Visa Summary
What Can You Do With This Visa ?
- With this visa, you can stay lawfully in Australia until Department of Home Affairs (DHA) makes a decision on your substantive visa application.
How long you can stay
A BVC will end immediately if:
- you leave Australia while your BVC is in effect
- you are granted the substantive visa you applied for
- you are granted another bridging visa in relation to the same substantive visa application that this BVC is associated with, or
- DHA cancels either your BVC or the substantive visa that you held when you were granted the BVC
Other Conditions
Other conditions apply to BVC applications depending on when they were granted
BVC Granted on or After 19 November 2016
Your BVC Will End 35 Calendar Days After:
- DHA’s decision or a decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) in relation to your associated substantive visa application
- a determination that your substantive visa application or an application for review by the AAT is invalid
- you withdraw your substantive visa application or application for review by the AAT
You BVC Will End 28 Calendar Days After:
- a judicial review body upholds the decision to refuse your substantive visa application
- you withdraw a related judicial review application
BVC Granted Before 19 November 2016
Your BVC will end 28 days after the date that 1 of the following happens:
- DHA notifies you that your substantive visa application is not valid
- DHA notifies you that your substantive visa application has been refused
- DHA receives your written request to withdraw your substantive visa application
- a merits review tribunal notifies you that it has upheld the department’s decision to refuse your substantive visa application
- a merit review tribunal notifies you that it has no jurisdiction to consider your application for review
- a merits review tribunal or a judicial review body receives your written request to withdraw your application for merits or judicial review
- a judicial review body upholds the decision to refuse your substantive visa application
Stay Longer
Location
Your Obligations
- comply with all Australian laws
- comply with the conditions of the current substantive visa, while you are waiting for the decision on your new substantive visa application
- comply with the conditions of your Bridging visa C (BVC) when it comes into effect
See the conditions that will and might be applied to a BVC.
Work Rights
The initial BVC granted when you applied for your substantive visa will not let you work, unless the substantive visa you have applied for is one of the following SkillSelect visas:
- Business Talent visa (subclass 132)
- Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional) visa (subclass 188)
- Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent) visa (subclass 888)
- Employer Nomination Scheme visa (subclass 186)
- Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa (subclass 187)
- Skilled — Independent visa (subclass 189)
- Skilled — Nominated visa (subclass 190)
- Skilled — Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489).
If you need to work, but your BVC does not let you work in Australia, you will need to apply for another BVC that lets you work. To be considered for a BVC that lets you work, you will need to demonstrate that you are experiencing financial hardship.
Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will assess your situation in relation to your claim that you need to work. If you do not meet the requirements for work but you are still eligible for a BVC, DHA will grant you a new BVC with the same conditions re-imposed.
Judicial review
if a merits review tribunal upholds department’s decision to refuse your substantive visa application, you may apply for judicial review. You will need a separate bridging visa to maintain your lawful status during the judicial review proceedings.
If you are a Protection visa applicant and you apply for a BVC for judicial review, Department of Home Affairs (DHA) can only grant new BVC that allows you to work if the last BVC you held allowed you to work.
If you are a SkillSelect visa applicant and you apply for a BVC for judicial review, Department of Home Affairs (DHA) might grant you a new BVC that allows you to work.
If you are not a Protection or SkillSelect visa applicant and you apply for a BVC for judicial review you will only be granted a new BVC that does not allow you to work, even if your last BVC allowed you to work
Travel Rights
A BVC lets you temporarily stay in Australia. It will usually end when you leave Australia.
DHA recommends that you do not leave Australia until we decide on your substantive visa application, because as a BVC holder, we cannot grant you a Bridging visa B (BVB) that allows you to leave and return to Australia.
If you have an urgent need to travel outside Australia, contact your case officer to discuss your options.
If you leave Australia and you do not hold another visa that allows you to return, you will have to apply for and be granted a substantive visa before you can return to Australia. There is no guarantee that you will be granted a visa
In order to be granted this visa, you may need to satisfy certain requirements, which may include
- When you lodged your application for a substantive visa, you must not have held a substantive visa
- You must not hold a Bridging visa E (BVE) and you must not have held a BVE since you last held a substantive visa.
- You must meet health requirements
- You must meet character requirements
- You may not be eligible if your previous visa was cancelled or refused
Our experience counsellors can advise you about the eligibility of your proposed visa and create a strategy to gain the best possible outcome.