Character Requirements at the 801 Stage in 2026: Police Certificates and Refusal Risk
What the 801 permanent partner stage asks for on character: AFP certificates, 12-month validity, overseas checks, and what refusal means.
Yes — if the Australian police certificate you lodged earlier has passed its use-by date, the Department of Home Affairs can ask you for a fresh one before it decides your permanent Partner visa (subclass 801). Under the Department of Home Affairs' official Partner visa (Permanent) (Subclass 801) page (as at October 2026), police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date for immigration purposes, and the Department only accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police.
This article is general information about how the Department describes the process, not personalised advice about your own record or history; the character test itself is set out in Australia's migration law and the Department's character requirements material, and a case involving charges, convictions or disclosure questions is one to take to a registered migration agent or legal practitioner.
Do I need a police certificate at the 801 stage?
Usually yes, if you did not attach one to your subclass 820 application. The Department's page states that you may need to provide a current Australian police certificate to show you meet the character requirements, and that you usually need one at the permanent stage if you did not provide one with the 820.
You may also need police certificates for people in your family unit. For every family member who currently holds a subclass 820 or 445 visa, the Department asks for copies of their passport, documents showing changes to their situation, and police certificates, if applicable, for dependents aged 16 or older.
Timing matters. You become eligible to be assessed for the 801 two years after you applied for the 820 and 801 together, and the Department asks you not to send permanent-stage documents before that point; the Department might grant the permanent visa in less than two years if you were in a long-term partner relationship with your sponsor when you applied.
When does a police certificate count as expired?
Twelve months from the issue date. There is no grace period described on the page and no separate rule for certificates issued inside Australia versus overseas.
That creates a predictable gap. If you lodged an AFP certificate with your combined 820/801 application, it will normally have run out well before you reach the two-year assessment point. In that situation the Department says it may ask you to provide a new Australian police certificate because the previous one has expired.
Which Australian police certificate is accepted?
Only one type. The Department accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police. It does not accept standard disclosure certificates, and it does not accept national police certificates issued by Australian state or territory police.
| Certificate | Accepted at the 801 stage? |
|---|---|
| AFP National Police Certificate, complete disclosure | Yes |
| Standard disclosure certificate | No |
| National police certificate from a state or territory police force | No |
| Overseas police certificate (where the 12-month rule applies) | Yes, in addition to the AFP certificate |
Do I need overseas police certificates as well?
Yes, if the time adds up. The Department requires an overseas police certificate from any country, including your home country, where you spent a total of 12 months or more since the grant of your subclass 820 visa.
Two things in that sentence carry weight. "Total" means separate trips are added together rather than counted as fresh periods. "Since the grant of your 820 visa" is the starting point, not the date you first arrived in Australia or the date you applied.
A worked example shows how it operates: suppose an applicant held an 820 granted in 2024 and then spent seven months in their home country in one year and six months there the next. That is 13 months in total since the grant, so a certificate from that country is required even though no single stay reached 12 months.
What if my certificate expires while the application is waiting?
Expect a request rather than a refusal. The Department's wording is that it may ask you to provide a new certificate if the previous one has expired, which is a document request rather than a decision on your case.
Partner visa applications can have long processing times, and the Department advises keeping documents and relationship evidence updated through ImmiAccount while you wait. If you did not attach everything when you submitted, the page says to attach the remaining documents as soon as you can.
What happens if the character requirement is not met?
A refusal is a written decision. The Department's page states that you can be in or outside Australia when it decides the permanent visa, that it will tell you in writing, and that if it refuses it will tell you why and whether you have a right to a review of that decision. The application fee is not refunded if the application is refused.
Two effects follow from that. First, the review right is not automatic in every case — the decision letter tells you whether you have one, so the letter itself is the document that governs your next step. Second, a refusal means the permanent stage has not been granted, and the page does not describe what then happens to any subclass 820 visa you hold.
Accuracy is a separate exposure. The Department states that as a visa applicant you must prove your identity and provide true information with your application, so a certificate that is current but accompanied by incomplete or incorrect disclosures is its own problem, distinct from an expired document.
How do the documents fit into the 801 application?
The Department's step-by-step steps are short and worth following in order:
- Log in to ImmiAccount.
- Select "New application".
- Select "Family".
- Select "Stage 2 – Permanent Partner Visa Assessment".
- Attach your documents.
Attach a document only once, even if it supports more than one requirement, and label documents clearly. You can attach up to 100 documents for each person on the application and the limit cannot be increased, so if one applicant reaches it, further documents can be attached to another client on the same application.
Non-English documents need English translations. Translators in Australia must be accredited by the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters; translators outside Australia do not have to be accredited but must include their full name, address and telephone number, and their qualifications and experience in the language, in English on each translation. Scan or photograph everything in colour, keep multi-page documents as one file, and note that documents do not need to be certified.
Frequently Asked Questions
My AFP check was issued 14 months ago. Do I need a new one?
Almost certainly. Police certificates are valid for 12 months from the issue date for immigration purposes, and the Department may ask you for a new Australian police certificate once the previous one has expired. Because the 801 is assessed two years after the combined application was lodged, an 820-stage certificate is usually out of date by then.
Can I use a state police national police check instead?
No. The Department only accepts complete disclosure National Police Certificates issued by the Australian Federal Police. State or territory police certificates and standard disclosure certificates are not accepted for this purpose.
Do I need certificates from countries I only visited briefly?
Only if the total reaches 12 months. The rule looks at the total time spent in a country since your 820 was granted, so several shorter stays in the same country can add up to a requirement even though no single stay did.
Do I need a certificate from my home country if I have not been back?
Not on the strength of nationality alone. The trigger is 12 months or more spent in that country since the grant of the 820. If you have not been there since the grant, or only for a short visit, no certificate is required for that country on this basis.
Do my children need police certificates?
Dependents aged 16 or older do. The Department asks for police certificates for dependents in that age group who hold a subclass 820 or 445 visa, and a dependent child added to the application before a decision must meet the character requirement if they are 16 or older.
If my 801 is refused, do I get the application fee back?
No. The Department states that it will not refund the application fee if it refuses the application. It will also tell you the reasons for the refusal and whether you have a right to a review of the decision, so check the decision letter for that information.