On a BVA? You Must Get a BVB Before You Go Home for the Holidays.

The holiday season is fast approaching and many of you will be on Bridging visa A’s (BVA) while you wait for your onshore visa applications to be processed. If you need to travel outside Australia and you’re on a BVA, you must apply and be granted a BVB before you leave otherwise you will not be able to return, except perhaps on a tourist visa – and we all know that’s messy because you won’t have work rights and sometimes the Department of Home Affairs will refuse an application for a tourist visa.

Recently, one of our clients left Australia without waiting for their BVB to be granted. Currently he’s stuck outside of the country and an application for a tourist visa has been refused, so there’s no guarantee that this pathway will work.

In other words, you can only be certain of returning hassle free if you apply for a BVB a couple of weeks before you leave.

Please note that you will also need to apply for a BVB prior to leaving if you have applied for another visa and your current visa expires while you’re away. 

Are you eligible for a BVB?

You can apply for a BVB if you meet all of the following criteria:

• You are in Australia
• You already hold a BVA or a BVB
• You have applied in Australia for a visa that can be granted whilst you are in Australia

I am often asked whether you need a “substantial” reason for travelling when applying for a BVB (it’s on the form). The answer is “not usually”. Provided you have a valid reason for travelling e.g. to visit family, return home for a wedding, visit an ailing relative or friend etc, you will be granted a BVB. Those of you that have pending appeals at the MRT may find it a little a harder, but family reasons are generally adequate.

If you have any concerns about applying or which reasons for travel are appropriate, you may need to consider engaging us to lodge the application on your behalf as we’re used to dealing and communicating with the Dept with respect to these and other applications.

Applying for a BVB

You can complete the application form yourself and lodge it in person at your nearest friendly Department of Home Affairs. If you try to lodge your application in Sydney, we’re hearing that you are told to leave it there and they will get back to you in 2 weeks.

If we have lodged a visa application for you online, we are able to lodge a BVB application for you via our Immiaccount (the online lodgement portal). The visa application charge is $140.00

We’d also be delighted to prepare and lodge a paper application for you if necessary, and there is a nominal professional fee for this service.

If you’d like to engage us to lodge your BVB application, please contact us at least 2 weeks before you travel on 1300 887 818.

Please note that those of you on currently Bridging Visa C’s cannot apply for a BVB. Sad but true.