Bridging Visa A (010) vs Bridging Visa B (020) for PR Applicants Who Need to Travel (2026): Why the BVA Ends the Moment You Depart
How a Bridging Visa A (010) stops when you leave Australia, and what must be granted before you fly if your PR application is still being decided.
If you are mid-way through a permanent residency application — a Subclass 189, 190, 491 or 186, for example — and you hold a Bridging visa A (BVA) (Subclass 010), the short answer is that the BVA will not get you back into Australia. It does not support return travel, and if it is in effect when you depart, it ceases on the spot. The Department of Home Affairs' official Bridging visa A (BVA) (Subclass 010) page puts the alternative plainly: if you want to travel and return while your substantive visa application is still being processed, you must have been granted a Bridging visa B (BVB) (Subclass 020) before you leave. This reflects the August 2026 version of that page, read together with the Subclass 010 criteria in the Migration Regulations 1994 and the Department's PAM3 guidance. What follows is general information about how those rules are framed rather than advice on your own circumstances; your visa conditions and the currently published official pages remain the reference point.
Can you leave Australia on a Bridging Visa A and come back on it?
No. The BVA exists to keep you lawful while a substantive visa application is decided — the page describes what it lets you do as staying lawfully in Australia until that application is finally determined. Return travel sits outside that. The page states directly that the BVA does not support return travel to Australia, and that an in-effect BVA ceases upon departure from Australia. Leaving ends the visa; it does not pause it.
That qualification — "in effect" — is where most travellers get caught out. A BVA comes into effect at one of three points: when it is granted, if your substantive visa has ceased since you applied for the BVA or the BVA is more beneficial than your current bridging visa; when your current substantive visa ceases; or when another bridging visa that is more beneficial than your current one ceases. If you still hold a substantive visa when the BVA is granted, you must keep complying with that substantive visa's conditions, and the BVA's conditions only apply once the substantive visa ceases. So an applicant still inside a valid Subclass 482 and an applicant whose 482 has already lapsed are not in the same position at the departure gate, because the departure rule attaches to a BVA that is in effect. VEVO is the department's own record of whether a bridging visa is in effect and what conditions are attached to it.
A BVA ends immediately in four situations:
- you leave Australia while it is in effect;
- the substantive visa you applied for is granted;
- another bridging visa, such as a BVB, is granted in relation to the same substantive visa application;
- the department cancels either the BVA or the substantive visa you held when the BVA was granted.
It also cannot be extended. Staying longer means applying for a different visa.
What has to be granted before you depart?
A BVB, and it has to be granted — not merely applied for. The BVA page frames the BVB as the precondition for travelling and returning while your substantive visa application is under consideration, which means the sequencing has to be settled onshore.
| Point in the handover | Rule that applies |
|---|---|
| You hold only a BVA and it is in effect | Departure ends it immediately, and it cannot be used to return |
| Before you depart | A BVB must already have been granted in relation to the same substantive visa application |
| When the BVB is granted | The BVA ends immediately — this is the handover working as designed, not a loss of lawful status |
The BVA page does not set out how long a BVB takes to be decided, what it costs, or what travel period it allows; those sit on the official Subclass 020 page and should be read as currently published. Nothing in the bridging visa rules described here decides the PR application itself. They govern whether you are lawful in Australia and whether you can come back — two separate questions from whether the visa is granted.
Do skilled and employer-sponsored applicants face different conditions?
The conditions attached to a BVA are set under clause 010.611 and depend on your circumstances. The Department's PAM3 guidance lists a group of skilled, employer-sponsored and business subclasses — including 189, 190, 489, 887, 491, 494, 186, 187, 457, 482, 188, 888 and 132 — as ones where a BVA is granted without conditions, subject to a qualification for 457 and 482 holders: if the last visa you held carried condition 8107 or 8501, the BVA must carry the same condition. Applicants in the parent visa classes 103 and 143 are recorded as attracting condition 8501. That subclass list comes from the Department's PAM3 guidance rather than the visa listing page, so read it against the Department's current published guidance.
Where a BVA does restrict work, the visa listing page sets out a narrow route: you can apply for another BVA that lets you work, and you will usually have to demonstrate financial hardship. That route is closed if your current BVA was granted because you applied for judicial review of the substantive visa decision, or if you have applied for a protection visa. For anyone planning a trip, the practical point is to know what your BVA actually permits before you book, because it is the visa that governs you once your substantive visa has ceased.
What if you are already outside Australia when the BVA stops?
Departure does the damage at the border, not afterwards. The Department's PAM3 guidance records that a BVA which ceased on departure cannot be reactivated, and a BVA application requires you — and anyone included in it — to be in Australia both when it is submitted and when it is granted. The visa listing page presents the BVB as the way to travel and return while a substantive visa application is being processed; it does not describe a route back on a BVA that has already ceased, so any return would depend on another visa being granted for that purpose, which is a question for the official pages covering that visa.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I travel overseas on a Bridging Visa A and use it to return?
No. The Department of Home Affairs' Bridging visa A page states that the BVA does not support return travel to Australia, and that an in-effect BVA ceases upon departure. To travel and come back while your substantive visa application is being processed, a BVB must have been granted before you leave.
Do I need the BVB granted before I fly, or can I apply while I am away?
The published rule is that the BVB must have been granted before you leave Australia. The BVA page frames it as a precondition of returning while the substantive visa application is on foot, not as something to arrange after departure.
If I am granted a BVB, what happens to my BVA?
The BVA ends immediately, because the grant of another bridging visa in relation to the same substantive visa application is one of the events that ends it. That is the intended handover: the bridging visa that permits travel and return replaces the one that only keeps you lawful inside Australia, while the same PR application continues to be processed.
I still hold a valid 482 — does leaving Australia end my BVA?
The departure rule attaches to a BVA that is in effect. A BVA comes into effect when it is granted in certain circumstances, when your current substantive visa ceases, or when a more beneficial bridging visa ceases; while your substantive visa is still running, its conditions are the ones you must comply with. VEVO is the department's record of whether your BVA is in effect.
Does a BVA cost anything, and can my family be on it?
A BVA is free. If you and your family applied together for the substantive visa, you may already hold BVAs together; if you apply for a BVA separately, you can include members of the family unit who are included in your substantive visa application, and each person's application is assessed individually. Everyone included must be in Australia when the BVA application is submitted and granted.
Can I apply for a BVA from outside Australia?
No. The visa listing page requires you and anyone included in the application to be in Australia when the BVA application is submitted and when it is granted. That is why the travel sequence has to be settled before departure rather than repaired afterwards.