On the visa · weddingGuide record · 3 October 2026

Married before the Prospective Marriage visa is granted: tell Home Affairs, and the 300 application continues as a 309/100

Marrying before the Prospective Marriage visa is decided ends 300 eligibility, and Home Affairs then also treats the application as a 309/100 partner visa application under regulation 2.08E once you notify it of the marriage (as at 3 October 2026).

To notify it, sign in to ImmiAccount, choose Update details, then Change in situation (Home Affairs 300 page, updated 10 August 2026). Attach the registered marriage certificate, a request to be considered for the 309 and 100, and a statement withdrawing the 300; then tell Home Affairs through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form.

If the 300 is not withdrawn, it is refused, and the AUD 11,710 charge (from 1 July 2026) is not refunded on a refusal, according to the Home Affairs 300 page and Schedule 1 item 1215 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

A partner visa with Australian Migration Lawyers usually costs $14,000 plus GST in professional fees, separate from the Home Affairs visa application charges.

This page explains the general rule, not how it applies to your individual circumstances.

Need help with the notice or documents? Ask an Australian migration lawyer to check the marriage evidence, the withdrawal statement and any refusal deadline. The shared enquiry page can send a private question to Australian Migration Lawyers; contact an Australian migration lawyer directly if a deadline is close.

Tell Home Affairs in three steps

1. Sign in to ImmiAccount → Update details → Change in situation.
2. Attach three documents: the registered marriage certificate issued by the relevant legal authority; a request to be considered for the Partner (Provisional) visa (subclass 309) and Partner (Migrant) visa (subclass 100); a statement that you want to withdraw the Prospective Marriage visa application.
3. Tell Home Affairs you have updated ImmiAccount, using the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. Use this form if the documents will not upload, too.

Source: Home Affairs 300 page, updated 10 August 2026.

At a glance

What happens if you marry before the Prospective Marriage visa is granted?

You are no longer eligible for the 300 if you marry before the decision. The Home Affairs 300 page, updated 10 August 2026, states this expressly; clauses 300.211 and 300.215 of the Migration Regulations 1994 require an intention to marry, with the marriage intended to take place within the visa period.

Regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation 288, provides the next pathway. If you marry the prospective spouse named in your application before the decision, and the marriage is valid, you are taken also to have applied for the Partner (Provisional) visa, Class UF (309), and Partner (Migrant) visa, Class BC (100), on the day Home Affairs receives notice of the marriage.

“Also” matters: regulation 2.08E does not itself withdraw the 300 application. It stays on foot until withdrawn, and the Home Affairs 300 page says it will be refused if you do not withdraw it. The regulation applies only to marriage to the prospective spouse named in the application—not marriage to someone else.

For couples who wait for the grant, Getting married on a Prospective Marriage visa explains the visa period, the one-month marriage notice and the 820 application that follows the wedding. The main subclass 300 visa guide explains the applicant and sponsor criteria.

How to tell Home Affairs you have married

Follow these three steps from the Home Affairs Prospective Marriage visa page, updated 10 August 2026.

1. Open the application in ImmiAccount and select Update details → Change in situation. This is the option Home Affairs directs applicants to use to report a marriage before the decision.

2. Attach the registered marriage certificate, the 309/100 request and the statement withdrawing the 300. The Home Affairs 300 page requires a certificate issued by the relevant legal authority: the registry or other legal authority where you married, not the ceremonial certificate handed over at an Australian wedding.

3. Send the Partner Processing Enquiry Form to tell Home Affairs you have updated ImmiAccount. The Home Affairs 300 page directs this separate notification so the Department knows to look at the update; its Partner Processing Enquiry Form is also the route if you cannot upload the documents.

The notice date matters: the 309/100 application is dated the day Home Affairs receives notice of your marriage under regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994. Update ImmiAccount and send the Partner Processing Enquiry Form as soon as you hold the registered certificate.

The Home Affairs 300 page requires documents that are not in English to be translated into English. A translator in Australia must be NAATI-accredited. A translator outside Australia need not be accredited, but must include their name, address, phone number, qualifications and experience.

Deleting the application from ImmiAccount does not withdraw it, according to Home Affairs’ Withdraw a visa application page, updated 28 November 2025.

What changes when the 300 becomes a 309/100 application

The following comparison uses the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation 288, and the dated Home Affairs sources named in the table.

DERIVED: Regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994 fixes the 309/100 application date at the notice day, and clause 100.221(2)(c) ordinarily requires at least 2 years since the application was made. Combining those rules, the 100’s two-year clock counts from the day Home Affairs receives notice—not the original 300 lodgement date.

The Home Affairs global visa processing times tool describes these times as a guide based on recently decided applications, not a deadline for your application. The Home Affairs partner-visa FAQ, updated 25 September 2026, places both the 300 and 309/100 in the lower-priority group under Direction 117.

While the 309 is being decided, the Home Affairs Partner (Provisional) visa page, updated 24 September 2026, says the applicant may travel to Australia on another visa but must keep holding a valid visa for the whole stay.

For the full comparison, including the de facto route, see the guide to comparing the 300 with the 309/100.

Does condition 8515 apply before the grant?

No. Condition 8515 is a condition of a granted 300 and binds the visa holder: “The holder of the visa must not marry or enter into a de facto relationship before entering Australia” (Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 8).

Before the grant, the rule is eligibility: the Home Affairs 300 page says marrying before the decision ends eligibility. After the grant, condition 8515 applies until first entry. The Home Affairs visa conditions page, checked on 3 October 2026, also says Home Affairs might cancel a visa if it finds the holder was engaged, married or in a de facto relationship before grant and did not disclose it.

The distinction is: before the grant, marriage ends 300 eligibility and regulation 2.08E provides the notice-based 309/100 route; after the grant, before first entry, marriage breaches condition 8515; after first entry, within the visa period, marriage to the named prospective spouse is the intended route under condition 8519 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

Saying that marriage before the grant “breaches 8515” confuses the Home Affairs eligibility rule with a condition that binds a visa holder.

Marrying overseas before the grant

Regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires a valid marriage. For an overseas wedding, validity for visa purposes depends on recognition under Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961, as modified by section 12 of the Migration Act 1958.

If the marriage was valid where it took place.

Under section 88D of the Marriage Act 1961, a marriage valid where it took place is recognised in Australia unless an exclusion applies:

• a party was already married;
• a party domiciled in Australia was under marriageable age;
• the parties were within a prohibited relationship; or
• a party’s consent was not real.

For visa purposes, section 12 of the Migration Act 1958 applies Part VA as if section 88E were omitted. That means the marriage must fit Part VA; section 88E’s common-law recognition provision is not available for this purpose.

Couples often ask how to register overseas marriage in Australia. There is no Australian registration process for an overseas marriage; the separate guide on that topic explains recognition instead, consistent with the Attorney-General’s Department and Smartraveller guidance.

The certificate.

The Home Affairs 300 page asks for a registered marriage certificate issued by the relevant legal authority. For an overseas wedding, obtain it from the relevant authority in the country where you married and provide an English translation if needed.

The Smartraveller marriage overseas page, updated 18 August 2026, advises couples to talk to a lawyer to confirm that their overseas marriage certificate is valid in Australia.

If the ceremony was online or by proxy under another country's law.

As at 3 October 2026, no Home Affairs or Attorney-General’s Department statement was found confirming whether an online or proxy marriage celebrated under another country’s law counts for visa purposes. Do not assume a particular ceremony qualifies without an assessment of its legal validity.

Married after a refusal, during an ART review

If the 300 is refused, and the applicant marries the named sponsor after refusal but before the review ends, tells the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), and the Tribunal remits the case, regulation 4.15(4) of the Migration Regulations 1994 treats the application also as a 309/100 application made on the day of remittal.

The sponsor applies for review of a 300 refusal under regulation 4.02(5)(r). Under section 347 of the Migration Act 1958, the usual deadline is within 28 days after the day the sponsor is notified of the refusal; the ART immigration and citizenship page, checked on 3 October 2026, confirms that the Tribunal cannot extend it. A shorter 14-day limit applies if the review applicant is in immigration detention.

A refusal letter made available in ImmiAccount is taken to be received at the end of the day it is made available under section 494C(6) of the Migration Act 1958. Where an authorised recipient has been appointed, section 494D governs receipt through that person.

The ART fees page, checked on 3 October 2026, states an application fee of AUD 3,727 for most migration reviews; the ART requires payment by the review deadline.

The remittal rule during review is regulation 4.15(4), not regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994.

For who applies, the fee and what the Tribunal can decide, read the guide to subclass 300 refusal review.

What if you don't tell Home Affairs?

The 300 is refused because you no longer meet its eligibility requirements, according to the Home Affairs 300 page, updated 10 August 2026.

The standard AUD 11,710 main-applicant charge, in force from 1 July 2026 under Schedule 1 item 1215 of the Migration Regulations 1994, is not refunded on refusal, according to the Home Affairs 300 page.

The Home Affairs 300 page says it considers immigration history and identifies an earlier refusal as something that can affect eligibility for a later application.

Regulation 2.08E of the Migration Regulations 1994 depends on Home Affairs receiving notice of the marriage, so without that notice there is no 309/100 application under that regulation.

For an ART challenge to the 300 refusal, the sponsor must make their own review application under regulation 4.02(5)(r), ordinarily within 28 days after notification under section 347 of the Migration Act 1958. The ART cannot extend that deadline.

Common mistakes

1. Treating this only as a condition 8515 problem and doing nothing. Before grant, the issue is eligibility, according to the Home Affairs 300 page; Schedule 8 condition 8515 binds a visa holder.
2. Updating ImmiAccount without sending the enquiry-form notice. The Home Affairs 300 page directs applicants to complete both steps.
3. Attaching the ceremonial certificate. The Home Affairs 300 page specifies a registered marriage certificate issued by the relevant legal authority.
4. Leaving out the withdrawal statement. The Home Affairs 300 page says the 300 will be refused if it is not withdrawn.
5. Deleting the application and assuming it is withdrawn. Home Affairs’ Withdraw a visa application page, updated 28 November 2025, says removal from ImmiAccount does not withdraw it.
6. Assuming every overseas ceremony is recognised. Recognition depends on local validity and the section 88D exclusions in the Marriage Act 1961, with section 88E omitted for visa purposes by section 12 of the Migration Act 1958.

Frequently asked questions

Does a religious or cultural ceremony overseas count as marrying?

The Home Affairs ImmiAccount relationship-status help text, updated 23 September 2024, defines “Married” as a legally recognised and documented marriage, and “Engaged” as being betrothed to enter a legally recognised marriage. Whether a particular ceremony is a valid marriage depends on the law where it took place and Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961, subject to section 12 of the Migration Act 1958; the ceremony’s label alone does not settle that question.

Can the applicant still visit Australia while the 309 is decided?

Yes, on another visa, but they must keep holding a valid visa throughout their stay, according to the Home Affairs 309 page, updated 24 September 2026. Clause 309.412 of the Migration Regulations 1994 allows the 309 to be granted with the applicant in or outside Australia, but not in immigration clearance.

Do we lose the AUD 1,955 partner-visa charge by marrying before the grant?

The AUD 1,955 standard main-applicant band, from 1 July 2026, is for a 300 holder who has married the sponsor and lodges the 820/801 before the 300 ends, under Schedule 1 item 1124B of the Migration Regulations 1994. Someone who marries before grant does not hold a 300: their pathway under regulation 2.08E is the 309/100, towards whose Class BC charge the 300’s first instalment counts as payment.

Married before the 300 grant: what an Australian migration lawyer checks about the 309/100 pathway

An Australian migration lawyer can check the legal requirements, the notification documents and any review deadline before you act. Section 280(3) of the Migration Act 1958 permits an Australian legal practitioner to give immigration assistance in connection with legal practice.

1. The marriage and the named sponsor. The lawyer can check that the marriage is to the prospective spouse named in the 300 application and is valid for regulation 2.08E. For an overseas wedding, that includes Part VA of the Marriage Act 1961 with section 88E omitted under section 12 of the Migration Act 1958.

2. The documents and receipt of notice. The lawyer can check the registered certificate, the request for consideration for the 309/100, the withdrawal statement and the enquiry-form notification against the Home Affairs 300 page. They can also check the record of when Home Affairs received notice, because regulation 2.08E fixes the application date at that point; a missing withdrawal leaves the 300 to be refused, with no refund on refusal.

3. Any refusal already issued. The lawyer can check the sponsor’s review deadline under section 347 of the Migration Act 1958—ordinarily within 28 days, with no extension—and whether the Tribunal has been told of a marriage during review. Regulation 4.15(4) requires notification to the Tribunal and remittal before its 309/100 rule operates.

For help checking this particular pathway, enquire about an immigration lawyer for a subclass 300. The review is a check of eligibility, evidence consistency, missing documents and deadlines—not a prediction of the decision. Home Affairs’ legal-practitioner guidance says a lawyer cannot guarantee a visa; no one can promise a grant.