Do I need a lawyer or a migration agent?

Many visa applications are lodged directly. A registered migration agent or immigration lawyer helps with complex or refused matters.

What is a Section 48 bar?

It limits the visas you can apply for while unlawfully in Australia after a refusal or cancellation. A professional can map your options.

Can I appeal a refused visa?

Often yes — the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviews many decisions, but strict time limits apply.

Notifying Relationship Cessation on a Partner Visa in 2026: Your Legal Position

Whether you must tell the Department your partner relationship has ended during a Partner visa application, and how confidentiality works.

Yes — if your relationship ends while your Partner visa application is still on foot, the Department expects to be told. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official page for the Partner (Migrant) visa (Subclass 100), as at October 2026, "changes to your marital or de facto status" appear on the list of things you need to let the Department know about after you apply but before a decision is made. The same page states that you may need to complete the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount, and that all information you provide is confidential.

This article sets out the general position as published by the Department. It is general information only, not advice about your own circumstances, and you should read it alongside the official pages and any professional advice you choose to obtain.

Do you have to tell the Department that your relationship has ended?

The obligation is framed as a duty to keep your record accurate rather than as a punishment for separating. The Subclass 100 page lists the changes you must report after applying: changes to your marital or de facto status, the birth of a child, any other changes relevant to your application, and a request to withdraw your application.

Two things follow from that framing. First, the trigger is the change in your status, not the reason for it — separation, divorce and the end of a de facto relationship all sit inside "changes to your marital or de facto status". Second, the duty runs until a decision is made, so it applies both before you lodge your permanent-stage documents and after you have lodged them.

What counts as a change you must report?

The Department's wording is broad, and "any other changes relevant to your application" is deliberately open-ended. For a Partner visa, the relationship itself is the substance of the application, so a change in the relationship is about as relevant as a change gets.

Situation	What the official page says
Relationship ends	You may need to complete the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount
Marital or de facto status changes	Tell the Department — listed as a change you must report
A child is born	Tell the Department — listed as a change you must report
Contact details, address or passport change	Update through the change-in-situation process
You want to withdraw	A request to withdraw is itself a change to notify

Is notifying the same as withdrawing your application?

No. The Department treats them as separate items on the same list. Telling the Department that the relationship has ended is a status update; ending your application is a request to withdraw, which you make separately.

That distinction matters in practice. A notification lets the Department assess whatever still exists in your case — including the possibility, set out on the same page, that you might still be eligible for the permanent visa if your relationship ends or your partner dies before it is granted.

What is the risk in staying silent?

The official pages do not set out a specific penalty for failing to notify, so it is more accurate to describe the exposure than to quote a consequence.

The core criterion for the permanent visa is that you must continue to be the spouse or de facto partner of the same person who sponsored you for the temporary Partner visa. If the Department is never told that status has changed, any decision it makes is made on a record that no longer matches your situation, and a grant resting on a relationship that has ended is a grant you would have to live with afterwards. The Department also states that visa applicants must provide true information with their application, and asks you to tell it as soon as you can if you have made a mistake on an application. And if an application is refused, the page states the application fee will not be refunded.

Silence also has a quieter cost: you lose the chance to put forward the other material your case may depend on, because the Department cannot consider what it has not been given.

How is the notification actually made?

The Subclass 100 page directs applicants to the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount, and to the "Your relationship has changed" page to confirm what is needed. The Department's step-by-step guidance adds that if you cannot upload relevant documents to your application in ImmiAccount, notification can be made through the Partner Processing Enquiry Form.

The order matters:

Log in to your own ImmiAccount.
Open the Notification of Relationship Cessation form.
Complete the form as set out in ImmiAccount and on the Department's "Your relationship has changed" page.
Attach any documents you rely on.
Update your contact details at the same time.
Change your ImmiAccount and email passwords.

Each of those steps is one action, and doing them in that order keeps your own contact details on the file before anything else happens.

Will your sponsor be told? What confidentiality means here

The Department's statement is short and unconditional: all information you provide is confidential. In practical terms, that means the notification is your communication with the Department, and it does not require your former partner's agreement, signature or cooperation to be made.

Confidentiality does not, however, make your online accounts safe. The Department separately recommends that you change your ImmiAccount password as soon as possible, avoid using saved passwords to access ImmiAccount, and change your email password or consider setting up a new email account. It points to the eSafety Commissioner's online safety checklist for further steps.

Who does the Department contact — and how to keep your own details on the file

This is the part applicants most often get wrong during a separation. The Department says you must provide your own phone number and email address on the partner visa application form, and that it may need to contact you directly even if you have nominated your sponsor's email address for all electronic correspondence, appointed your sponsor or someone else as your authorised recipient, or appointed someone to give you immigration assistance.

So a change of relationship is a good moment to check who is recorded on your file. If you previously appointed an authorised recipient or someone to provide immigration assistance, the Department's forms for ending those arrangements are Form 956A (Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient) and Form 956 (Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person).

Can the permanent visa still be granted after you notify?

Possibly. The Department's eligibility page states that you might still be eligible for the permanent visa if your relationship ends or your partner dies before it is granted, and it says the same in the section on relationship changes. There is a separate set of provisions for people experiencing domestic and family violence, under which you may still be eligible for the grant of the permanent visa.

Timing is the other half of the picture. Assessment for the permanent stage generally becomes available two years after you applied for the subclass 309 and 100 visas, and the Department notes that partner applications can have long processing times, which is why it advises updating your documents and relationship evidence regularly through ImmiAccount. Current timeframes are published on the Global processing times page, which the Department describes as an estimate based on recently decided applications rather than a guarantee.

What if you cannot get into ImmiAccount?

The official page addresses this directly: if you do not have access to ImmiAccount, you can notify the Department using the Partner Processing Enquiry Form. The same form is the fallback the Department names whenever documents cannot be uploaded in ImmiAccount, including for updates after you have lodged your permanent-stage documents.

Losing access is common after a separation where one partner controlled the account. The online safety steps above — a new email account, new passwords, no saved passwords — are the practical route back to control of the record.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to tell immigration my relationship ended?

Yes. The Department of Home Affairs lists changes to your marital or de facto status among the changes you must let it know about after you apply but before a decision is made. For a Partner visa, the usual route is the Notification of Relationship Cessation form in ImmiAccount.

Will my sponsor find out that I notified the Department?

The Department states that all information you provide is confidential. It also recommends changing your ImmiAccount and email passwords after a relationship ends, which suggests confidentiality covers the information you give, not the security of a shared device or account.

Does telling the Department end my application?

No. Notification and withdrawal are listed as separate matters. A notification updates your status, while ending the application requires a separate request to withdraw.

Can I still be granted the Subclass 100 visa after the relationship ends?

The Department states you might still be eligible for the permanent visa if your relationship ends or your partner dies before it is granted. There are also separate family violence provisions under which you may still be eligible.

What if I cannot access ImmiAccount to notify them?

The Department says you can notify it directly using the Partner Processing Enquiry Form if you do not have access to ImmiAccount. It also recommends changing your ImmiAccount password, not using saved passwords, and changing your email password or setting up a new email account.

Should I keep updating my documents while waiting?

The Department advises updating your documents and evidence of your relationship regularly through ImmiAccount, because partner applications can have long processing times. It also asks you to tell it about changes to your marital or de facto status and the birth of a child.

Where do I find the current processing time?

The Global processing times page publishes the standard processing time for this visa. The Department describes that figure as an estimate based on how long recently decided applications took, and says it does not guarantee your application will be decided within it.