You can stay in Australia lawfully while you finalise your immigration matter or make arrangements to leave Australia.

There are two types of BVEs:

• Bridging (General) visa (subclass 050) – generally if you are currently unlawful, the holder of a BVE 050 or the holder of a BVD 041
• Bridging (Protection Visa Applicant) visa (subclass 051) – used in limited situations to allow certain eligible non-citizens (as specified by the Regulations) to remain lawfully in Australia while their protection visa application is being finalised

You can stay in Australia if: 

• you are making arrangements to leave Australia
• you are applying for a substantive visa
• you are seeking merits or judicial review of a visa decision or citizenship decision
• you are seeking ministerial intervention

You must be an unlawful non-citizen, the holder of a BVE (subclass 050) or the holder of a Bridging D visa (BVD) (subclass 041) when you apply for this visa.

Working in Australia while you hold a BVE

Your grant letter will tell you if you are allowed to work. If you work when you are not allowed to, we can cancel your BVE and detain you. You could also be removed from Australia.

If you are not allowed to work, there are only some situations where you might be able to apply for a new BVE that does allow you to work. For example, you might be in financial hardship if you cannot pay for the reasonable cost of your living expenses.

We will assess your situation to see if you meet the requirements. If you do not meet the requirements we will not grant you a new BVE that allows you to work.

There are different requirements, depending on whether you have applied for judicial review or ministerial intervention. There are also special rules for when protection visa applicants are allowed to work.

This visa is valid until a specified date, or for a particular time period, or a specified event happens.

Your BVE will also end if:

• you leave Australia
• we grant you a substantive visa
• your BVE is cancelled

You cannot stay in Australia longer by extending this visa. If you are unable depart Australia or resolve your immigration matter by a specified time or event, you will need to apply for a new BVE or explore other visa options.

You and anyone included in your application must be in Australia when the BVE application is lodged and  in order to be granted the BVE, you and anyone else included in your application will need to be in Australia when the decision is made.

Processing times are unavailable for this visa.

Your application can take longer to process if:

• you do not fill it in correctly
• you do not include all the documents we need or we need more information from you
• it takes us time to verify your information

You and anyone included in your application must:

• comply with all Australian laws
• be in Australia when the application is lodged and granted

A BVE allows you to stay in Australia lawfully for a short time. It will end immediately if you leave Australia. You will not be able to return unless you have another substantive visa.

A substantive visa is any visa that is not a bridging visa or a criminal justice visa or an enforcement visa.

We will digitally link your visa to your passport. You will not get a label in your passport.