A bridging visa E is the visa that lets you stay in Australia while something else is worked out. Getting one does not decide your case, and on its own it does not mean you are being removed. Of the nine routes into a bridging visa E in the Regulations, only one is about leaving the country. The other eight are about applications, reviews and requests that are still running.
This article is about what a bridging visa E actually permits. Where it sits among the bridging visas A, B, C and D, and the two rules that confuse everybody — when a bridging visa comes into effect, and what happens when you leave Australia — are on our bridging visas page.
Verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 288 (F2026C00667, in force 1 July 2026), Schedules 1, 2 and 8.
There is no charge for a bridging visa E
Schedule 1, item 1305 (Bridging E (Class WE)) sets the first instalment base application charge at nil, the additional applicant charge at nil for applicants aged 18 and over and for applicants under 18, and states that the second instalment, payable before grant of the visa, is nil. A bridging visa E carries no visa application charge. Nobody should be asking you for a government fee to lodge one. Charges for the other bridging visas are on the bridging visas page.
Two subclasses sit under one label
"Bridging visa E" is a class — Bridging E (Class WE), authorised by section 37 of the Migration Act — and two different subclasses sit inside it.
| Subclass | Its full name | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 050 | Bridging (General) | The general bridging visa E, for people who do not hold a substantive visa. Almost everything below is about this one |
| 051 | Bridging (Protection Visa Applicant) | A narrow group of protection visa applicants. See the next section |
The 051 is not a general fallback
The 051 is a different visa, for protection visa applicants who fall inside a narrow set of criteria. If your grant notice says 050, you can skip this part.
Clause 051.211 requires the applicant to be an eligible non-citizen under subregulation 2.20(7), (8), (9), (10) or (11). All five of those limbs start from the same two requirements.
First, how the person arrived. They must either have been refused immigration clearance, or have bypassed immigration clearance and then come to the notice of Immigration as an unlawful non-citizen within 45 days of entering Australia. Immigration clearance is the border check on arrival. Under section 172 of the Migration Act, you are immigration cleared once you have passed that check and been allowed to leave it.
Second, a protection visa matter must still be running. Either the protection visa application is not finally determined, or judicial review of a protection visa refusal is running, or the Minister has applied for judicial review. "Finally determined" has a precise meaning. Section 11A of the Migration Act says an application is finally determined when the decision is no longer subject to any form of review by application to the ART under Part 5, or when the time to apply for that review has ended without an application being made. Note that this is about ART review, not judicial review. Judicial review can still be on foot after an application is finally determined — which is why the limb lists the two separately.
On top of those two requirements, one of these five must apply:
| Subregulation | Who it reaches |
|---|---|
| 2.20(7) | A person who has not turned 18. A State or Territory child welfare authority must have certified that release from detention is in their best interests, and the Minister must be satisfied about the care arrangements |
| 2.20(8) | A person who has turned 75, where the Minister is satisfied adequate support arrangements have been made |
| 2.20(9) | A person with a special need based on health, or on previous experience of torture or trauma. The need must be certified by a medical specialist appointed by Immigration |
| 2.20(10) | The spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, who nominates them |
| 2.20(11) | A member of the family unit of a person in 2.20(10) |
And clause 051.212 requires a signed undertaking, acceptable to the Minister, to depart Australia or present for removal if the protection visa application is withdrawn, or is finally determined and refused.
The two subclasses are built to be mutually exclusive. Clause 050.211(2) says a subclass 050 applicant must not be an eligible non-citizen of the kinds in subregulation 2.20(7) to (11) and (17) to (19) — so the very limbs that qualify someone for a 051 are what puts them outside the 050. They are not two options to choose between. Regulation 2.20 is headed "Eligible non-citizen (Act, s 72)". Your grant notice states which subclass you hold.
Who a subclass 050 is for
Clause 050.211 sets two requirements at the time of application. First, the applicant is "(a) an unlawful non-citizen; or (b) the holder of a Bridging E (Class WE) visa; or (c) the holder of a Subclass 041 (Bridging (Non-applicant)) visa". Second, the applicant "is not an eligible non-citizen of the kind set out in subregulation 2.20(7), (8), (9), (10), (11), (17), (18) or (19)".
The nine ways in — and only one of them is about leaving
Clause 050.212(1) requires the applicant to meet the requirements of one of nine subclauses. Each one is a different situation a person can be in. You need to fit only one. These are them, in the words of the clause:
| Clause | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 050.212(2) | The Minister is satisfied the applicant "is making, or is the subject of, acceptable arrangements to depart Australia" |
| 050.212(3) | A valid onshore application for a substantive visa has been made and is "not finally determined" — still open, in the section 11A sense set out above — or the Minister is satisfied the applicant will make one "within a period allowed by the Minister for the purpose" |
| 050.212(3A) | That application was refused and judicial review proceedings are running |
| 050.212(4) | Judicial review of another kind of decision; merits review of a cancellation; an application under section 137K of the Act to revoke a cancellation; merits review of a decision under section 137L not to revoke |
| 050.212(4AAA) | Proceedings for a declaration that the Act does not apply, or review of a decision under the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 |
| 050.212(5B) | A request to the Minister under section 48B of the Act about the protection visa bar |
| 050.212(6) | A request to the Minister to substitute a more favourable decision under section 351 of the Act |
| 050.212(7) | The applicant is in criminal detention and no criminal justice stay certificate or warrant is in force |
| 050.212(8) | The applicant holds a bridging visa E subject to condition 8101 and "the Minister is satisfied that the applicant has a compelling need to work" |
| 050.212(9) | A Partner (Migrant) (Class BC) application was refused and judicial review is running |
Two things are worth pausing on.
The departure limb says "is making, or is the subject of, acceptable arrangements to depart Australia". Those are two different situations, and the clause covers both.
The section 48B limb (5B) and the Ministerial Intervention limb (6) each carry the same extra requirement: the applicant "has not previously sought, or been the subject of a request by another person for" the other kind of intervention, or for the same one. That is a one-shot structure, and it is one of the reasons the order in which requests are made matters.
What the visa permits, and what it does not
Every clause in Division 050.5 grants a visa "permitting the holder to remain in Australia until" a stated event. That is the whole of what a bridging visa E does. It permits you to remain. It does not permit you to leave and return — the rule about leaving, and why the bridging visa B exists, is on the bridging visas page.
It also does not decide the thing it is attached to. When the application, review, request or arrangement ends, the bridging visa ends with it. That is not a side effect; it is how Division 050.5 is written.
How long it lasts, and what ends it
There is no single answer, because the period comes from the clause that matches how you got the visa.
| If the bridging visa E is bridging… | It permits you to remain until… | Clause |
|---|---|---|
| A substantive visa application that is granted | the grant of that visa | 050.511 |
| A substantive visa application that is refused | 35 days after the Minister makes the decision | 050.511(1)(b)(ii) |
| The same refusal, where subclause 050.511(1A) applies | the time the Minister makes the decision — there is no 35 days | 050.511(1)(b)(iiaa) |
| A merits review decision by the ART | 35 days after the ART makes the decision | 050.511(1)(b)(iii), or 050.513(1)(aa) where the bridge is attached to the merits review application |
| Judicial review | 28 days after the proceedings, including any appeal, are completed | 050.512 |
| You withdraw the substantive visa application, or an application to the ART | 35 days after the withdrawal | 050.511(1)(b)(iv) |
| You withdraw an application for merits review | 35 days after the withdrawal | 050.513(1)(c) |
| You withdraw an application for judicial review | 28 days after the withdrawal | 050.512(b)(iii) |
| Any other case | a visa "coming into effect on grant and ceasing on a date specified by the Minister for the purpose" | 050.517 |
Four practical points, and the first two matter most.
The 35 days is not guaranteed. Subclause 050.511(1A) is the exception, and it applies where a criterion for the grant of the substantive visa was public interest criterion 4003 and the person did not satisfy paragraph (b) of that criterion, or where the criterion was public interest criterion 4003A and the person did not satisfy it. Where 050.511(1A) applies, subparagraph 050.511(1)(b)(iiaa) ends the bridging visa at the moment the decision is made. Which criteria applied to your application is a question about your own case, and the refusal letter is where it is answered.
Withdrawing is where the numbers split. Withdraw the substantive visa application, an application to the ART, or a merits review application, and it is 35 days. Withdraw a judicial review application and it is 28 days. That is a week less, from a different clause, and it is an easy thing to get wrong.
The clock does not stop for an argument about the decision. Subclause 050.511(2) says the 35-day periods run "despite any failure to comply with the requirements of the Act or these Regulations in relation to the decision" and "irrespective of the validity of the decision". Clause 050.513 carries the same wording for merits review cases. In plain terms, the period runs from the decision as made.
Two carve-outs and a residual case. Clause 050.511(1) does not apply to a visa granted to a person to whom subclause 050.222(3) applies, or to a visa granted under regulation 2.24A. And in the residual case at 050.517, which includes most departure arrangements, the end date is one the Department sets — so the date on your grant notice is the only date that tells you anything.
Your conditions are on your grant notice, not on this page
This is the part most articles get wrong, and it is the single most useful thing to understand about a bridging visa E.
There is no fixed condition set. Division 050.6 sets the conditions separately for each route in, and the clauses do not all work the same way:
| Clause | How it works |
|---|---|
| 050.611 | Where the holder held a bridging visa E when the substantive application was made, the new visa takes "whichever of conditions … apply to that bridging visa" — the conditions carry across |
| 050.612A(2) | "Condition 8101 must be imposed" — mandatory. Subclause (3) then lists further conditions that "may be imposed" on top |
| 050.617(1) | "In any other case—any 1 or more of conditions … may be imposed" |
"May be imposed" means a decision maker chooses. Two people can hold the same subclass 050 with different conditions on it. So the honest answer to "what does a bridging visa E let me do" is: read your own grant notice. Take the condition numbers off it one at a time and look each one up in Schedule 8 of the Regulations, which is headed "Visa conditions (subregulations 2.05(1) and (2))" and is where every condition number is defined. If you cannot find the grant notice, the Department's VEVO service shows the conditions recorded against your visa.
The four conditions a bridging visa E most often carries
Each one is quoted from Schedule 8 as it currently stands.
| Condition | What Schedule 8 says | What that means day to day |
|---|---|---|
| 8101 | "The holder must not engage in work in Australia." | That one sentence is the whole condition. There is no exception inside it — no small number of hours, no unpaid exception written into 8101 itself |
| 8201 | "(1) While in Australia, the holder must not engage, for more than 3 months, in any studies or training." Subclause (2) sets out a table of excepted visas | A three-month limit on study or training by the holder of that visa. Every family member's visa carries its own conditions; a child's study position depends on the conditions on the child's own visa, not on yours |
| 8401 | "The holder must report: (a) at the time or times; and (b) at a place or in a manner; specified, orally or in writing, by the Minister from time to time." | The condition sets no frequency. Monthly, fortnightly, by phone, in person — all of that comes from what you were told or sent, not from the condition. Keep the notice that set it |
| 8506 | "The holder must notify Immigration at least 2 working days in advance of any change in the holder's address." | In advance, and at least two working days in advance. Telling the Department after you have moved is not what the condition asks for |
One warning about reporting, because it is easy to get wrong. Schedule 8 carries a note under condition 8401 pointing at regulation 2.25AF, which can suspend a reporting condition. Regulation 2.25AF is headed "Suspension of certain visa conditions", and it applies where a person holds a Subclass 070 (Bridging (Removal Pending)) visa. It is a subclass 070 mechanism. It does not suspend reporting on a bridging visa E. If you are on a bridging visa E, treat every reporting date as live until the Department tells you otherwise in writing.
Schedule 8 also carries its own note pointing to sections 41 and 116 to 119 of the Migration Act for what follows a breach. Those are the provisions dealing with conditions and with cancellation. We are not going to tell you what would happen in your case, because that turns on facts we have not seen — but in our experience 8401 and 8506 are the two that get breached by accident, by people who were never told a date had been set for them or who moved house in a hurry. Neither is a small thing.
Work
Work rights on a bridging visa E are not automatic. Where a bridging visa E "is subject to condition 8101", clause 050.212(8) is the route: a further bridging visa E can be applied for, and one of the requirements is that "the Minister is satisfied that the applicant has a compelling need to work". For a person who applied for a protection visa there is an extra requirement — either "the reasons for the delay in making the application for a protection visa are acceptable to the Minister", or the applicant is in a class specified by the Minister in writing.
So it is a fresh application, decided on a test, not a form you tick. How work rights differ across the bridging visas is compared on the bridging visas page.
Travel
A bridging visa E permits you to remain in Australia. Division 050.5 grants nothing else — there is no travel facility anywhere in the subclass. The general rule about leaving Australia on a bridging visa, and the one bridging visa that carries a travel facility, are on the bridging visas page.
What a bridging visa E is actually holding open
A bridging visa E is a holding position. What matters is what it is holding open, and in practice that is one of three things:
- A further application. What a person who is barred may still lodge onshore is set out in section 48 and Schedule 3: what you can still lodge, and what triggers the bar in the first place is in the section 48 bar explained.
- A request to the Minister. Clause 050.212(6) is the limb for a section 351 request. How that process works is in our Ministerial Intervention guide.
- A planned departure. Clause 050.212(2) is the departure limb, and leaving in order to apply from outside Australia is a real strategy rather than a concession — see leaving Australia to apply offshore.
The bridging visa itself is not the answer to a section 48 bar or to Schedule 3. Those are separate questions with their own pages above.
Frequently asked questions
Does a bridging visa E mean I am being deported? Not by itself. Departure arrangements are one of the nine limbs in clause 050.212. The other eight are pending applications, reviews and requests. Which limb your visa was granted under is a question about your own grant, not about the subclass.
Can I work on a bridging visa E? Only if condition 8101 is not on your visa. If it is, 8101 says "The holder must not engage in work in Australia", and the route to change that is a further bridging visa E application under clause 050.212(8).
I have to report to the Department. What if I miss a date? Condition 8401 requires you to report at the times and in the manner the Minister specifies. The date came from a notice, not from the condition, so the notice is the document to find. The suspension in regulation 2.25AF applies to a subclass 070 visa, not to a bridging visa E, so do not assume your reporting pauses. Schedule 8's note points to sections 41 and 116 to 119 of the Act for breach. If a date has passed or is about to, get advice before it becomes a second problem.
How long does a bridging visa E last? It depends on which clause in Division 050.5 applies to you. Commonly it is 35 days after a refusal, an ART decision, or the withdrawal of a substantive visa or merits review application; 28 days where judicial review is involved, whether the proceedings are completed or the application is withdrawn; or a date the Department specifies. Where subclause 050.511(1A) applies there is no 35 days at all. The date on your grant notice governs.
Can I leave Australia on a bridging visa E and come back? The visa permits you to remain in Australia. There is no travel facility in the subclass.
What is the difference between the 050 and the 051? The 050 is "Bridging (General)". The 051 is "Bridging (Protection Visa Applicant)", and it is narrow: the applicant must be an eligible non-citizen under one of subregulations 2.20(7) to (11) — a person under 18 released from detention on a child welfare certificate, a person who has turned 75, a person with a certified special need based on health or torture or trauma, or the partner or family unit member of an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen who nominates them — and must have signed an undertaking to depart or present for removal if the protection visa application fails. The two do not overlap: the limbs that qualify someone for a 051 are what puts them outside the 050.
Get the status question settled before a date passes
The two things that go wrong on a bridging visa E are a condition breached by someone who never read their grant notice, and a 28- or 35-day window that closed while the next step was still being decided. Both are avoidable, and both are easier to deal with before they happen than afterwards.
Migration Vision advises on status and bridging strategy for clients across Australia and offshore. Nobody can promise an outcome — what can be done is to establish exactly which clause your visa was granted under, what it permits, when it ends, and what has to happen before then. If your matter involves a bar, a refusal or a request to the Minister, start at complex cases.
Reviewed by Dr Asad Muhammad Khan, Registered Migration Agent, MARN 2619525. Last reviewed 16 September 2026 — Subclass 050 and 051 criteria, periods and conditions, the Schedule 8 conditions quoted above, regulations 2.20 and 2.25AF, and the Schedule 1 item 1305 charge verified against the Migration Regulations 1994, Compilation No. 288 (F2026C00667, in force 1 July 2026); "finally determined" and "immigration clearance" against the Migration Act 1958, Compilation No. 171 (C2026C00232, in force 4 June 2026), sections 11A and 172 — all on legislation.gov.au. Figures current as at 16 September 2026; confirm with the Department of Home Affairs before lodgement. This article is general information, not migration advice for your circumstances, and the law may change.
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