This article is general information about Australian Partner Visa documentation. It is not migration advice. For advice on your circumstances, consult a registered migration agent (search MARA).
If you're applying for an Australian Partner Visa (subclass 820 or 801), you've almost certainly come across Form 888 — the official Supporting statement in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage visa application. It's the form Home Affairs publishes for the witness supporting statements that sit under the Social category of your evidence — how friends and family who know your relationship formally tell the Department they've observed the two of you as a couple.
This guide walks through everything we know about Form 888 in 2026 — who can sign it, what each section means, what makes a strong supporting statement, and where it goes when you upload to ImmiAccount. (Form 888s aren't part of VisaBinder's evidence packs — they upload directly to their own ImmiAccount slot. If you'd like a tool that compiles the rest of your evidence into ImmiAccount-ready PDFs, VisaBinder handles the four relationship-evidence packs for a single one-time fee.)
⚠️ If you don't currently hold a substantive visa, Form 888 won't satisfy your statutory declaration requirement. Applicants without a substantive visa must include a minimum of two Commonwealth Statutory Declarations made within the last six weeks by an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or eligible New Zealand citizen. Home Affairs has stated Form 888 is not a statutory declaration and the current and previous versions are not acceptable for that purpose. Download the Commonwealth Statutory Declaration form from the Attorney-General's Department.
What is Form 888?
Form 888 is the official witness supporting statement for the Social category of Partner Visa evidence — a written statement in which someone who knows your relationship describes what they've personally observed. Home Affairs has explicitly distinguished Form 888 from a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration: the two are different documents with different purposes, and Form 888 cannot be substituted where a statutory declaration is required. The Department publishes the official PDF and updates it from time to time, so always download the current version directly from the Home Affairs website rather than reusing an older copy you found online.
Each Form 888 declaration uploads to its own dedicated category in ImmiAccount — separate from your photos, joint events, and other social evidence. Most successful 820 applications include at least two Form 888 declarations, and many include four or more. There is no fixed minimum or maximum.
The form is not a character reference. It's a sworn statement that the witness has personally observed your relationship and believes it to be genuine and continuing.
Who can sign a Form 888?
According to Home Affairs' guidance, the person completing a Form 888 should:
- Know you both and the history of your relationship. They need to have met both partners, ideally socialised with you as a couple, and be able to describe specific things they've observed.
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Provide evidence of their identity and, where applicable, Australian citizenship or permanent residency — for example a birth certificate, an Australian passport, or a passport containing a permanent visa.
Home Affairs treats Australian citizenship or permanent residency as the usual expectation for a witness rather than an absolute bar. Its guidance notes one exception: where the visa applicant is outside Australia and can't get an Australian citizen or permanent resident to complete the form, any person who knows the applicant and sponsor may complete it. Either way, a friend back home or someone on a temporary visa who knows you both can also write a non-statutory letter of support that you include separately.
Follow the signing instructions printed on the current Form 888 PDF. Form 888 is a supporting statement rather than a statutory declaration, so its signing requirements are separate from those of the Commonwealth Statutory Declaration form — refer to the form's own instructions when completing it.
What goes into a strong Form 888
The form has structured fields (the witness's details, your details, the date) and one free-text section where the witness describes the relationship. That free-text section is where applications are won or lost.
A weak declaration says: "I have known [Applicant] and [Sponsor] for two years and believe their relationship is genuine."
A strong declaration says, in the witness's own voice:
- How they know each of you, and for how long
- When and how they first met you as a couple
- Specific shared occasions they've attended (Christmas dinners, birthdays, weddings, holidays, casual catch-ups)
- Observations of how you interact — shared finances, joint plans, mutual support during difficult periods
- Any direct knowledge of your living situation, joint commitments, or family integration
- Their honest belief that the relationship is genuine and continuing
Home Affairs asks witnesses to describe specific facts they've personally observed about the relationship — when they met you and your partner, what events they've attended, what they've seen of your daily lives. The form's prompts call for concrete details rather than general statements — for example, "I attended their housewarming in Brunswick in March 2025; I've stayed at their place when visiting from Adelaide; they introduced me to her parents at the Easter lunch I hosted."
How many Form 888s do you need?
There is no rule. The Department's published guidance simply asks for evidence in the four categories — financial, household, social, and the nature of your commitment to each other — and Form 888 is one of the strongest pieces of social evidence available.
In practice:
- Two declarations is the practical minimum most applications include.
- Four to six is common for applicants with a wide social circle.
- More than eight rarely adds value — quality matters more than quantity, and case officers don't need fifteen people saying similar things.
Aim for declarations from people who represent different circles of your life: a friend from each partner's side, a family member, a colleague, a long-standing neighbour. That breadth reads as a couple genuinely embedded in a community.
Filling out the form: section by section
Section 1 — Witness details (the person signing the declaration)
Full legal name, address, and Australian citizenship or permanent residency status. The witness writes this themselves; don't pre-fill it for them. (Since the July 2023 redesign, the current form — design date 11/24 — no longer asks for the witness's occupation or contact phone number, so don't be thrown if an older template you've seen included them.)
Section 2 — Applicant and sponsor details
Names, dates of birth, and the relationship being supported (de facto or married). Make sure these match exactly what appears on the rest of the application.
Section 3 — The declaration text
This is the free-text section. The form provides prompts but a single paragraph that hits each prompt with specifics is far more useful than long, vague prose.
Witnesses should write in first person, in their own natural voice. A polished, lawyerly declaration from a tradie friend reads as ghostwritten.
Section 4 — Signing the form
Since July 2023, Form 888 is a supporting statement rather than a statutory declaration. In practice that means the witness no longer needs to sign it in front of a Justice of the Peace or other authorised witness — they simply sign and date it themselves. Download the current version from immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, have the witness complete it directly, and follow the signing instructions printed on the form. Because it is a witness supporting statement and not a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration, its requirements sit on the form itself rather than under the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.
Attaching Form 888 to your evidence pack
Once you have signed declarations in hand, you need to:
- Scan each form to PDF. Use a clean black-and-white scan at 200–300 DPI. Phone scans are fine if they're flat, well-lit, and legible.
- Keep each witness's signed Form 888 as its own file along with whatever identity evidence (driver's licence, passport bio page) the witness attached. Since the July 2023 redesign, that attached ID no longer needs to be a certified true copy. Don't merge the forms into a single combined PDF — ImmiAccount's Form 888 category accepts multiple files and case officers prefer one Form 888 per witness.
- Compress each file to under 5MB. ImmiAccount rejects attachments over 5MB. See our guide on compressing Partner Visa PDFs to under 5MB if your scans push the limit.
- Upload each completed Form 888 to ImmiAccount's dedicated 'Form 888 — Supporting statement' category. This category accepts multiple files — one Form 888 per witness is standard. Don't bundle them into your social evidence; ImmiAccount provides a purpose-built slot.
VisaBinder handles the four relationship-evidence packs (financial, household, social, commitment) and the cover/index for your application. Form 888s upload separately, directly from your witnesses to ImmiAccount. See what VisaBinder does.
Common mistakes that hurt declarations
- Using an outdated form. Always download the current PDF from Home Affairs.
- Assuming any overseas friend can be a witness. Home Affairs generally expects a witness to evidence Australian citizenship or permanent residency; the main exception is where the applicant is outside Australia and can't arrange one.
- Generic, copy-pasted text. Two declarations with identical wording will be noticed.
- Witness only knows one of you. They need to have met both partners to credibly describe the relationship.
- Witness lists no specific shared experiences. The single most common weakness in Form 888s is vague praise without observable details.
Form 888 in the broader evidence picture
Form 888 is one piece of the evidence puzzle. A complete Partner Visa application also includes financial evidence (joint accounts, shared bills), household evidence (a lease or mortgage in both names), and direct evidence of your commitment to each other (Statement of Relationship, joint travel, photos across time).
For the full picture of what Home Affairs looks for, see our subclass 820 evidence checklist. And if your social evidence relies heavily on chat history, our guide on using WhatsApp chats as Partner Visa evidence walks through how to format and present that material.
A final note
Form 888 is a sworn document. Witnesses are signing under Australian law and could face penalties for a deliberately false declaration. Make sure anyone you ask understands they're being asked to attest to what they've actually observed — not to advocate for an outcome.
If you're feeling overwhelmed by compiling everything Form 888 sits alongside in your application, that's fair — Partner Visa evidence is a lot of paperwork. VisaBinder turns the rest of the pile into ImmiAccount-ready PDFs so you can focus on getting the declarations themselves right.