Subclass 300 Eligibility in 2026: What Applicants and Sponsors Must Both Meet
How subclass 300 eligibility works in 2026: what the applicant must meet, what the sponsor must meet, and what you must satisfy together.
Under the Department of Home Affairs' official Prospective Marriage visa (subclass 300) page, as at the July 2026 version of that page, eligibility does not run in one direction. You must satisfy the criteria that attach to you as an applicant, your prospective spouse must separately satisfy the criteria that attach to them as your sponsor, and a third group of criteria sits on the two of you jointly. Sponsorship approval is not a formality that cures a gap on your side, and a strong application on your side does not rescue a sponsor who is barred.
Do the applicant and the sponsor each have to qualify?
Yes, and the two sets are assessed independently before they are read together. The Department states plainly that you must meet all of the listed criteria, that you and anyone applying with you must have a sponsor both when you lodge and while you hold the visa, and that it must approve that sponsor.
The split looks like this in practice:
| Requirement | Applicant | Sponsor | Both of you jointly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 18 or older when you apply | 18 or older when you apply | — |
| Location at application | Outside Australia | — | — |
| Status | — | Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen | — |
| Relationship history | — | — | Met in person as adults since turning 18, and personally known to each other when you apply |
| Intent | — | — | Genuinely intend to marry, and intend the marriage to take place within the visa period |
| Sponsorship | — | Sponsorship approved and still in force at decision | — |
| Health and character | Applicant and accompanying family members | — | — |
A refused sponsorship therefore ends the matter regardless of how strong the relationship evidence is, and an applicant who cannot meet a primary criterion cannot be carried by an eligible sponsor.
What must you meet as the applicant?
You must be 18 or older at the time you apply. You must be outside Australia when you apply, and any family members who apply with you must also be outside Australia at that point. At the time the Department decides the application, the official page states you may be in or outside Australia.
Your intentions are also part of your own side of the test. The overview material on the same official page requires that you intend to marry your prospective spouse before the visa period ends, and the visa period runs 9 to 15 months from the date of grant.
Two further applicant-side matters are worth reading carefully before you lodge:
- Immigration history. The Department considers your immigration history when it decides, which means a previously cancelled visa or refused application may make you ineligible. Where a previous stay in Australia is relevant, the Migration Regulations 1994 also apply special return criteria (5001 and 5002) to applicants who have been in Australia before.
- Legal capacity to marry. Criterion 300.221A requires that no impediment to the marriage exists under Australian law. Departmental policy guidance identifies an undissolved earlier marriage as the most common impediment, with a divorce order under the Family Law Act 1975 treated as evidence that the barrier has been removed.
What must your prospective spouse meet as a sponsor?
Your sponsor is your prospective spouse, and they must be 18 or older when you apply. In most cases they must be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen.
Beyond status, the sponsorship itself has to be approved and has to remain approved. Criterion 300.222 requires that the sponsorship has been approved and is still in force at the time of decision, and the Department advises that your sponsor should apply to sponsor you as soon as possible after you lodge.
Sponsorship is also where a set of restrictions applies that has nothing to do with the strength of your relationship. Under the Migration Regulations 1994, as reflected in departmental policy guidance, sponsorship can be limited by:
- Regulation 1.20J — limits on how many times a person can sponsor a partner, and on sponsoring again within a set period.
- Regulations 1.20KA, 1.20KB and 1.20KC — restrictions tied to certain parent visa holdings, child sex offence records, and other serious criminal records. Guidance treats an unresolved charge or a relevant conviction as a basis to refuse sponsorship.
- Criterion 300.212 — a bar where the prospective spouse was granted a Subclass 204 (Woman at Risk) visa within the 5 years before the application and the applicant was a former spouse or de facto partner whose relationship was not declared.
These restrictions are set by the Migration Regulations 1994 and departmental policy, and the operative wording and any current exemptions are those published in the Regulations.
What do you have to satisfy together?
Three relationship criteria bind you as a couple, not as individuals.
You must have met in person. Criterion 300.214 requires that you and your prospective spouse met face to face, in person, after each of you turned 18, and that you were personally known to each other at the time you applied. Departmental guidance records that electronic or telephone contact does not satisfy this, citing the Full Federal Court decision in Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Yucesan.
You must genuinely intend to marry, within the visa period. Criterion 300.215 requires both that the parties genuinely intend to marry and that the marriage is intended by the parties to take place within the visa period. Guidance notes that a wedding date falling outside the granted visa period will not satisfy the criterion, and that a letter from an authorised marriage celebrant — covering the date or date range, the venue, and confirmation that a Notice of Intended Marriage has been given — is the evidence usually expected.
You must genuinely intend to live together as spouses. Criterion 300.216 asks whether the decision maker is satisfied that the parties genuinely intend to live together as spouses. Guidance assesses this against the ordinary meaning of spouse, including a shared commitment to a shared life to the exclusion of others, and treats a very shallow acquaintance as a risk factor for this criterion even where 300.214 is technically met.
These are continuing criteria. Criterion 300.221 requires that you still meet 300.211 and 300.214 to 300.216 at the time of decision, so a sponsorship that is withdrawn or a relationship that ends during processing is not a side issue — it removes the basis of the application.
Do health, character, debt and the values statement apply to both of you?
They apply to applicants and to family members on the application, not to the sponsor as such, and they are the most common place where a joint application fails on one person's facts.
- Health. You and any family members applying with you must meet the health requirement. The Department may also ask for health information about family members who are not coming to Australia with you.
- Character. You and any family members aged 16 and over who apply with you must meet the character requirements, and character information may be sought about family not travelling with you.
- Debt to the Australian Government. If you or any family member owe the Australian Government money, it must have been repaid or an arrangement must be in place. This can include family members who are not accompanying you.
- Australian Values Statement. You and any family members applying with you who are 18 or older must have read, or had explained to them, the Life in Australia booklet, and must sign a statement confirming that you will respect the Australian way of life and obey Australian laws.
- Best interests of the child. The visa may not be granted if doing so would not be in the best interests of an applicant under 18.
What changes when family members apply with you?
Family members must apply at the same time as you and must be outside Australia when you lodge. Under Division 300.3 of the Regulations, the sponsorship must cover them, and they must still be your family member at the time of decision. Where a family member is under 18, custody and guardianship criteria (PIC 4017 and 4018) also come into play.
The practical consequence is that one person's failure can affect the whole application: the public interest criteria apply to each applicant, and where a member of the family unit cannot satisfy them, the application as a whole is exposed.
How to read this against your own situation
The structure matters more than the labels: applicant criteria, sponsor criteria, and joint criteria each have to stand on their own, and all of them have to still be standing when the Department decides. What is set out here is general information about how those criteria are framed, not an assessment of any individual case — the wording that governs you is the wording published by the Department of Home Affairs and the Migration Regulations 1994, and where your circumstances are complicated, you should confirm them against the official source or get advice on your own position.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the visa be granted if the sponsor qualifies but the applicant does not?
No. The two sets of criteria are independent, and the Department states that you must meet all of the criteria to be eligible. An eligible sponsor cannot compensate for an applicant who fails a primary criterion such as age, location at application, health or character.
Do both of us have to be 18?
Yes. The age requirement attaches to you and to your sponsor separately: both of you must be 18 or older at the time you apply.
Does video or phone contact count as having met?
No. Criterion 300.214 requires a face-to-face meeting after each of you turned 18, and departmental guidance treats electronic communication as insufficient, relying on the Full Federal Court's reasoning in Minister for Immigration and Citizenship v Yucesan.
Must my sponsor be an Australian citizen?
Not necessarily. In most cases the prospective spouse must be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or an eligible New Zealand citizen.
Do I have to stay outside Australia for the whole processing period?
No. You must be outside Australia when you apply, and any family applying with you must be outside Australia at that point, but the official page states you may be in or outside Australia when the decision is made.
Can we marry while the application is still being decided?
Marrying during processing removes the basis of the application, because the relationship is no longer prospective and the continuing criteria in 300.221 and 300.215 can no longer be met as framed. Departmental guidance records that changes of this kind must be notified, and that a case may instead be considered as a partner visa application under regulation 2.08E.
Does my sponsor's criminal record affect my application?
It can. Sponsorship restrictions under regulations 1.20KB and 1.20KC address child sex offence and other serious criminal records, and policy guidance treats an unresolved charge or relevant conviction as a basis to refuse sponsorship, which would end the application regardless of your own eligibility.