Question 1

What are the four pillars of relationship evidence Home Affairs assesses?

Accepted Answer

Financial, household, social, and commitment. These come directly from the Migration Regulations, and a case officer has to weigh all four for every partner visa, married or de facto. Case officers look for money that's genuinely shared, proof of where you actually live, signs your relationship is recognised beyond the two of you, and evidence you're building a shared future together.

Question 2

How much evidence is actually enough?

Accepted Answer

There's no fixed amount or checklist to complete in full. Case officers weigh your relationship as a whole, and not every pillar needs to be equally strong. Couples living apart across countries, for example, are naturally lighter in some pillars and heavier in others. What matters more than volume is that your evidence is specific, consistent, and spread across all four areas rather than piled into just one.

Question 3

What if our relationship is recent or our evidence feels thin?

Accepted Answer

You can still qualify. A thin file just has to work harder than one from a couple who've lived together for years. Load up the pillars that answer the doubts a short relationship raises, usually social (people who saw you as a couple early on) and commitment (concrete plans for the future), rather than trying to balance all four evenly.

Question 4

What is a Form 888 and how many do we need?

Accepted Answer

Form 888 is a statement from someone who knows you both as a couple and can describe your relationship from their own observations. The Department's stated minimum is two, but four to six specific, detailed statements from a mix of family, friends, and colleagues carry far more weight than a larger pile of generic ones.

Question 5

We don't have a joint bank account. What financial evidence can we use instead?

Accepted Answer

Regular transfers between you with a clear purpose, like a rent contribution or shared travel, carry real weight, and how regular the money is matters more than how much it is. A single large transfer reads as a gesture, while a smaller amount sent consistently over months reads as commitment. Shared loans, joint insurance, and bills split between your own accounts all add to the picture too.

Question 6

Should we keep adding evidence after we apply, or is what we submit at the start enough?

Accepted Answer

Keep adding evidence. Your relationship is assessed both when you apply and again when the Department makes its decision, and that gap is often well over a year. A file that goes quiet after submission leaves the case officer guessing about everything in between, so refreshing your evidence regularly gives a much stronger picture by the time a decision is made.

How strong is your relationship evidence?