Bridging visas · BVE
Bridging Visa E: the visa that makes an unlawful person lawful again
The Bridging Visa E is granted to people who are already unlawful, or about to be, and need lawful status while they arrange to leave, resolve their position, or wait for a decision. It is the least generous bridging visa, usually without work rights and always ending on departure, and it is also the most important one to apply for quickly, because the date you apply decides whether a three-year exclusion follows you out of the country. This guide covers who it is for, how to apply, the conditions, how work rights are requested, and what it does and does not let you do next.
By Keshab Chapagain, registered migration agent (MARN 1576536) since 2015 · WIDEN, Sydney · Reviewed October 2026
Keshab Chapagain · MARN 1576536 · Registered since 2015 - Subclass
- 050 (051 for some arrivals)
- For
- Unlawful non-citizens, or bridging visas ending
- Work
- Usually 8101 no work; hardship request
- Travel
- Ends on departure, no return
- Apply within
- 28 days of becoming unlawful
- Lodged
- ImmiAccount or a Department office
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If you are unlawful today, the order of the next three steps decides the next three years.
In the consultation I confirm your status on VEVO, count the days since the visa ended, tell you whether a substantive application is open to you onshore or whether the plan is to leave clean, and set out the BVE application and the work-rights request if one is arguable. The same day if the 28 days are close.
What it costs. $330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video with Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), credited in full against our professional fee if you engage WIDEN. Advice confirmed in writing after the session.
Who it is for
- A person whose visa has expired or been cancelled and who holds nothing else: the unlawful non-citizen.
- A person whose Bridging Visa A, B or C is ending, for example after a refusal, who needs time to arrange departure or to seek review or ministerial intervention.
- A person who lodged a substantive application while unlawful, where the law allowed it, and who needs lawful status while it is decided.
- A person located by the Department or Border Force and released into the community on conditions.
It is not available to a person who still holds a substantive visa; that person lodges the next visa and receives a Bridging Visa A with it. The BVE exists for the gap after the substantive visa is gone.
How to apply
Online in ImmiAccount, choosing the Bridging Visa E application, or in person at a Department office where online lodgement is not possible. There is no application charge. The application asks why you are unlawful, what you intend to do, by when, and where you will live, and it asks for a passport or other identity. A person who intends to leave is usually asked for travel bookings and granted a BVE to the departure date. A person who intends to lodge a substantive application, or has one pending, is granted a BVE tied to that. Apply before you are located; a BVE applied for voluntarily is granted on better terms than one arranged after detention.
The 28-day line
Public Interest Criterion 4014 excludes a person from most temporary visas for three years if they left Australia after being unlawful for more than 28 days. The exception is the person who became unlawful, applied for a Bridging Visa E within 28 days of the substantive visa ending, and left while it was in effect. That is the whole reason the BVE is urgent. Twenty-nine days of inaction costs three years of visitor, student and work visas. The arithmetic and the waiver are in the exclusion periods guide.
Conditions
- 8101, no work, on most grants.
- 8401, report to the Department at set times, on many grants.
- 8506, notify a change of address within two working days.
- 8510 or similar, live at a specified address, where imposed.
- Conditions requiring you to depart by a date, or to lodge something by a date, where the grant was for that purpose.
A breach of any of them is a ground for cancellation, which returns you to unlawful status and adds a cancellation to the file, with its own three-year exclusion under PIC 4013.
Work rights
The no-work condition can be lifted on a request showing financial hardship: that you cannot meet reasonable living expenses without working, with evidence of income, savings, rent and dependants. The request is made in a further BVE application. The Department weighs it against why you are unlawful and what you are waiting for; a person with a substantive application or review on foot and no means is the usual grant, a person who has been asked to depart is the usual refusal. Where work is permitted it is noted on the new grant and visible in VEVO, which is what an employer checks.
How long it lasts
A BVE is granted either to a date or until an event. Granted for departure, it ends on the date given or on departure, whichever comes first. Granted for a pending application or review, it ends a set number of days after the decision is notified, which is the window to lodge the next step or leave. It can be applied for again when it is about to end, and often is, with each grant assessed afresh. It is not a visa to settle on; the Department's expectation is that each BVE is a step toward a resolution.
What it does not do
- It does not let you return if you leave. Departure ends it.
- It does not open an onshore application that section 48 or a visa's own criteria close.
- It does not count as a substantive visa for any purpose, including Schedule 3 on a partner visa or the requirement to hold a substantive visa at the time of invitation for a skilled visa.
- It does not stop the Department deciding, cancelling or removing; it records that you are lawful while the position is resolved.
The three ways out
A person on a BVE ends up in one of three places: a substantive visa applied for and granted onshore, where one is open; a departure within the window that keeps the exclusion periods off the file, followed by an application from outside; or a review or ministerial intervention request that succeeds. Which one is realistic depends on whether there has been a refusal or cancellation, how long the person has been unlawful, and what they have to apply for. Unlawful in Australia: what now sets out the choice; the consultation applies it to your dates.
Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited
General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Bridging Visa E (subclasses 050 and 051), Migration Regulations 1994, as in force at the date above. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.
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Pick a time — no enquiry needed →Questions we get asked first
My visa expired last week. What do I apply for?
A Bridging Visa E, now. It is the only bridging visa available to a person who is already unlawful, and it restores lawful status from grant. Applying within 28 days of the substantive visa ending is what keeps a later departure clear of the three-year exclusion under PIC 4014. The application is made online in ImmiAccount, or in person at a Department office if you cannot.
Can I work on a Bridging Visa E?
Usually not at first. Most BVEs are granted with condition 8101, no work. Work rights can be requested where you can show financial hardship, and the Department decides case by case, usually granting a new BVE with the condition removed where it agrees. Working in breach of 8101 is a ground for cancellation and is read against every later application.
How long does a Bridging Visa E last?
Either for a fixed period, commonly to a date by which you are expected to depart or to lodge something, or until an event: the decision on a substantive application, the outcome of a review, or a set number of days after it. The grant notice states which. When it ends you are unlawful again unless something else has been granted.
Can I travel on a Bridging Visa E?
You can leave on it, but it ends the moment you depart and does not let you return. There is no travel version of the BVE in the way a Bridging Visa B works for a Bridging Visa A. If you leave, you apply for your next visa from outside Australia, and the exclusion periods decide which visas are open.
Does a BVE let me lodge a new visa application?
It does not, by itself. Whether you can lodge onshore depends on section 48, which bars most applications after a refusal or cancellation, and on the visa's own criteria, including Schedule 3 for partner visas. A person who simply overstayed, with no refusal or cancellation, is not barred by s48 and can apply for a substantive visa from a BVE, subject to those criteria.
What does the consultation cost?
A$330 inc. GST for 30 minutes by video with Keshab Chapagain (MARN 1576536), credited in full if you engage WIDEN. For a person who is unlawful the session is about the order of the next steps, because the order decides the exclusion period.
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