Your visa is ending.The bridging visa decideswhether you stay lawfulor become unlawful.
A bridging visa keeps you lawful in Australia between one visa and the next, or while you arrange to leave. Which one you hold decides whether you can work, whether you can travel, and what a refusal does to you. The four that matter are A, B, C and E, and the wrong one, or none at all, is where people lose years.
Government charges, bridging visas
- Bridging visa Agranted with most valid onshore applications$0
- Bridging visa Bto travel and return, each grant$575
- Bridging visas C and Eapplied for directlyno charge
As at 1 July 2026. Work rights and travel differ by subclass, see the table below. Our professional fee is fixed and quoted in writing.
A visa that keeps you lawful while something else is decided.
A bridging visa is a temporary visa granted while an application lodged in Australia is processed, while a review or ministerial request is pending, or while a person arranges to leave. Bridging visa A is granted free with most valid onshore applications and usually allows work, bridging visa B costs $575 and lets an A holder travel and return, and bridging visas C and E cover people who no longer hold a substantive visa, usually without work rights.
Verified as at 1 July 2026 against the Department of Home Affairs bridging visa pages and Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations 1994, subclasses 010, 020, 030 and 050.
Am I lawful? A 30-second check
Answer the questions to see where you stand.
A guide only, not legal advice. The consultation is where the real answer comes from.
Four bridging visas, four different sets of rights.
The subclass depends on what you held when you applied and why you need to stay. The letter of grant lists your conditions; read it before you work or book a flight.
| Visa | When it is granted | Work | Travel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridging A, subclass 010 | You apply in Australia for a substantive visa while holding one. It starts when the old visa ends. | Usually the conditions of the visa you held, or full rights for partner and some other applications | None. Leaving Australia ends it |
| Bridging B, subclass 020 | You hold a bridging A or B and need to travel. Apply before leaving, $575 each time. | Same as your bridging A | Return within the travel period, usually up to three months |
| Bridging C, subclass 030 | You apply in Australia without holding a substantive visa, for example after your visa expired. | None unless granted on financial hardship | None. Leaving ends it and a three-year exclusion can follow |
| Bridging E, subclass 050 | You are unlawful, your visa was cancelled, or you are awaiting a review, a ministerial request or departure. | None unless granted for a compelling need to work | None. Leaving means you cannot return on it |
Bridging visa D, subclass 040, also exists for people who cannot lodge a valid application within a few days. Charges as at 1 July 2026.
Whether you can work depends on which bridging visa and why you hold it.
Working without permission is a ground for cancellation and follows you into every later application. Check the conditions before the first shift.
- 01
Bridging visa A inherits your conditions
A bridging A usually carries the work conditions of the visa you held when you applied. Partner visa applicants and many skilled applicants receive full work rights. If your conditions are restrictive, you can apply for a new bridging A with work rights by showing financial hardship.
- 02
Bridging visa B matches your A
The B is a travel permission, not a new set of rights. Whatever work you could do on the A continues on the B, and continues when you return.
- 03
Bridging visa C starts with no work rights
Because you applied without a substantive visa, the C is granted without permission to work. You can apply for a further C with work rights on evidence of financial hardship.
- 04
Bridging visa E and a compelling need to work
The E is granted so you can leave or wait for a decision. Work rights are added only where you show a compelling need, for example a review at the Administrative Review Tribunal that will take time and no other means of support.
What to do in the last weeks of a visa.
Lawful status is lost by inaction, not by a decision. These are the steps in order.
Check the conditions on the current visa
Condition 8503 blocks almost every onshore application. A waiver can be requested on Form 1447 for compelling and compassionate circumstances that arose after grant and were beyond your control. The waiver comes first, then the application, all before expiry.
Lodge a valid application before expiry
A valid application brings a bridging A automatically. It takes effect the day your visa ends. An invalid application brings nothing, and you become unlawful on the expiry date without knowing it.
If the visa has already expired, apply for a bridging E now
Apply to the Department at once. The 28-day rule matters: leaving Australia within 28 days of your visa ending avoids the three-year exclusion in public interest criterion 4014, and some onshore visas can only be lodged within 28 days of losing status.
After a refusal, mind section 48
A refusal while you are in Australia bars most further onshore applications. The exceptions include the partner visa, protection, bridging visas and, since November 2021, the 190, 491 and 494. A review lodged in time keeps your bridging A alive.
There is no 180-day bridging visa rule. Here is what people mean.
Clients ask about a 180-day rule every week. The Migration Act has no such rule for bridging visas. Three real rules sit behind the question.
Visitor visas and condition 8503- 01
The six-month visitor stay
Visitor visas allow up to three, six or twelve months per entry, and 180 days is a six-month stay period. To stay beyond it you must lodge another application before the stay period ends. If the visa carries condition 8503, no valid onshore application is possible and no bridging A arises.
- 02
Condition 8503, no further stay
An application lodged in Australia while 8503 applies is invalid. The Department can waive the condition for compelling and compassionate circumstances beyond your control that developed after grant, such as a serious illness. The waiver request goes in before the visa expires, and the application follows only once it is granted.
- 03
The 28-day rule
This is the rule with teeth. Once you are unlawful, or holding a bridging C or E granted more than 28 days after your visa ended, leaving Australia brings a three-year exclusion from most temporary visas unless compelling circumstances apply. Acting inside 28 days protects your future applications.
- 04
Reviews and the 35-day window
A bridging A continues while a review is pending, but only if the review application is lodged in time. Without a review it ends 35 days after the refusal is notified. After a Tribunal decision the same 35 days apply.
What bridging visas and the application behind them cost.
Bridging visas A, C and E carry no charge. The cost sits in the bridging visa B for travel and in the substantive application that creates the bridging visa.
As at 1 July 2026. The subsequent temporary application charge of $700 applies to some onshore temporary applications and is not included above.
Bridging visas, answered plainly.
Is there a 180-day rule for bridging visas?
No. People usually mean one of three things: a six-month visitor stay period, condition 8503 which stops onshore applications, or the 28-day rule after a visa ends. Each has a different answer, and none of them is a bridging visa rule.
Can I travel on a bridging visa A?
No. If you leave Australia on a bridging A it ends and you cannot return on it. Apply for a bridging visa B at $575 before you go, with the reason for the trip and your dates. It is usually granted for up to three months, and you must be back before it expires.
How long does a bridging visa last?
Until the application, review or departure it supports is finished. A bridging A ends 35 days after a refusal is notified unless a review is lodged in time, and 35 days after the Tribunal decision if it is. A bridging E is usually granted for a set period and renewed.
Can I work on a bridging visa E?
Not unless the grant says so. Work rights on an E are given where you show a compelling need to work, usually financial hardship while a review or request is pending. Working without them can lead to cancellation and affects later applications.
What happens if my visa expires and I do nothing?
You become an unlawful non-citizen. You can be detained and removed, you lose access to most onshore visas, and leaving after 28 days brings a three-year exclusion from most temporary visas. A bridging E application on the first day fixes most of that.
Can I apply for another visa in Australia after a refusal?
Section 48 bars most onshore applications after an onshore refusal or cancellation. The exceptions include the partner visa, protection, bridging visas and the 190, 491 and 494 since November 2021. A review at the Administrative Review Tribunal is often the better route, and it keeps the bridging A alive.
My visa was cancelled. What now?
Apply for a bridging visa E immediately so you are lawful, then check the review deadline on the notice. Cancellation deadlines are shorter than refusal deadlines, sometimes a matter of days. Send us the letter the day you receive it.
Where this visa connects.
- ReviewOpen
Refusals and review
Deadlines, the Administrative Review Tribunal and section 48.
- PartnerOpen
Partner visa
Full work rights on the bridging visa while the 820 is decided.
- 600Open
Visitor visa
Stay periods, condition 8503 and applying onshore.
- 500Open
Student visa
Applying onshore and the visas that cannot.
Visa ending, expired or cancelled?
Send us the grant letter today. One consultation tells you which bridging visa you hold or need, your work and travel position, and a fixed fee for the next step.