13 Tips for Writing the Perfect Partner Visa Relationship Statement for Australia

I personally know what it’s like going through the Partner Visa application for Australia so if you’re wondering how to write the Partner Visa relationship statement, I’ve got some tips that will help you get your visa approved.

I know there’s so much on the line here and you’ll probably bricking it a little, wondering if and what you’re doing is right. Luckily, I’ve had some help from the only migration agents I recommend called True Blue Migration Services to help me make sure this guide is 100% correct for you.

If you are a little worried about applying for the Australian Partner Visa or any visa requirements in general, you can get a free visa assessment with True Blue Migration Services simply by mentioning Londoner In Sydney. This means you can trust this migration agent to check over your visa eligibility at no extra cost. There’s no catch whatever. Take two minutes to fill out the form if you’re currently living in Australia, or fill out this form if you’re applying from overseas.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding the Importance of a Relationship Statement

Now the relationship statement is a big deal, so while you might think you’re including everything you have about your relationship already with the millions of forms you’ve had to fill out, the partner visa relationship statements is a key opportunity to expand on your relationship and prove that it is in fact genuine.

If you nail your partner visa relationship statement, it could significantly make a big difference in getting your visa approved. So, listen up and take note as this guide will help you like it did for me when I applied for my partner visa (and I now have Australian citizenship!).

2. The main reasons for why you are writing this relationship statement

Although you know it’s a big deal to write this relationship statement for the partner visa application, here are the reasons why you need to write it:

This is to explain essentially to a stranger that you are in a genuine relationship you can write in your own words rather than on a templated form
It’s an opportunity to tell them the key dates of your relationship and when it started
If you have any gaps or anything is a bit inconsistent in your relationship, this is the time to explain why
Explain what your day to day life, shared commitments and household chores looks like
Talk about the four pillars of your relationship: financial, household, social, and commitment
And of course, you can talk about your future plans

Remember, you basically have to convince someone who knew absolutely zero about you until they got your application that you are in an amazing and loving relationship.

They will be able to spot a fraud from anywhere, so the more specific and consistent you are, the more likely you will be successful.

In this guide, I’m going to break down all of the above points to help you go from writing bland bullet point sentences to writing an actual, engaging statement.

3. How long should the partner visa relationship statement be?

Unfortunately, like I said above, you can’t get away by writing a few bullet points, even if you assume that everyone knows you’re in a loving relationship.

You’ll need to write at least 2-3 A4 pages (obviously typed is fine) which sounds harder than it is. Writing about your relationship essentially should be the easiest thing in the world. The more honest and descriptive (without waffling on) you can be, the better.

4. Should you write separate statements or a combined statement?

Unsure how to write the statement? You can write it separately or together as a joint statement, and even include thoughts from family members or close friends to give more weight to the statement by including some quotes by them. But, it’s best if you write it as a joint statement to ensure that the dates and experiences all line up.

You also must make sure you both sign and date the statement as well.

5. What not to include in your statement

If you’re worried about writing the correct statement, make sure you avoid the following which could end up making the case worker have more questions:

Inconsistencies in dates, events, or details – if you start mentioning the wrong anniversary dates, when you met etc, it’s going to look a bit suspect. Keep this consistent throughout the application.

Lack of detail – if you’re super vague for example about your future plans, it could raise eyebrows. Although you might not know where you’ll be in five years, at least have a go at saying how you hope to be living in a specific part of Australia, with a good job, doing various things together as a couple etc.

Failure to address all four pillars of the relationship (financial, household, social, and commitment) – these four pillars are super crucial, but I’ll talk more about what to say below.

Terrible grammar, spelling and formatting – it’s basic and common sense but you really need to make sure you reread your statement for any spelling errors. Use Grammarly to help you if you’re not great at writing.

6. Tips for a Strong Relationship Statement

If you’re concerned about how to write a personal statement for a relationship, take these points on board before you get started.

Be concise – while you need to be detailed, don’t waffle on and get to the point. Remember the statement should be 2-3 pages long.

Use clear headings and use your own words – think of it like writing an essay, you want to make sure paragraphs aren’t huge (usually 3-4 sentences per paragraph are best and easier to read) and add headings so that the case worker can find the points easily, ie: ‘How we share our household responsibilities’.

Use specific examples – if you can add in examples about when you went to a party or went on a memorable date, it adds to your story and makes it more engaging.

What to write in your relationship statement

Now we’ve covered the main points for what to do and what to avoid when writing the partner visa relationship statement, I’m going to dive in and explain what the statement should look like when covering the four pillars of the nature of your relationship which includes: financial commitments, household chores, social aspects and commitment to your ongoing relationship.

7. Nature of your relationship and commitment

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You’ll need to provide evidence and convince a complete stranger (aka the case officer) that you intend to be in a long term and committed relationship. While you might be thinking “why of course I will be, I’m not investing in this for nothing”. The case officer doesn’t know this. Remember over 35% of the partner visa applications get denied and I have heard of people pretending to be in a relationship to try and get this visa.

So, think about the duration of your relationship and how long you have lived together for. Build the story out about how you met and when you got together. Did they change your life and how did they make you feel when you got together? The more descriptive you can be, the better.

If physical separation happened and you’d had time apart (like stuck in your home country for a while during covid), talk about what you did to maintain your relationship. Did you talk on the phone or on video everyday? Did you send each other gifts or cards? Talk about what it was like being apart and be concise on the dates you weren’t together and the reasons why.

Talk about how you emotionally support each other, and how you help one another with advice. You should also have a will in place that reflects your relationship, so mention how you would divide up your assets. How do you feel about each others families, and what you want your future plans to look like. I think I wrote something like “I want to get married and start a family soon”. If you are already married, obviously mention the marriage certificate which you’ll need to supply anyway.

8. Financial aspects of your relationship

For your financial requirements, this is where you need to demonstrate how you and your partner share your financial commitments. If you haven’t bought a property, it could be anything like loans or any purchases like a car for example. How did you come to the agreement to spend that type of money and how do you pay any loans or credit card repayments back.

If you have a joint bank account, it will help immensely, and you’ll be able to show a financial commitment towards each other by doing so.

9. Nature of your household

For your household requirements, this is where you need to demonstrate how you and your partner share your outgoings and what your living arrangements look like. This includes everything from paying rent or a mortgage, joint house expenses like grocery shopping, running costs of a car etc.

When I applied for my partner visa, we didn’t have a rental agreement to show because even though we’d been together for a year, we lived with Steve’s mum in Sydney at the time. We managed to get around this by asking her to write a statement to confirm this.

I would literally write about how you divide up your weekly outgoings and how you spend your money. Talk about who takes care of the bills or the food shopping etc.

I would also talk about how you take care of your property – who does what when cleaning the house? Do you have specific tasks?

Remember the case officer who is reading this statement doesn’t know you so paint a picture on how you both live together and how it financially works.

10. Social aspects of your relationship

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The social aspects of your relationship should be the easy one to complete. You just need to mention how you have fun together and what you do together as a couple.

I would mention how you’ve registered your relationship (if you haven’t done so yet, make sure you do for this application), and share any joint memberships you might have whether that’s for the gym, Netflix etc.

Talk about any activities that you both participate in together and if you don’t, are you supportive of the activities, ie go to watch your other half play sport? Mention any recent gigs or events you’ve been to and be specific about when and where it was.

I’d also talk about any holiday bookings and how you paid for it, who organised it and what the trip was like? You don’t need to reel off a load of holidays, but talk about some of the more memorable ones that brought you closer together because of xyz. You can even discuss future travel plans as well to help strengthen your application.

Think about anything in person you can talk about – any cards or gifts you’ve received together from friends and family and why or even concert tickets you’ve kept. Then talk about the memorable social media posts, like when you first mentioned each other or shared a photo together (case officers have been known to check social media accounts just as an FYI).

Also talk about your group of friends – do you have friends together that you hang out with and how you interact with them (ie go out for dinner regularly, play sport together etc).

11. Finalising Your Relationship Statement

Before you finish your partner visa relationship statement and how your relationship developed as well as the significant events and your future plans, you’ll need to make sure you go over this a few times to ensure you have the exact date and events correct in the rest of your application.

While you’re essentially sharing your mutual commitment to spend your future together, if you follow these guidelines, you’ll bound to have a positive outcome.

12. Be prepared for a surprise phone call

Not to alarm you, but the case officer might call you to discuss the nature of your relationship so you have to be prepared for a call. It’s a phone interview so the case officer can get to know you a little bit more. They might ask you random questions about how you do house work or even what side of the bed you sleep on.

They might also ask you to meet them for an in person interview and ask you to talk about the specific people in the photos you’ve submitted etc. If you’re worried about this part of the process, check out this guide for What to Expect When the Case Officer Calls.

13. Avoiding visa refusal

If you’re worried about getting your visa refused and losing that eye watering amount of money (yes, you don’t get a refund if it gets refused), I would absolutely highly recommend you speak directly to True Blue Migration Services. They are one of the leading migration agents in Australia, with over 40,000 Facebook followers and 5 star Google reviews which says it all really.

As mentioned in this article, you can get a free visa assessment to check if you’re eligible to apply for any specific visas. I know the visa process can be confusing so I would 100% recommend you do this for reassurance. !

Get your free visa assessment by mentioning Londoner In Sydney. Simply click on the banner for whether you’re currently in Australia right now or you’re living outside of Australia and you’ll be able to fill in the form.