Bridging Visa A While Your 482 Is Processed

A 482 bridging visa is a Bridging Visa A (subclass 010), granted free and usually automatically when a 482 is lodged in Australia by someone holding a substantive visa, and it keeps the applicant lawful from the day that visa ends until the 482 is decided. It carries the work conditions of the visa held when the 482 was lodged, including condition 8607 for a current 482 or 457 holder, and it does not allow re-entry, so travel needs a Bridging Visa B first (Migration Regulations 1994, cl 010.611; Home Affairs BVA page). The first step is to check in VEVO that the Bridging Visa A was granted, whether it is already in effect, and which conditions it carries.

When do you get a Bridging Visa A?

A Bridging Visa A keeps an onshore applicant lawful between visas. It is granted when four things line up:

1. The applicant is in Australia and holds, or has held, a substantive visa.
2. A valid 482 application made in Australia usually also counts as the application for the Bridging Visa A; the Home Affairs Bridging visa A page says “nearly all bridging visas are applied for automatically”.
3. The Bridging Visa A is granted, but it only comes into effect when the current visa ends.
4. While the current visa lasts, its own conditions apply.

When a separate BVA application is needed

The same Home Affairs page lists four cases for a separate application, which is free:

• the 482 application did not also count as a Bridging Visa A application;
• an earlier Bridging Visa A or B has ended and the person still meets the requirements;
• the holder wants a further Bridging Visa A without work restrictions;
• the person has applied for judicial review.

Can you work on it?

Yes, on the terms of the visa held when the 482 was lodged. What that means depends on the visa:

• A 457 or 482 holder lodging a new 482. The Bridging Visa A carries conditions 8107, 8501 and 8607, each where the visa held at lodgement had it (cl 010.611(3D) of the Migration Regulations 1994). Condition 8607 ties work to the occupation and sponsor of the most recent 482 granted, with breaks from sponsored work of up to 180 days at a time and 365 days in total (Sch 8, condition 8607).
• A holder of another visa (485, 500, 407 or a working holiday visa). The Bridging Visa A carries whichever work condition that visa had (cl 010.611(4)), so a student visa’s work limit continues until the 482 is granted.
• A Bridging Visa A that bars or limits work. A further Bridging Visa A that allows work is available, usually on proof of financial hardship (Home Affairs Bridging visa A page).

Can you change employer on a bridging visa?

On a 482 path, a new employer needs its own approved sponsorship and nomination. While the Bridging Visa A carries condition 8607, work for the new employer, or in a new occupation, starts only once the new 482 is granted, or, for a transfer that needs only a nomination, once that nomination is approved. How this applies turns on the visa held, the nominations lodged and the dates, so a case with a pending change of employer is one to send through the enquiry form.

Can you travel while you wait?

Yes while the current substantive visa is still in effect, because the travel is on that visa. Once the Bridging Visa A is in effect, leaving Australia ends it, and there is no return on it. To leave and come back, get a Bridging Visa B before departure (Home Affairs Bridging visa A page).

What if your 482 ends or is refused?

Five outcomes follow, each with its own clock:

• The current visa ends while the 482 is pending. The Bridging Visa A comes into effect and lasts until the decision.
• The 482 is refused. The Bridging Visa A ends 35 days after the refusal (for a Bridging Visa A granted on or after 19 November 2016).
• Review. An application to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART), which replaced the AAT on 14 October 2024, must be lodged within 28 days of being notified, with the fee of $3,727, by an applicant who is in Australia (Migration Act 1958, ss 347 and 347A). A valid review keeps the Bridging Visa A running until 35 days after the ART decides.
• No new 482 in Australia after a refusal without a substantive visa. Section 48 of the Migration Act 1958 limits later applications in Australia to the classes in reg 2.12, and the 482 is not one of them.
• No visa at all. A person left without any visa needs a Bridging Visa E to stay lawful.

Switching from another visa

Four rules decide whether a 482 can be lodged and granted in Australia:

1. Lodging in Australia needs a substantive visa or a Bridging A, B or C visa (Sch 1 item 1240(3)(d)).
2. A no-further-stay condition (8503, 8534 or 8535) blocks the grant unless it is waived, and a waiver needs a major change beyond the holder’s control, according to the Home Affairs no further stay waiver page.
3. The subsequent temporary application charge of $700 applies in some cases where the current visa was granted in Australia.
4. The applicant must have substantially complied with the conditions of the last substantive visa and any later bridging visa (cl 482.211).

Common mistakes

Six mistakes recur, and each has a rule behind it:

1. Leaving Australia while the Bridging Visa A is in effect. It ends on departure and cannot be used to return (Home Affairs Bridging visa A page). A Bridging Visa B has to be granted before leaving.
2. Assuming the bridging visa brings new work rights. It carries the old visa’s conditions, including condition 8607 for a 482 or 457 holder and a student visa’s work limit (cl 010.611(3D) and (4)).
3. Asking Home Affairs to cancel the current visa while the 482 is pending. The Home Affairs Core Skills stream page warns, under “Stay lawful”, that the applicant would then be in Australia unlawfully and not eligible for a bridging visa.
4. Lodging a 482 in Australia while holding a visa with condition 8503, 8534 or 8535. The 482 cannot be granted unless the condition is waived (Sch 8; the Home Affairs no further stay waiver page).
5. Lodging a new 482 in Australia after a refusal while holding only a bridging visa. Section 48 allows only the classes in reg 2.12, and the 482 is not one of them, so the application is not valid.
6. Missing the review deadline. The ART cannot extend the 28 days limit (s 347(5)), and the Bridging Visa A ends 35 days after the decision.

An Australian migration lawyer makes a valid onshore application more likely because they check, before a 482 is lodged in Australia, which conditions the Bridging Visa A will carry and whether a no-further-stay condition or section 48 applies, because a 482 the law does not allow the person to lodge in Australia is not a valid application and brings no bridging visa with it.

Supplementary: review rights if the 482 is refused

The applicant seeks review of an onshore 482 refusal, and the nominator seeks review of a nomination refusal. Either way, the application reaches the ART within 28 days of notification, a limit the Tribunal cannot extend (Migration Act 1958, s 347(5)). What the ART can do, the fee and the process are covered under review of a 482 decision.