Bridging Visa B: How to Apply, Cost and Processing Time

What is a Bridging visa B?

A Bridging visa B (Subclass 020) lets you leave Australia and return while your visa application is still being decided. A Bridging visa A does not. That single difference is the whole reason the Subclass 020 exists.

A bridging visa is not a substantive visa. It is a temporary visa granted under Subdivision AF of the Migration Act 1958 that keeps you lawful in Australia while something else is being worked out, usually a substantive visa application or a court case about one. The Bridging visa A is the standard bridging visa most people receive when they lodge an onshore application. It keeps you here. It does not let you travel. If you hold a Bridging visa A and you fly out of Australia, that visa ceases and you have no right to come back on it.

The Bridging visa B does two jobs at once. It keeps you lawful in Australia in the same way a Bridging visa A does, and it adds a travel facility. The travel facility is a period of time during which you are permitted to travel to and enter Australia. The Department of Home Affairs describes the purpose of the visa as allowing a person who has substantial reasons for leaving and re-entering Australia, and whose substantive visa application has not been finally determined or whose judicial review proceedings are not completed, to travel and re-enter.

The timing rule catches people out more than any other part of this visa. The Bridging visa B must be granted before you leave Australia. Clause 020.411 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires you to be in Australia, but not in immigration clearance, at the time of grant. You cannot lodge the application at the airport and travel on the strength of having applied. You cannot apply from overseas after you have already gone. If your Bridging visa A ceases because you departed, the only way back into Australia is a new substantive visa granted while you are outside the country.

The second thing to understand is that the travel facility is a period, not a single trip. Division 020.5 of Schedule 2 permits the holder to travel to and enter Australia either until a cessation event occurs or until a date the decision-maker specifies. Departmental policy is that, unless there is a good reason in a particular case, the decision-maker should not specify a date. Once granted, the travel facility cannot be extended. If you need more time than you were given, you must apply for another Bridging visa B while you are still in Australia.

People most often need a Bridging visa B while waiting on a Subclass 820 onshore partner visa, a skilled or employer sponsored application lodged in Australia, or a parent visa. The rules below apply the same way whichever substantive visa you are waiting on.

Who can apply for a Bridging visa B?

You can apply for a Bridging visa B only if you already hold a Bridging visa A or a Bridging visa B. Clause 020.211 of Schedule 2 requires this at the time you apply, and clause 020.221 requires you to still hold one at the time the decision is made.

This is the point where most enquiries end. A Bridging visa C or a Bridging visa E does not qualify you, no matter how strong your reasons for travel are and no matter how long your application has been waiting. There is no Bridging visa B available to a Bridging visa E holder. If you are on a Bridging visa E and you must travel, the position is different and far more serious, and you should get advice before you book anything.

Item 1302 of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994 sets out what makes the application valid. You must complete one of the approved forms, pay the visa application charge, be in Australia but not in immigration clearance, and have been immigration cleared. You must not be in immigration detention or criminal detention. You cannot apply if you hold, or last held, a Subclass 785 Temporary Protection visa or a Subclass 790 Safe Haven Enterprise visa. You must give a residential address in Australia. A post office box is not accepted and leaving the address blank makes the application invalid.

On top of holding the right bridging visa, you must fit one of four situations in clause 020.212.

### If your application is still being decided

Subclause 020.212(2) covers most applicants. You made a valid application in Australia for a substantive visa that can be granted in Australia, that application has not been finally determined, you wish to leave and re-enter Australia while it is being processed, and your reasons for doing so are substantial. An application lodged online is treated as an application made in Australia.

Subclause 020.212(4) covers a narrower group: people who have applied for a Partner (Migrant) (Class BC) visa, that is the Subclass 100, where the application has not been finally determined and the reasons for travel are substantial.

"Finally determined" is a defined term. It is set by subsections 5(9), 5(9A) and 5(9B) of the Migration Act 1958. In practice, your application is still not finally determined while it sits with the Department, and while a valid review application sits with the Administrative Review Tribunal. It becomes finally determined once the review period has run out without a valid review application being made. Once that happens, no further Bridging visa B can be granted in connection with it.

### If you are in judicial review

Subclauses 020.212(3) and 020.212(5) cover people whose substantive visa application was refused and who have gone to court. You satisfy them if you, or the Minister, applied for judicial review within the statutory time limits, those proceedings including any appeal are not completed, and your reasons for travel are substantial. A family member who combined their substantive visa application with the person going to court can also be granted a Bridging visa B on this basis, even though they are not themselves a party to the proceedings.

Two hard deadlines sit underneath this. Sections 477, 477A and 486A of the Migration Act 1958 give 35 days from the date of a migration decision to apply to the Federal Circuit and Family Court, the Federal Court or the High Court. Apply outside that period and you do not meet the criteria for a Bridging visa B, even if the court later gives you an extension of time. Separately, you must have made the court application before your existing Bridging visa A or Bridging visa B ceased. If the bridging visa ceased first, clause 020.211 cannot be satisfied and the application must be refused. If you are considering judicial review in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, the travel question needs to be raised at the start, not months later.

Two further criteria apply to everyone. Clause 020.213 requires the decision-maker to be satisfied that your return to Australia would not be contrary to the public interest. This looks at where you are going and what you will be doing there, not at your stay in Australia so far. Clause 020.223 requires you to satisfy public interest criterion 4021 at the time of decision, which means holding a valid passport issued by an official source, in the form issued, and not in a class of passports excluded by legislative instrument. Check that the passport details recorded with the Department are current before you lodge.

What counts as a substantial reason to leave and re-enter Australia?

A substantial reason is one that is real, important and of genuine worth, and the decision-maker assesses it case by case. The migration legislation does not define "substantial" for this purpose, so the ordinary meaning applies. The Department's own guidance uses the words "real", "actual", "important" and "of real worth or value".

There are two limbs, and people usually only think about one. The reason must be important, and it must be real. If you say you need to travel because a parent is seriously ill, the illness is important. The decision-maker must also be satisfied that the parent is actually outside Australia and is actually ill. That is what the evidence is for.

Departmental policy treats the following as substantial reasons, and this list is a guide rather than a closed set:

• Employment, business or education. Attending a work or study conference, taking part in business negotiations or meetings, carrying out academic research, or presenting academic papers.
• Family and people important to you. Visiting a seriously ill family member, relative or close friend. Attending the wedding or another culturally important event of a family member, relative or close friend. Attending a funeral.
• Reasons connected to your own visa application. Having medical treatment for an existing condition, obtaining documents you need to satisfy Schedule 2 criteria, or resolving custody issues involving a claimed member of your family unit.
• A holiday, where the processing or review of your application has been protracted.
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That last one is worth reading twice, because it is the point most often missed. A personal trip can be a substantial reason where your application has been dragging on. The Department's guidance directs decision-makers to check departmental records and the published processing times to see whether your case is outside the published service standards. If it is, that delay is a factor in your favour. So if you are 26 months into a partner visa, say so plainly and put the processing time evidence in front of the decision-maker.

Evidence should match the reason. A medical certificate or hospital letter for an unwell relative, a conference invitation or employer letter for work travel, a wedding invitation, a death certificate or funeral notice. Where travel is at short notice, for example for a funeral, the Department accepts that supporting evidence may not be available in time, and decision-makers are directed to use their judgment on the information available. Do not let the absence of a perfect document stop you from lodging, but do explain in writing why the evidence is not available.

The travel period you ask for is assessed as well. Decision-makers are told to consider whether the period of absence you are requesting is consistent with your circumstances, and in particular whether it exceeds the expected remaining processing time on your substantive visa application. If your visa could be decided while you are away, and the Schedule 2 criteria require you to be in Australia at the time of grant, a long absence is a problem for you rather than for the Department.

How to apply for a Bridging visa B

Most people apply online through ImmiAccount, and where that is not available the application is made on Form 1006, Application for a Bridging visa B. Item 1302(1) of Schedule 1 specifies four approved forms: Form 1005, Form 1005 (Internet), Form 1006 and Form 1006 (Internet). All four make a valid application, but departmental policy directs officers to encourage applicants to use Form 1006 or Form 1006 (Internet) where available, because that form captures the travel details and payment details relevant to the assessment, which may shorten processing time. Use Form 1006 unless there is a reason not to.

Form 1006 asks for the following, and every part of it matters:

• Part A. Your receipt number from your last visa application, your name, date of birth and current residential address in Australia. A post office box is not accepted and a missing residential address makes the application invalid.
• Part B. Your passport number, country of passport, date of issue, date of expiry, issuing authority, the class of visa you currently hold or last held, and the 13 digit visa grant number from your grant letter.
• Part C. Your address for correspondence, telephone numbers, and whether you agree to the Department communicating with you electronically.
• Part D. What substantive visa you applied for, where it was lodged, and the receipt number, transaction reference number or file number. If you are in judicial review, the date of the refusal letter, the date of the review decision, the date the court application was lodged, and a copy of the court application showing the registry number and the Registrar's endorsement.
• Part D, question 12. Your destination, expected departure date, expected return date and the purpose of travel. The Department needs this to assess clause 020.213, and this is the main reason Form 1006 is preferred over Form 1005.
• Part D, question 13. If you are waiting on a decision and you will live at an overseas address for 14 days or more, you must tell the Department that address and the period you will be there.
• Part E. Family members applying with you.
• Part F and Part G. Health and character questions, and whether anyone helped you complete the form.
• Part H. Who receives written communications. If a lawyer acts for you, they lodge Form 956.
• Part I. The payment receipt number from the My Payments section of ImmiAccount. Do not write credit card details on the form.

Members of your family unit can combine their applications with yours under paragraph 1302(3)(d), and only one visa application charge is payable for the combined application. Combining does not lower the test. There are no secondary criteria for a Bridging visa B, so every applicant must satisfy the primary criteria in their own right. That includes substantial reasons to travel. A spouse who is not travelling, or who has no substantial reason of their own, cannot be granted this visa on the back of yours.

Where a child is travelling, departmental policy directs decision-makers to consider who has custody and whether everyone with parental responsibility has consented to the travel. Lack of consent is not itself a ground of refusal, but it raises a question about who had authority to lodge the application, and it can stall the file. If the other parent is not travelling, put their written consent in with the application.

Lodge early, but not too early. Where an application is made more than three months before the intended travel, the Department's guidance is that the applicant should be told it becomes harder to judge whether the proposed absence will collide with the decision on the substantive visa. Somewhere between one and three months before departure is the practical window. If you want a lawyer to prepare and lodge it with the evidence attached, you can request a consultation and we will tell you what the file needs.

How much does a Bridging visa B cost?

The visa application charge for a Bridging visa B is AUD 575. The charge is set by subitem 1302(2) of Schedule 1 to the Migration Regulations 1994, and it is payable at the time you make the application.

Three points about the charge are worth knowing.

First, it is one charge for the whole application. Subitem 1302(2) provides that there is no additional applicant charge, and under paragraph 2.12C(2)(c) of the Regulations, where applicants combine their applications only one base application charge is payable. A family of five travelling together pays the same charge as one person. The subsequent temporary application charge does not apply to a Bridging visa B, and neither does the non-internet application charge, so you are not penalised for lodging on paper.

Second, the charge must be paid for the application to be valid. This is not a fee you can settle later. Pay it through the My Payments section of ImmiAccount, using Manage Payments and then Pre-Pay Paper Service if you are lodging the paper form, and put the payment receipt number on the form.

Third, visa application charges can change on 1 July each year. Check the Department's visa pricing estimator on the day you lodge rather than relying on a figure you read weeks earlier.

There is no charge for the Bridging visa A that you already hold, and there is no refund of the Bridging visa B charge if the application is refused or if your travel plans change. If you later need a second travel period, that is a fresh application and a fresh charge.

How long does a Bridging visa B take to be granted?

Plan on weeks rather than days, and do not book non-refundable travel on the assumption of a fast grant. There are no arrangements for a Bridging visa B to be granted automatically. Every application is decided by a delegate who must be satisfied that each criterion is met, and who must record why they are satisfied that your reasons for travel are substantial.

The Department's own instruction is that a Bridging visa B application should be decided as soon as possible, taking into account the applicant's intended travel arrangements. Where a paper application reaches an area of the Department other than the one processing the associated substantive visa, it is scanned, emailed to the correct area and then sent on internally, and officers are told to action this as soon as practicable because the travel may be imminent. That internal routing is one reason online lodgement through ImmiAccount is usually faster.

What actually drives the timing is the quality of what you lodge. An application that names the destination, gives firm departure and return dates, explains the purpose of the trip in plain terms and attaches evidence that the reason is real can be decided on the papers. An application that says "visiting family" with nothing attached invites a request for more information, and that request is what turns a short wait into a long one.

Two practical rules follow. Do not leave Australia before the grant, because the grant cannot happen while you are outside the country, and your Bridging visa A will cease on departure. Do not lodge more than three months ahead. If your trip is genuinely urgent, say so in the application, give the reason and attach what you have, because the Department's guidance expressly contemplates deciding urgent cases on incomplete evidence where obtaining it is not feasible.

How long can you stay outside Australia on a Bridging visa B?

The travel facility period is fixed by the decision-maker when the visa is granted, and there is no provision to extend it afterwards. Read the grant letter the day it arrives and check the travel facility, because that date governs everything that follows.

Division 020.5 of Schedule 2 allows the decision-maker to do one of two things. They can specify a date until which you may travel to and enter Australia, or they can specify no date, in which case you may travel until a cessation event occurs. Departmental policy is that, unless there is a good reason in the particular case, no date should be specified. Decision-makers are also told to document their reasons if the period granted differs from the period you asked for.

Some categories attract a settled policy position. For applicants for a Subclass 804 Aged Parent visa, a Subclass 884 Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa or a Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa, policy is that the travel facility should ordinarily permit travel for at most 12 months from grant. For skilled and business applicants, including Subclass 189, Subclass 190, Subclass 887, Subclass 489, Subclass 491, Subclass 132, Subclass 188, Subclass 888, Subclass 890, Subclass 891, Subclass 892, Subclass 893 and Subclass 858, departmental policy is to support requests for a 12 month travel facility where that period is appropriate. Longer periods have been granted, for example where the applicant is caring for a terminally ill relative, is involved in legal proceedings, or has educational, business or professional obligations overseas.

Two provisions of the Migration Act 1958 then decide what happens at the edges, and both are unforgiving.

Subsection 82(5) applies if the travel facility period ends while you are outside Australia. The visa ceases. You cannot return on it, you cannot apply for a new Bridging visa B from overseas because paragraph 1302(3)(b) requires you to be in Australia, and the only route back is a new substantive visa granted while you are offshore. There is no guarantee such a visa would be granted.

Subsection 82(6) applies if the travel facility period has ended while you are in Australia. You remain lawful and the visa still permits you to stay, but it no longer permits you to travel. If you leave the country without first being granted another Bridging visa B, the visa ceases the moment you depart.

There is a further risk that sits outside your control. While you are overseas, the Administrative Review Tribunal or a court can decide your case. If the Tribunal affirms a refusal while you are away, your Bridging visa B will cease 35 days after that decision, and if you are still outside Australia at that point you cannot come back on it. The same applies 28 days after judicial review proceedings are completed. This is the single strongest reason to keep the trip short, to tell the Tribunal your travel dates and an email address that works overseas, and to have someone monitoring your matter in Australia while you are away. If your matter is at visa refusal and Administrative Review Tribunal review stage, weigh the trip against that risk before you commit to it.

What conditions apply to a Bridging visa B?

The conditions on a Bridging visa B are set by clause 020.611 of Schedule 2, they attach automatically by operation of law, and the case officer has no discretion to choose them. No other condition can be imposed. If a condition that is not listed in clause 020.611 appears on your record, it has no effect in law and you are not required to comply with it.

Three groups matter to most applicants.

Applicants for a protection visa whose application has not been finally determined get a Bridging visa B with no conditions at all, under paragraph 020.611(1)(a). If the protection visa was refused and the matter is in judicial review, condition 8101, the no work condition, is imposed only if it applied to the last visa the person held. If you are waiting on a Subclass 866 protection visa, the condition position is different from almost every other cohort, and it is worth confirming before you travel.

Applicants for a Subclass 820 Partner visa, Subclass 801 Partner visa, Subclass 804 Aged Parent visa, Subclass 884 Contributory Aged Parent (Temporary) visa or Subclass 864 Contributory Aged Parent visa also get a Bridging visa B with no conditions, under paragraph 020.611(1)(b). This is why partner visa applicants on a Bridging visa B usually have full work rights.

Everyone else carries their conditions across. Under subclause 020.611(5), whichever of conditions 8101, 8102, 8103, 8104, 8105, 8107, 8108, 8111, 8112, 8114, 8115, 8539, 8547, 8549, 8607 and 8608 were imposed on the Bridging visa A or Bridging visa B you held at the time of application must be imposed on the new Bridging visa B, and nothing else can be. So a Bridging visa B does not improve your work rights, and it does not remove a study restriction. It gives you travel and nothing more.

That point has a hard edge. There is no provision in the Bridging visa B criteria allowing the visa to be granted with no conditions because of a compelling need to work. If your bridging visa restricts work and you need that restriction lifted, the application you need is a Bridging visa A without work restrictions, not a Bridging visa B. Regulation 1.08 sets out what a compelling need to work means. People sometimes lodge a Bridging visa B hoping to fix work rights, pay the charge and get nothing they wanted.

When does a Bridging visa B end?

A Bridging visa B ends when an event happens, not on a calendar date, and for visas granted on or after 19 November 2016 the clock runs from the event itself rather than from when you are told about it.

For a Bridging visa B granted in connection with a substantive visa application, clause 020.511(1)(b) sets out the events. The visa ceases when the substantive visa is granted. It ceases 35 days after the substantive visa application is refused. It ceases 35 days after the Administrative Review Tribunal decides the review, other than a decision to send the application back to the Minister for reconsideration. It ceases 35 days after the Tribunal determines that the review application was not validly made. It ceases 35 days after you withdraw the substantive visa application or the review application, and 35 days after the substantive visa application is found to be invalid. It ceases when another bridging visa is granted in connection with the same substantive visa application, and when a substantive visa you held at the time of grant is cancelled.

For a Bridging visa B granted in connection with judicial review, clause 020.512 applies and the period is 28 days, not 35. The visa ceases 28 days after the proceedings, including any appeal, are completed, and 28 days after the judicial review application is withdrawn.

Section 82 of the Migration Act 1958 adds the general cessation events. A Bridging visa B ceases if it is cancelled, if another visa other than a special purpose visa or a maritime crew visa comes into effect, if the holder is deported, or under the travel facility rules in subsections 82(5) and 82(6) described above. Subsection 82(7A) makes the cessation immediate, at the moment the event occurs, rather than at the end of that day.

One useful consequence is worth knowing. If your Bridging visa B ceased only because another visa came into effect, you may still hold it, and under subsection 68(4) of the Migration Act 1958 it can come back into effect if that other visa ceases or is cancelled and you hold no substantive visa. Subregulation 2.21(2) treats a Bridging visa B as the most beneficial class of bridging visa a person can hold, and subregulation 2.21(3) treats a Bridging visa B with unlimited work rights as more beneficial than one with limited work rights.

Counting the days yourself is not optional. A Bridging visa B that ceases while you are in Australia leaves you unlawful, and unlawful status has consequences that reach well beyond this visa, including exclusion periods and Schedule 3 criteria on any future onshore application. Our partner visa lawyers deal with the aftermath of miscounted bridging visa periods regularly, and the fix is always harder than the original problem.

How My Migration Lawyers can help with a Bridging visa B

A Bridging visa B application is short, and that is exactly why people underestimate it. The form is eight pages. The consequence of getting it wrong is that you either do not travel, or you travel and cannot come back.

My Migration Lawyers acts for people on bridging visas across Australia, and the work on a Subclass 020 is practical rather than complicated. We check first whether you can be granted one at all, because a Bridging visa C or Bridging visa E holder cannot be, and no amount of evidence changes that. We then work out whether your reason for travel meets the substantial reasons test, and what evidence will satisfy a delegate that the reason is real and not merely important. We prepare and lodge Form 1006 with that evidence attached, ask for a travel facility period that fits your circumstances and the expected remaining processing time on your substantive visa, and set out in writing why that period is appropriate.

We also deal with the part that happens after the grant, which is where most of the damage is done. We tell you in writing which events end your visa and how the 35 day and 28 day periods are counted. We keep watch on your substantive application or your Administrative Review Tribunal matter while you are overseas, and we tell you if something happens that starts one of those clocks running while you are out of the country.

Consultations are by video, wherever you are in Australia. If you are planning travel while a visa application is on foot, request a consultation and give us your departure date. The earlier we see it, the more options you have.