A Bridging visa A lets you work only within the work conditions it carries, and it copies those conditions from the visa you held when you applied for your new visa (Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) cl 010.611(4)). For an 836 Carer visa applicant, that earlier visa decides whether you can work while the 836 is queued: once the 836 is granted you can work without limit as a permanent resident, but a carer who arrived on a visitor visa usually waits on a Bridging visa A with condition 8101 (no work) unless a new Bridging visa A is granted for financial hardship.
| Visa you held when you lodged the 836 | Condition it passes to your Bridging visa A | Work while the 836 is queued |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor visa (subclass 600), Tourist or Sponsored Family stream | 8101, no work (cl 600.611, 600.612) | No, until a new Bridging visa A without 8101 is granted |
| Electronic Travel Authority (601) or eVisitor (651) | 8115, business visitor activity only (cl 601.611, 651.611) | Business visitor activity only |
| A visa with a limit, such as 8104 (40 hours a fortnight) or 8547 (6 months with one employer) | The same limit | Within that limit |
| A visa with no work condition | None | Yes |
What is a Bridging visa A?
A Bridging visa A (subclass 010) is a temporary visa that keeps you lawful in Australia after your current visa ends, while a new visa you applied for in Australia is being decided. The Department of Home Affairs' Bridging visa A page says nearly all bridging visas are applied for automatically as part of the main application, and the charge is A$0 (Schedule 1 item 1301).
For a Carer visa family, the Bridging visa A comes with the 836 itself. The Department's 836 page tells applicants that a bridging visa was granted when they applied. Because the Department estimates 12 years for a new Carer application, that one Bridging visa A often carries a carer through a decade in Australia.
Can you work while your 836 Carer visa is queued?
You can work while your 836 Carer visa is queued when the visa in effect, first your current visa and then your Bridging visa A, carries no condition that stops work. A carer who held a visitor visa or an Electronic Travel Authority usually has no ordinary work rights until a new Bridging visa A without that condition is granted.
The rule is not specific to carers. The Regulations give the Bridging visa A whichever work condition, from a fixed list, applied to the visa held when the bridging visa was applied for (cl 010.611(4)). The Carer visa itself adds no work restriction.
The other side is the care. When the Department decides the 836, the applicant must still be a carer who is "willing and able" to give substantial and continuing assistance (cl 836.221 and regulation 1.15AA(1)(f)). That test is about the care the relative needs; it sets no limit on working hours.
After the Carer visa is granted
The 836 is a permanent visa. The Department's 836 page states that holders can "work and study in Australia", with no hours limit and no condition.
This page is about the family Carer visa. It is not about work visas for paid care workers in aged care or disability services.
When does the Bridging visa A for an 836 start?
The Bridging visa A for an 836 starts on the day your current visa ends, not on the day it is granted (cl 010.511(1)(a)). Until then you keep the conditions of the visa you already hold, and the bridging visa sits in the background.
The Department's 836 page is direct about one mistake: "Do not cancel your current visa." A carer who cancels it becomes unlawful and loses eligibility for the bridging visa.
Which conditions does the Bridging visa A carry?
The Bridging visa A for an 836 carries three sets of rules: the work conditions of the visa you held when you applied, the conditions of your current visa until it ends, and no study or health-insurance condition.
- The copied work condition. The Regulations list the conditions that carry across: 8101 (no work), 8104 (40 hours a fortnight), 8115 (business visitor activity only), 8547 (6 months with one employer) and others (cl 010.611(4)).
- Your current visa's conditions, for now. While your visitor or other visa is still in effect, its conditions still bind you, including any health-insurance condition 8501 on it (the Department's Bridging visa A page).
- No study limit and no health-insurance condition. Conditions 8201 (the 3-month study limit) and 8501 (health insurance) are not on the cl 010.611(4) list, so a Bridging visa A for an 836 does not carry them.
How do you ask for work rights on a Bridging visa A?
You ask for work rights by applying for a new Bridging visa A on Form 1005 and showing financial hardship, which is the only "compelling need to work" open to an 836 applicant (cl 010.211(4) and regulation 1.08).
- Firstly, check your current conditions in VEVO (see the next section).
- Secondly, gather evidence of financial hardship: income, savings, rent and the costs you cannot meet.
- Thirdly, complete Form 1005 and lodge it through the Department's bridging visa webform, which paper applicants must use. There is no charge.
- Fourthly, wait for the decision, and keep complying with your current conditions until then.
A Bridging visa A granted for a compelling need to work carries no conditions at all (cl 010.611(1)(a)). If the Department is not satisfied, the Bridging visa A page says it grants a new Bridging visa A with the same work condition as before.
How do you prove your bridging visa and work rights in VEVO?
You prove your bridging visa and work rights through VEVO (Visa Entitlement Verification Online), the Department's online check, using your passport and the grant number of the visa now in effect.
- Firstly, open VEVO for visa holders or the myVEVO app.
- Secondly, choose your travel document: passport, ImmiCard, Titre de Voyage, DFTTA or PLO56 card.
- Thirdly, enter one reference number: the visa grant number, a transaction reference number (online applications only), a visa evidence number or a VEVO password.
- Fourthly, enter your date of birth, document number and country of document, accept the terms and submit.
- Fifthly, read the "Work entitlements" field and the conditions, then use "Send Email" to send the result to an employer.
An employer can check you directly instead, but only as a registered organisation with your permission, through its own ImmiAccount. The Department's VEVO page for organisations advises employers to save the PDF result.
VEVO shows only the visa now in effect. It "does not provide information on your previous visas or new applications", so the queued 836 never appears. While your visitor visa is still in effect, VEVO shows that visa, and the bridging visa's grant number only works once the bridging visa is in effect. There is no visa label for a Carer visa or a Bridging visa A: both are linked digitally to your passport. Your grant number is on the grant notice the Department sent by mail or email, and the Department's VEVO Request for Reference Number form helps if you have lost it.
What if you had no substantive visa when you lodged the 836?
An 836 lodged without a substantive visa brings no Bridging visa A, because cl 010.211(2)(c) requires a substantive visa at the time the 836 was made. A bridging visa is not a substantive visa (Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 5(1)).
The 836 itself must then be lodged within 12 months after the last substantive visa ended (cl 836.211 and Schedule 3 clause 3002). Missing that window is a criterion failure, so the application is refused. A carer who entered on a visa with condition 8503 faces a separate bar that makes the 836 invalid unless the condition is waived first.
For an 836 lodged in time without a substantive visa, the Regulations provide a Bridging visa C (cl 030.212(2)). It carries condition 8101 unless it is granted for a compelling need to work (cl 030.212(3) and 030.614).
Bridging visa E
The Other Family Visa Processing Centre form says the Status Resolution Service "may grant a Bridging visa E on the basis of an intended application". Neither a Bridging visa C nor a Bridging visa E leads to a Bridging visa B, which requires a Bridging visa A or B (cl 020.211).
Can your children go to school while the 836 is queued?
Your children can go to school while the 836 is queued, and the Bridging visa A carries no study condition, but public-school fees for temporary residents are set by each state and territory, not by the visa.
In New South Wales, for example, the Department of Education's enrolment of temporary residents procedures set a Temporary Residents Program fee, list the visa subclasses that are exempt, and allow an appeal for low family income. Check your own state or territory education department before enrolling, and have your VEVO result ready as proof of the bridging visa.
What ends a Bridging visa A?
Three events end a Bridging visa A: leaving Australia while it is in effect, the grant of the 836 or of another bridging visa, and a refusal, Tribunal decision or withdrawal once 35 days have passed.
- Leaving Australia. An in-effect Bridging visa A ends when you depart, and you cannot return on it (the Department's Bridging visa A page; Migration Act s 82(8)).
- A grant. The Bridging visa A ends when the 836 is granted, or when another bridging visa for the same application is granted (cl 010.511(1)(b)).
- A refusal, Tribunal decision or withdrawal. It lasts 35 days after the Department refuses the 836, after the Administrative Review Tribunal decides a review, or after you withdraw (cl 010.511(1)(b)).
It also ends if the substantive visa you held when it was granted is cancelled (cl 010.511(1)(b)(vi)). The Department's Bridging visa A page still refers to the "AAT", which the Administrative Review Tribunal replaced on 14 October 2024.
How do the other bridging visas compare with a BVA?
The other bridging visas differ from a BVA in who gets them, whether you can travel, and how work is handled.
| Bridging visa | Who holds it while an 836 is queued | Travel | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| A (010) | Applicants who held a substantive visa when they lodged | Ends if you leave | Copied from the visa held at lodgement; a new BVA for hardship |
| B (020) | Bridging visa A or B holders with substantial reasons to travel | Leave and return within the travel period | Set at grant; changing it needs a new BVA |
| C (030) | Applicants who lodged within 12 months after their last substantive visa ended | No Bridging visa B available | 8101 unless granted for a compelling need to work |
| E (050) | People already unlawful, through the Status Resolution Service | No Bridging visa B available | Set at grant; check VEVO |
Travel during the queue needs a Bridging visa B granted before you leave, which costs A$575 from 1 July 2026. Health costs are the next question: whether you can use Medicare while waiting for a Carer visa turns on your work rights or on a citizen or permanent-resident parent, spouse or child. Special Benefit is not an option, because a Bridging visa A is not a listed class in section 6 of the Social Security (Special Benefit – Class of Visas) Determination 2025 (Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) s 729(2)(f)).
How long you hold the bridging visa is set by the queue, the cap and your likely year: the Department's Other Family visas page estimated 12 years for a new Carer application, as at 9 July 2026. The rest of the 836, from criteria to grant, is in the guide to applying and waiting in Australia, and both subclasses are compared at Carer Visa Australia.
A registered professional makes a grant more likely
A registered migration agent or an Australian legal practitioner makes a working Bridging visa A more likely, because the financial-hardship claim is judged only on what you file with Form 1005, and a refusal leaves the no-work condition in place. They also check whether the visa you held when you lodged gives you a Bridging visa A at all, which decides whether you stay lawful through the whole queue.
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