Subclass 300 Prospective Marriage visa

A prospective-marriage visa

The Subclass 300 (Prospective Marriage) is a Class TO temporary visa for a person who applies from outside Australia and intends to marry an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen [Sch 1 item 1215] [cl 300.211]. Both the applicant and the intended spouse must have turned 18 [cl 300.212A] [cl 300.213]. It is temporary: the holder can travel to, enter and remain in Australia until a date the Minister sets, which must be between 9 and 15 months from grant, or 9 months if no date is set [cl 300.511].

When it fits

The 300's distinctive use is an engaged couple who want to come to Australia and marry within the visa period, typically with the wedding held here. It is not the only prospective-marriage route: a couple already married, or already in a de facto relationship, applies for a partner visa directly and does not need a 300; and a couple who will marry overseas can instead use the offshore partner visa's intended-spouse limb, which grants once the marriage has taken place. The 300 is the choice for the couple who will marry within the visa period after arriving in Australia.

Then onto the partner visa

The 300 is a bridge, not a destination. Once married within the visa period, the holder lodges one combined onshore Partner application for the Subclass 820 and Subclass 801; the 820 is assessed first and the 801 later on the same application. The holder does not lodge a separate 801 application after the 820. The 300 alone gives no permanent status.

Meeting in person

The applicant and the intended spouse must have met in person since each of them turned 18, and must be known to each other personally [cl 300.214]. A relationship conducted only online or through intermediaries does not satisfy this.

Genuine intention to marry

The applicant must establish that the parties genuinely intend to marry, and that they intend the marriage to take place within the visa period [cl 300.215]. The Minister must also be satisfied that the parties genuinely intend to live together as spouses [cl 300.216]. The visa tests a genuine prospective marriage, not a ceremony of convenience.

No legal impediment

At decision there must be no impediment to the marriage in Australian law [cl 300.221A]. Bigamy and the other void-marriage grounds are addressed by Marriage Act section 23B, while marriageable age and the limited court-authorised exception are in sections 11 and 12 [Marriage Act s 23B] [Marriage Act s 11] [Marriage Act s 12]. The applicant must continue to satisfy the intention and relationship criteria at decision, not only at lodgement [cl 300.221].

Applied for offshore

The applicant must be outside Australia when the application is made [Sch 1 item 1215]. In that sense the 300 is an offshore visa; it cannot be lodged onshore.

Granted in or outside Australia

The visa may be granted whether the applicant is in or outside Australia, provided they are not in immigration clearance [cl 300.412]. So an applicant who has travelled to Australia on another visa in the meantime can still be granted the 300.

The cost

The 300 carries a substantial first visa application charge, set in Schedule 1 and payable when the application is made; the second instalment is nil [Sch 1 item 1215]. For applications made on or after 1 July 2026, a separate first-instalment tier applies where the primary applicant holds a valid passport issued by a Pacific-regional country [Sch 1 item 1215(2)(a)] [reg 1.03 def Pacific-regional country]. The amount moves over time, so the current Schedule 1 figure has to be checked each time.

The partner-stage concession

The 300 charge is not simply lost at the partner stage. Because the applicant enters the partner pathway still holding the 300 and married to the intended spouse, the Partner (Residence) side of the later combined 820/801 application carries a concessional first instalment rather than the full partner charge. For applications made on or after 1 July 2026 that concession sits in two limbs split by passport, one for an applicant who holds a valid passport issued by a Pacific-regional country, a term defined in regulation 1.03, and one for an applicant who does not, and the full charge for other applicants is split by the same passport test [Sch 1 item 1124B(2)(a)(viii)-(ix)]. The Partner (Temporary) side has a nil charge [Sch 1 item 1214C(2)]. In effect the 300 route front-loads the cost onto the 300 itself, rather than charging a full partner application charge again on top.

The core conditions

A primary 300 holder's visa carries condition 8519 (the holder must enter into the marriage within the visa period) [sch 8 cl 8519] and condition 8515 (the holder must not marry, or enter a de facto relationship, before entering Australia) [sch 8 cl 8515] [cl 300.612]. Condition 8502 (the holder must not enter Australia before a specified person) may also be imposed [sch 8 cl 8502] [cl 300.613]. First entry must be made before a date the Minister specifies [cl 300.611]. Condition 8515 fixes timing rather than place: it bars marrying only before first entry, so once the holder has entered, the marriage may take place within the visa period and need not be held in Australia.

The marriage deadline and the partner visa

The visa has two distinct timing controls: first entry must occur by the date specified under clause 300.611, and the marriage must occur within the visa period under condition 8519 [cl 300.611] [cl 300.511] [sch 8 cl 8519]. Once married, the holder lodges one combined onshore application for the Subclass 820 and Subclass 801; the 300 pathway is designed to feed into that combined partner application.

If the couple marries while the 300 is still pending

If the couple marries after lodging the 300 but before it is decided, so before any 300 is granted, and the marriage is valid for the Act, the prospective-marriage basis no longer fits, and the Regulations convert the application. The applicant is taken to have also applied, on the day Immigration is notified of the marriage, for the offshore Partner (Provisional) 309 and Partner (Migrant) 100, and those applications are taken to be validly made [reg 2.08E]. The 300 first-instalment charge counts as the first instalment for that partner application, so no fresh charge is paid [reg 2.08E]. This routes the couple into the offshore 309/100 stream, not the onshore 820/801.

If the marriage does not happen

If the couple does not marry within the visa period, the 300 simply expires; it cannot be extended, and the 300 alone produces no permanent outcome. A couple whose plans change has to reassess against the partner-visa criteria (for example, whether a de facto relationship has by then formed) rather than rely on the 300.

A refused Subclass 300 carries a merits-review right, but it belongs to the sponsor, not the applicant, because the Regulations name the 300 refusal as reviewable and give the standing to the sponsor.

A prescribed reviewable decision

A decision to refuse a Subclass 300 is a reviewable migration decision that the Regulations prescribe directly [reg 4.02(4)(s)] [s 338(9)], so it can be taken to the Administrative Review Tribunal. It does not turn on the general onshore or offshore limbs of section 338, because the 300 refusal is named as reviewable in its own right.

Only the sponsor may apply

The person who may apply for that review is the sponsor, not the visa applicant [reg 4.02(5)(r)] [s 347A(1)(d)]. This is a direct legislative choice, not a consequence of where the visa was applied for: the Subclass 309, also lodged from outside Australia, gives the standing to the applicant instead. A refused applicant cannot bring the review themselves: the sponsor must lodge the Tribunal application, and within the prescribed period after notification, because that migration time limit cannot be extended [s 347].