Partner Visas & Employer-Sponsored Visas
Migration Agents and Immigration Lawyers Perth
Applying for a visa is one of the biggest decisions you'll make. We're here to take the hard parts off your plate - so you can focus on your future in Australia, not on government forms.
- 5 stars from 100+
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Client success stories
Mitch & Mel
Partner Visa
(subclass 820)“Massive thanks to Matilda for making this entire process smooth, accessible and easy. We couldn't have done it without you."
James Wills
Employer
(482 Nomination)"We knew we wanted to hire overseas talent but didn't know where to start. Matilda saved us a lot of time and stress."
Meet your migration experts
When you work with Matilda, you're not handed off to whoever's free. We have dedicated specialists in partner visas and employer-sponsored visas, each with extensive experience across Perth and Western Australia. Your case goes to the person who knows your pathway.
Nell is a qualified corporate lawyer who transitioned into strategy and operations. She spent the last two years at Eucalyptus, where she helped launch the business in international markets (Germany and Japan). She loves understanding and solving flaws in manual, demanding processes, and joined Matilda to help it become the breakthrough solution the visa industry needs.
Our Visa Services for Perth Clients
Partner Visas
Partner visas are what we're known for. Our immigration lawyers handle every Perth partner visa application - managing your evidence, drafting your relationship statement, and making sure the Department of Home Affairs gets a complete, well-structured application the first time around.
We specialise in:
- Subclass 820 / 801 - Onshore Partner Visa (temporary, then permanent)
- Subclass 309 / 100 - Offshore Partner Visa
- Subclass 300 - Prospective Marriage Visa
We help Perth couples with:
- De facto applications - including guidance on building strong relationship evidence without a formal register, since Western Australia doesn't have one (more on this below)
- Long-distance and international relationships - overseas partners can participate fully online
- FIFO and shift-roster couples - where one partner is away on a two-and-one or similar roster, and the usual cohabitation evidence needs a different approach
- Complex evidence preparation - we reduce your workload from around 100 hours to 15–30
Employer-Sponsored Visas
Our registered migration agents handle employer-sponsored visa applications for Perth professionals and the businesses that want to hire them. We know the Perth market - from resources and energy to construction, health and life sciences, education and technology, and tourism and hospitality - and how to structure an application that holds up to scrutiny.
We assist with:
- Subclass 482 - Skills in Demand visa (temporary employer-sponsored)
- Subclass 186 - Employer Nomination Scheme (permanent employer-sponsored)
- Business sponsorship applications - for Perth employers sponsoring for the first time
- Employer nomination - nominating a specific employee under an existing sponsorship approval
Supporting both:
- Skilled professionals seeking employer-sponsored pathways to permanent residency
- Perth-based employers navigating sponsorship obligations and documentation
Why Perth Couples Choose Matilda for Partner Visas
A partner visa application is personal. You're sharing your relationship with a government body and trusting someone to present it properly. Here's what Perth couples get when they work with us.
No visa, no fee. If your visa isn't granted, you don't pay our professional fees. We think that's how it should work - and it means we're invested in your outcome, not just your lodgement.
We do the heavy lifting. The average DIY partner visa takes around 100 hours of work. With Matilda, your time commitment drops to 15–30 hours. We draft your relationship statement, build your evidence album, and complete the legal forms. You provide the information; we do the rest.
Realistic guidance where WA has no register. Western Australia is one of only two jurisdictions in the country without a relationship register, so your cohabitation evidence has to carry the full weight of your case. We tell you where the gaps are before you lodge.
FIFO-aware evidence planning. Rosters that take one partner away for weeks at a time are normal in Perth and unusual to Home Affairs. We know how to present them so time apart reads as a working arrangement, not a separation.
Long-distance relationship support. Your overseas partner can participate fully online. Shared finances, communication records, statutory declarations - we help you structure international relationship evidence clearly and compellingly.
Fully online. No office visits. No rearranging your life around a CBD appointment. Everything is handled remotely, on a timeline that suits you.
Legal and migration expertise working together. Partner visas at Matilda are handled by immigration lawyers and registered migration agents. You get both - not one or the other.
Why Perth Clients Choose Matilda for Employer-Sponsored Visas
Employer-sponsored visas have a lot of moving parts - the employer's obligations, the occupation list, the salary threshold, the nomination, and the visa application itself. Perth adds another layer, because several different sponsorship arrangements operate here and they don't all work the same way.
Clarity through the complexity. We explain the standard employer-sponsored pathway - including the 482 to 186 route to permanent residency - in plain terms, and we are clear about which parts of the WA landscape we handle and which we don’t.
Straight answers about what we do and don’t cover. Western Australia has a state-wide Designated Area Migration Agreement as well as several regional agreements, and Perth sits inside the state-wide one. These are labour agreements with their own concessions, and Matilda doesn’t act on them. If that’s the pathway you need, we’ll say so early rather than after you’ve paid us.
Experience across Perth and WA industries. Resources and energy, construction, health and life sciences, education and technology, tourism and hospitality - we understand how sponsorship works in the sectors that actually hire here.
Support for employers and employees. We work with both sides of a sponsorship: the employee navigating their visa options, and the employer managing sponsorship obligations, nomination requirements, and compliance.
Applications built to hold up. Every application we lodge is structured to meet Home Affairs requirements from the start - reducing the risk of requests for further information and the delays they cause.
Ongoing support, not just a lodgement. We stay with you after your application goes in. Progress updates, post-lodgement tasks, questions that come up along the way - we're reachable.
How Matilda works
Visa applications are already a digital process. The question is whether your agent is set up to do it well.
Named specialist, not a queue
You get a specific agent with the right expertise for your pathway, and their direct email.
Fixed fees, quoted upfront
No hourly billing. No surprise line items.
Lawyers and migration agents, together.
Registered MARA agents plus admitted Australian lawyers - the full depth of both disciplines on every case.
A case portal that works
Documents, deadlines, and status in one place. See where your application is without asking.
Fully online
No office visits. Video, email, secure uploads.
Registered and accountable
Every agent is MARA-registered or an admitted Australian lawyer. Online doesn't mean unregulated.
Partner visas in Perth & Western Australia: what to know
Registering your relationship in Western Australia
Some states and territories let de facto couples register their relationship with a government body, which can help meet the standard 12-month living-together requirement for a partner visa sooner. Western Australia doesn't offer this. The WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages registers births, deaths, marriages, name changes and adoptions - but there is no de facto or civil partnership register, so registration simply isn't an option here, however long you've been together. Along with the Northern Territory, WA is one of only two jurisdictions in Australia without one.
That doesn't put WA couples at a disadvantage - it just means your cohabitation evidence needs to carry the full weight of your case from the outset, rather than a certificate doing some of that work. The Department of Home Affairs still looks at the same four categories of evidence wherever you live: the financial side of your relationship, your living arrangements, your social life as a couple, and your commitment to each other.
Where there's no register to lean on, we focus on building genuinely comprehensive evidence across all four categories from day one - for example:
- Joint bank accounts, shared bills, and other financial co-mingling, documented consistently over time
- Lease agreements, mortgage documents, or a landlord statutory declaration confirming you live together
- Statutory declarations from family and friends who can speak to your relationship
- Photos, travel records, and communication history that show your relationship developing over time
This is the kind of gap that doesn't show up until an application is already in trouble. We assess your evidence honestly as part of your eligibility review, so you know where the gaps are before you lodge - not after a request for more information.
Proving you live together in Perth
Perth has a living arrangement that most of the country doesn't: fly-in fly-out work. If one of you is on a two-weeks-on, one-week-off roster in the Pilbara or the Goldfields, you are demonstrably not living under the same roof for a large part of the year - and a case officer reading your file in Canberra won't necessarily read that the way you do.
This is workable, and it's common. A FIFO roster is a work pattern, not a separation, and it doesn't break the cohabitation requirement - but it does need to be documented deliberately rather than explained after the fact. Rosters, employer letters, flight records and consistent shared finances across the away periods all do useful work here, and the absence of a WA relationship register makes getting this right more important than it would be in New South Wales or Victoria.
The same applies to short leases, share houses and partners still in transit between countries. We help you work out what evidence you actually have, structure it clearly, and fill the gaps using statutory declarations and supporting documents. A less-than-ideal living arrangement doesn't have to mean a weaker application.
Statutory Declarations
Statutory declarations - formal written statements made in front of an authorised witness - are commonly used in partner visa applications to support relationship evidence. They carry more weight in Western Australia than in most of the country, because there's no relationship register to help establish your case. They're particularly useful where documentary evidence is limited: FIFO rosters and other periods apart, long-distance stages of a relationship, or gaps in financial records.
We advise on when to use them, what they should cover, and how to get them witnessed correctly under Western Australian law.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to visit an office, or can my Perth migration agent work with me online?
Entirely online. Matilda is a fully remote migration agency - video consultations, secure document handling, and all communication handled digitally. You never need to travel into the CBD or take time off work for an appointment.
Are online migration agents and immigration lawyers in Perth legitimate?
Yes - what matters is MARA registration (for migration agents) or legal admission (for immigration lawyers), not a street address. Both are national credentials. A Perth office doesn't make an agent more qualified, and working remotely doesn't make one less so.
Does Western Australia have a relationship register for partner visas?
No. Unlike New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, Western Australia doesn't offer a relationship register - the WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages has no de facto or civil partnership registration scheme. WA and the Northern Territory are the only two jurisdictions without one. If you've come across information about registering elsewhere in Australia, that's why it doesn't apply here. It means your cohabitation evidence needs to stand on its own - which is exactly what we help you build.
How do I prove my relationship for a partner visa in Western Australia?
The Department of Home Affairs looks at four categories of evidence: financial aspects of your relationship, your living arrangements, your social life as a couple, and your commitment to each other. This carries extra weight in WA, where there's no relationship register to lean on - so we focus on making your evidence complete and consistent across all four categories from the start, rather than relying on any one document to do the work.
My partner works FIFO. Does that affect our partner visa application?
It doesn't disqualify you. The cohabitation requirement is about whether you live together as a couple, not whether you're physically in the same place every night - and a documented work roster is a recognised reason for time apart. What matters is that the roster is evidenced properly and that your financial, social and commitment evidence stays consistent through the away periods. Given WA has no relationship register, getting this documented well matters more here than it would elsewhere. We build it into your evidence plan from the start.
How long do partner visas take to process in Perth?
Partner visa processing times are set by the Department of Home Affairs and change regularly. The published timelines apply nationally - your location in Perth doesn't change how quickly your application is assessed. What does make a difference is whether your application is complete and well-evidenced when it's lodged, because requests for further information add months.
What employer-sponsored visas are available to Perth workers and employers?
Our support for Perth employer sponsorship covers the Subclass 482 (Skills in Demand) in its Core Skills and Specialist Skills streams, and the Subclass 186 (Employer Nomination Scheme) in its Temporary Residence Transition and Direct Entry streams. Western Australia also has a state-wide Designated Area Migration Agreement covering Perth, along with several regional agreements and state nomination programs. These are separate arrangements with their own rules and concessions, and Matilda doesn't act on them - if one of those is the right pathway for you, we'll point you in the right direction rather than take on work we don't do.
What's the difference between a migration agent and an immigration lawyer?
Both can lodge Australian visa applications and advise on eligibility. Immigration lawyers have additional legal qualifications and can act in matters that go beyond a standard application, such as tribunal reviews. Matilda has both on the team, which means your application is handled by whichever is right for your situation rather than whoever you happened to call.
How much does a migration agent or immigration lawyer cost in Perth?
Matilda charges flat fees for partner visa applications - there's no hourly billing and no hidden costs. The “no visa, no fee” guarantee means you don't pay our professional fees if your visa isn't granted. Government application charges are separate and set by the Department of Home Affairs. We give you the full picture before you commit.
Ready to Start Your Visa Journey?
Perth clients don't need an office. They need a team that knows what they're doing - and actually cares whether the application works. That's what Matilda is. Start with the free eligibility quiz (five minutes, clear answer) or book a free 20-minute consultation with one of our lawyers or migration agents. No obligation. Just a straight conversation about where you stand.
