officer must be satisfied that:

• Beyond your control — you are without a substantive visa because of factors beyond your control, and those factors actually caused it.
• Compelling reasons — there are compelling reasons for granting the visa.
• Compliance — you substantially complied with the conditions of your last visa and of any bridging visa since.
• Eligibility on the last day — you would have qualified for the partner visa if you had applied on the last day you held a substantive visa (or, if you entered without a visa, on the day you last entered).
• Future compliance — you intend to comply with the conditions of the new visa.

The fourth limb catches many couples. If your relationship only became a qualifying one (a marriage, or a de facto relationship of 12 months or a registered one) after your visa ended, you cannot meet 3004, and the waiver is your only route.

Criterion 3002, which you may see listed elsewhere, applies only to people who entered on a diplomatic (subclass 995) or special purpose visa.

Does lodging within 28 days mean you meet Schedule 3?

No. Lodging inside the 28 days meets criterion 3001 only. Criterion 3004 is triggered by your substantive visa having ended, not by how late you are, and the Department’s own instructions to visa officers say an applicant it applies to must satisfy all of its limbs.

Lodging early still helps. The length of time you were unlawful and the reasons it happened are among the matters the Department tells officers to weigh, so an application lodged a few days after an honest mistake is a much stronger case than one lodged months later.

The 28 days are counted from the day after your visa ended, and the application must be lodged by midnight on day 28. If day 28 falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the Department accepts a lodgement on the next working day.

The two criteria are independent. Meeting 3004 does not repair a missed 28 days, and lodging inside the 28 days does not excuse you from 3004. Once the 28 days have passed, only the waiver can set 3001 aside.

What counts as “factors beyond your control”?

The Department’s instructions give the phrase its ordinary meaning: something external to you that you could not control, and that caused you to lose your visa status. These are the situations they address.

• Serious illness or accident — one that left you unable to apply in time is the clearest example, and may also support compelling reasons.
• Not knowing your visa had ended — not enough on its own. It may count if, for example, your visa was recorded wrongly and ended earlier than the date you were given.
• Wrong advice from the Department — accepted if it can be verified, or if your account is credible and consistent with the Department’s records.
• An application found invalid — if you became unlawful while waiting on an application later found invalid, this may be beyond your control, provided you acted quickly once you were told.
• Your migration agent or lawyer failed to lodge — generally treated as your own failure, because an agent’s acts are taken to be yours. A deregistered agent’s negligence may be treated differently.

What is the Schedule 3 waiver?

The waiver is the visa officer’s power to grant the 820 visa without applying criteria 3001, 3003 and 3004 where satisfied that there are compelling reasons for not applying them (clause 820.211(2)(d)(ii)). “Compelling” is not defined in the Regulations, and the Department reads it as “brought about by moral necessity”.

Criterion 3004 also asks for compelling reasons, but meeting that limb only helps with 3004. The waiver is different: one decision that sets all three criteria aside, including a missed 28 days.

The Full Federal Court settled one point in 2016: the reasons are assessed as they stand when the decision is made, not only as they were when you lodged (Waensila v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2016] FCAFC 32).

A child born or a serious illness diagnosed after lodgement can count, so keep adding evidence while the application waits.

What does the Department treat as compelling, and what not?

The Department’s instructions for the 820 visa are blunt on one point: as a general rule, a genuine relationship and the hardship of separation are not compelling reasons. Every partner applicant has a relationship, and offshore applicants are separated for long periods too.

The same instructions say the waiver is not meant to be used where it is reasonable to expect you to leave Australia and apply for a Partner visa (subclass 309) from overseas.

They also say compelling reasons may exist where circumstances beyond your control stopped you becoming lawful, and that the waiver may be granted in the best interests of an Australian citizen child with a demonstrable link to you.

Officers are told to weigh, among other things:

• Your compliance history — any past breach of visa conditions.
• Time unlawful — how long you have been without a visa.
• Why it happened — the reasons you became unlawful.
• Why you did not fix it sooner — and what steps you took to become lawful other than this application.
• Your family — the current family make-up, including dependent children.

These are policy, not law, and the list is open. Each case turns on its own facts, and a visa officer must still consider everything you put forward.

How is Schedule 3 different from the section 48 bar and condition 8503?

Three different rules stop or limit onshore applications, and readers mix them up. Each is tested separately.

Our section 48 bar post lists what the bar does and does not stop. Our condition 8503 post covers the September 2026 announcement that new visitor visas will carry the condition.

Can you work while a Schedule 3 application is processed?

Usually not at first. An applicant with no substantive visa is normally granted a Bridging visa C with the 820 application, and that visa carries condition 8101, which means no work (clause 030.614).

If you have held a Bridging visa E since your last substantive visa, a Bridging visa C is not available (clause 030.211) and the Bridging visa E rules apply instead.

You can apply for a further Bridging visa C without the work bar if you can show a compelling need to work. For a partner applicant that means financial hardship (regulation 1.08).

The wait is long. Half of 820 applications were decided within 22 months and 90 per cent within 30 months as at October 2026 (Home Affairs processing times). The visa application charge is AUD 11,710 for the main applicant. Our 820 visa page and partner visa cost post carry the current figures.

What happens if the waiver is refused?

The refusal can be reviewed by the ART, and the application must be lodged within 28 days of the refusal letter. The Tribunal decides the compelling-reasons question again, on the evidence as it stands at its own hearing. Our merits review page sets out the deadline, the fee and the process.

A refusal also triggers the section 48 bar for most other onshore visas, so the choice of what to lodge, and when, matters before the first application goes in.

Where Schedule 3 cases go wrong, in our experience

The first pattern is the bridging visa illusion. A couple assumes the bridging visa “kept things lawful” and lodges the partner application three months after the student or visitor visa ended. The 28 days ran from the day the substantive visa ended, and a waiver case now has to be built from scratch.

The second is the 28-day comfort. An applicant lodges on day 20 and treats Schedule 3 as settled, then has no answer when asked why the visa lapsed. Even inside 28 days, the submission should explain what happened and why it was outside your control.

The third is building the waiver on the relationship. The Department’s starting point is that a genuine relationship and the pain of separation are not enough, so a submission resting on those alone is aimed at the wrong target.

What moves these cases is evidence: an Australian citizen child, a medical report, proof of why the visa lapsed.

We lodge the submission with the application rather than waiting for the Department to ask, and add to it as circumstances change, which Waensila allows.

If your current visa still has days to run, lodging before it ends takes Schedule 3 off the table completely. That is the cheapest advice on this page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Schedule 3 still apply if I lodge within 28 days?

Yes. Lodging within 28 days of your visa ending meets criterion 3001, but criterion 3004 still applies: you must show you lost your visa status for reasons beyond your control, among other things, unless the visa officer waives Schedule 3 for compelling reasons.

How do you waive Schedule 3 criteria?

You ask the visa officer, in a written submission lodged with the 820 application, to be satisfied that there are compelling reasons for not applying criteria 3001, 3003 and 3004 (clause 820.211(2)(d)(ii)). You support it with evidence, and you can add evidence until the decision is made.

Does Schedule 3 apply if I am on a bridging visa?

Yes. A bridging visa is not a substantive visa, so a person lodging an 820 on a bridging visa A, B, C or E must meet the Schedule 3 criteria or obtain the waiver. The 28 days run from when the last substantive visa ended.

Can I apply for a partner visa if my visa expired more than 28 days ago?

Yes, the application is valid, but criterion 3001 cannot be met, so the visa can only be granted if the visa officer waives Schedule 3 for compelling reasons. Get advice before lodging: a refusal brings the section 48 bar into play for most other visas.