Apostille for an Australian Partner Visa: South African Document Guide

Part of our Australia Apostille & Immigration Guide.

820/801 vs 309/100 — Onshore and Offshore Partner Visas

The Australian Department of Home Affairs runs the partner visa as a two-stage pathway, and which subclass you lodge depends on where you are when you apply:

• Onshore — subclass 820/801: you apply while in Australia. Subclass 820 is the temporary partner visa; subclass 801 is the permanent stage that follows, usually around two years later.
• Offshore — subclass 309/100: you apply from outside Australia, the typical route for a partner still living in South Africa. Subclass 309 is the temporary (provisional) partner visa; subclass 100 is the permanent stage.

Both are sponsored by an eligible Australian partner (citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen). The decision-maker's job is to be satisfied your relationship is genuine and continuing — and the South African documents you legalise are identical across all four subclasses. The only practical difference is your location and which ImmiAccount flow you lodge through.

Two Routes: DIRCO Per-Doc vs High Court Bundling

A partner-visa set is the one corridor where both South African apostille routes come into play, so understanding the split is what keeps your costs sensible.

• DHA civil certificates → DIRCO, per document. Your marriage certificate and birth certificates are issued by Home Affairs. They are apostilled directly by DIRCO, one document per R1,650 fee. There is no bundling discount on DHA certificates — three certificates means three fees.
• Notarised relationship declarations → High Court, bundled. Partner-visa evidence often includes statutory declarations from friends and family attesting to the genuine relationship. When these are sworn before a notary, they become notarised documents, and several of them destined for Australia can be bound under one notarial certificate and apostilled for a single R1,650 High Court fee in about 3 working days.

So the precise rule is: bundling applies to the notarised declarations, not to the DHA certificates. We route each document to the cheaper, correct path automatically.

Your SA Documents and Their Correct Routes

Here is each South African document an Australian partner visa typically involves, what it proves to Home Affairs, and the right legalisation route.

• DHA unabridged marriage certificate — the central relationship proof if you are married. A Home Affairs civil certificate, apostilled by DIRCO at R1,650 per document. See Marriage Certificate Apostille. The apostille is applied to your unabridged certificate, so make sure you have the unabridged version (not the abridged one) before we apostille it.
• DHA unabridged birth certificates — for the applicant and any dependent children. Each is a DHA certificate, apostilled by DIRCO per document at R1,650. See Birth Certificate Apostille.
• Relationship statutory declarations — sworn statements about the genuineness of the relationship. When notarised, these are High Court apostilled and can be bundled under one notarial certificate for one R1,650 fee. See High Court Apostille.
• Divorce decree or death certificate (if either partner was previously married) — a High Court divorce decree is apostilled via the issuing court route; a DHA death certificate by DIRCO.
• Letter of No Impediment / single status — sometimes used to corroborate relationship history. See Letter of No Impediment Apostille.
• SAPS Police Clearance Certificate — required by Home Affairs, but usually a scanned copy, not apostilled (see below).

What Does NOT Need an Apostille (The Honest Part)

Over-legalising is the most common and most expensive mistake, so here's the candid version:

• SAPS Police Clearance Certificate — the Department of Home Affairs generally accepts a clear scanned copy of the original SAPS PCC. An apostille is usually unnecessary; your clearance is simply scanned, and only apostille it (R1,650) if a decision-maker specifically asks for a legalised copy.
• Qualifications and skills recognition — a partner visa is relationship-based and is not points-tested, so there is no skills assessment and no need to apostille degrees. Where a qualification matters for a different visa, recognition runs on verification, not an apostille.
• Relationship evidence — joint bank statements, lease agreements, photos, travel records and communication logs are simply uploaded to ImmiAccount. Nothing to legalise.
• Plain (un-notarised) declarations — if your supporting statements are submitted as ordinary signed statements rather than sworn notarial declarations, they need no apostille at all.

The honest rule: apostille your DHA civil certificates (per document, via DIRCO), apostille notarised declarations only if you choose the sworn route (bundled, via the High Court), and leave everything else as scans.

Step-by-Step Apostille Process From SA

Sequence matters because the SAPS Police Clearance is the slowest item and the DIRCO and High Court routes run in parallel.

Recommended sequence

1. Week 0: Have your SAPS Police Clearance ready. Gather your DHA unabridged marriage certificate and a DHA unabridged birth certificate for the applicant and each dependent child — make sure you hold the unabridged versions. Draft your relationship statutory declarations.
2. Week 2: DHA certificates arrive. Submit each to DIRCO for apostille (~1 week per batch) at R1,650 per certificate. In parallel, have your statutory declarations sworn before a notary and bound for the High Court apostille.
3. Week 2-3: Notarised declarations bundled and High Court apostilled (~3 working days) under one R1,650 fee.
4. Week 3-4: Apostilled certificates and declarations collected; scanned in high-quality colour.
5. Week 4-5: SAPS Police Clearance arrives. Scan it in colour as-is — no apostille.
6. Week 5-6: Upload the apostilled certificates, the bundled apostilled declarations and the plain police-clearance scan to your ImmiAccount partner-visa application.

If your migration agent has set a hard lodgement date, work backwards and add a two-week buffer for any re-issued or expired certificate, especially the police clearance.

Timeline and Costs

An Australian partner-visa document set typically includes:

• DHA Unabridged Marriage Certificate — DIRCO apostille (relationship proof)
• DHA Unabridged Birth Certificate — DIRCO apostille, one per dependent child
• Relationship statutory declarations — notarised, High Court apostille (bundled, optional)
• Divorce decree / death certificate — apostilled only if a prior marriage applies
• SAPS Police Clearance — your own copy, usually not apostilled (scanned copy)

Indicative pricing (live rates)

• DIRCO Apostille: R1,650 per DHA certificate, ~1 week (single service — no express/urgent tier)
• High Court Apostille: R1,650, 3 working days — multiple notarised declarations for Australia bundled under one notarial certificate
• Apostille of your SAPS police clearance (only if a decision-maker asks for a legalised copy): R1,650 — usually not apostilled, just scanned
• Sworn/certified translation (if any document isn't in English): R1,000 per page
• Local courier: R250; international courier: R800 - R1,300

For a married couple with no children, the apostille cost is usually one marriage certificate at R1,650, plus an optional R1,650 bundled High Court apostille if you use sworn declarations. Each dependent child adds R1,650 for the apostilled birth certificate. Your SAPS clearance is usually a scan, not an apostilled item. Australian visa application charges are paid separately to the Department of Home Affairs. Free drop-off is available at Document Depo, Honeydew Ridge, Roodepoort.

Don't have the original document yet? Ask us — we'll talk you through your options.

Frequently Asked Questions