Bridging Visa B: Travelling While a Visa Is Processed, and on a 482 Application

A Bridging Visa B (subclass 020) lets a person who holds a Bridging Visa A or B leave Australia and return within a travel period set at grant while their visa application is decided, and it costs $575 from 1 July 2026. The applicant must be in Australia to apply and to be granted it, must have a valid application made in Australia for a visa that can be granted there, and must show substantial reasons for the trip (Migration Regulations 1994, cl 020.211, 020.212 and 020.411). Apply online in ImmiAccount no more than 3 months and no less than 2 weeks before the departure date, attaching the reason for travel and the documents that support it (Home Affairs BVB page).

What is a Bridging Visa B, and who needs one?

A Bridging Visa B is the bridging visa that allows travel. Three groups need one:

1. A Bridging Visa A or B holder whose substantive visa application, made in Australia, is still undecided, and who wants to leave and come back.
2. A refused applicant who has applied for judicial review and wants to travel.
3. A Partner visa applicant in the circumstances cl 020.212(4) and (5) describe.

It is needed because a Bridging Visa A that is in effect ends when its holder leaves Australia. How the 482 bridging visa starts, and which work conditions it carries, is explained separately.

How do you apply, and which reasons for travel are accepted?

The legal test is that the Minister is satisfied the reasons for the trip are substantial (cl 020.212(2)(d) of the Migration Regulations 1994). Home Affairs does not publish a list of accepted reasons. Its Bridging visa B page (updated 1 July 2026) asks for a reason and supporting documents that explain why you need to depart and return.

Three rules shape the application:

• include only family members who have their own substantial reason to travel;
• since 1 August 2022, bridging visa applications are made online, in ImmiAccount or by webform;
• a substantive application made on paper, or one under review, uses the webform with Form 1006 (Home Affairs, online bridging visa applications).

What does a Bridging Visa B cost, and how long does it take?

A Bridging Visa B costs $575 from 1 July 2026; it was $190 from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The new charge was set by the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026, item 65, which amended Sch 1 item 1302. One charge covers the family members in the application. Holders of an eligible Pacific Island or Timor-Leste passport pay $195, and any overpayment is refunded.

Home Affairs says “There are no processing times available for this visa”, and it asks for the application at least 2 weeks before travel, warning that a late application risks no grant before the departure date. Its online forms page also lists a separate form to submit an urgent Bridging Visa B application online.

How long can you travel for?

The travel period is set in the grant, for one trip or several, up to a specified date (cl 020.511(1)(c)). Home Affairs publishes no standard length. The 3 months in its guidance is the earliest time to apply before travel, not the length of the visa. Once the travel period has ended, another trip needs a new Bridging Visa B, and a holder who is outside Australia when it ends loses the Bridging Visa B.

What if your visa is decided while you are away?

Three outcomes are possible:

1. Granted. The new visa takes over. A visa that can only be granted in Australia needs the applicant to be in Australia at the decision, which Home Affairs warns about when it explains the timing of the application.
2. Refused. The Bridging Visa B lets the holder stay in, and re-enter, Australia only until 35 days after the refusal (cl 020.511(1)(b)(ii) and (c)).
3. Review. An onshore refusal can only be taken to the Administrative Review Tribunal by an applicant who is physically in Australia, within 28 days of notification (Migration Act 1958, ss 347(3) and 347A(2)).

If a bridging visa ends in Australia and no other visa is held, the status-resolution visa is the BVE visa.

On a 482 application: travelling while the 482 is processed

A 482 applicant’s travel follows four rules:

• While the current substantive visa is in effect, for example a 482 held until its expiry date, the holder travels on that visa. The Bridging Visa B matters once the Bridging Visa A has come into effect.
• A 482 can be granted in or outside Australia, according to the Home Affairs Core Skills stream page, so a trip does not by itself stop a grant.
• The work conditions travel with it. A Bridging Visa B granted with a 482 application made by a 457 or 482 holder carries conditions 8107, 8501 and 8607 from that visa (cl 020.611(4B)), so the sponsor and occupation limits continue.
• Time outside Australia does not extend a 482 (Home Affairs Core Skills stream page), and a current 482 holder’s sponsor obligations and condition 8607 continue while they travel.

A migration lawyer makes a safe return more likely because they time a Bridging Visa B against the 482 itself: the reason for travel has to satisfy the “substantial reasons” test, the grant has to arrive while the applicant is still in Australia, and a refusal decided during the trip starts a 35 days clock that can end the right to return.

Supplementary: the 186 step while on a bridging visa

The 186 Temporary Residence Transition stream accepts an applicant who holds a bridging visa granted on a 457, 482, 186 or 187 application (Home Affairs TRT page), so a pending 482 and a Bridging Visa B do not close the permanent-residence step. The nomination, the timing and the cost of that step are set out under 482 visa to 186 visa requirements.