Travel While Your 836 Carer Visa Is Queued: Bridging Visa B

A Bridging visa B lets a person waiting in Australia on a Bridging visa A leave and come back during a set travel period, but it must be granted before departure and costs A$575 from 1 July 2026 (Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) Schedule 1 item 1302). For an 836 Carer visa applicant, travelling overseas while the application is queued without one ends an in-effect Bridging visa A at departure, and the 836 is granted only while you are in Australia (cl 836.411).

A$575Bridging visa B charge from 1 July 2026

2 weeks–3 monthsWhen to apply before you travel

Form 1006Webform for paper applicants, after paying

In AustraliaWhere you must be when the 836 is decided

What is a Bridging visa B?

A Bridging visa B (subclass 020) is a temporary visa that lets you leave and re-enter Australia during a set travel period while a visa you applied for in Australia is being decided, and keeps you lawful until that decision. The Department of Home Affairs' Bridging visa B page says it is granted for single or multiple travel and is valid for use until a specified date.

The Department's page on travel on a bridging visa (updated 24 September 2026) adds three points:

you can hold a substantive visa and a Bridging visa B at the same time;
the travel period cannot be changed or extended after grant, so a later trip needs a new Bridging visa B;
if you return within the travel period, you stay in Australia on the Bridging visa B until the decision.

Can you travel while your 836 Carer visa is queued?

You can travel while your 836 Carer visa is queued only on a Bridging visa B granted before you depart, and you must be in Australia whenever the Department decides the 836. The Department's 836 page asks applicants to tell it before travelling, because the applicant must be in Australia when the Department decides the application.

The trip also sits against the carer's own test. When the 836 is decided, the applicant must still be a carer who is willing and able to give the relative substantial and continuing assistance (cl 836.221 and regulation 1.15AA(1)(f)).

Which 836 applicants can get a Bridging visa B?

Three conditions decide which 836 applicants can get a Bridging visa B: holding a Bridging visa A or B, having an 836 that has not been decided, and satisfying the Minister that the reasons to travel are substantial.

You hold a Bridging visa A or B (cl 020.211). A Bridging visa C or E does not qualify.
Your 836 was validly made in Australia and is not finally determined (cl 020.212(2)(a)–(b)).
Your reasons for leaving and returning are substantial (cl 020.212(2)(d)).

You must also be in Australia and immigration cleared when you apply and when it is granted (Schedule 1 item 1302(3)), your return must not be contrary to the public interest (cl 020.213), and you must meet public interest criterion 4021 (cl 020.223). Family members in the 836 are included only if they have their own substantial reasons to travel; the others stay on their current bridging visas.

What counts as a substantial reason to travel?

A substantial reason to travel is one the Minister accepts as substantial under cl 020.212(2)(d), and because the Regulations do not define the word, your stated reason and the evidence behind it decide the outcome.

The Department says it considers two things when it sets the travel period: why you want to travel, and when it is likely to decide your substantive application. Its Bridging visa B page asks you to give a reason and attach supporting documents that explain why you need to leave and return.

No government page lists the reasons that are accepted, and the Regulations give no examples.

How much does a Bridging visa B cost?

A Bridging visa B costs A$575 from 1 July 2026, or A$195 for an applicant who holds a passport from a Pacific-regional country or Timor-Leste (Schedule 1 item 1302(2)). One charge covers family members included in the same application, because the additional applicant charge is nil.

The charge rose by 200% on 1 July 2026 as a 2026–27 Budget measure (Explanatory Statement to the Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026). Paper applicants pay first in ImmiAccount and then submit Form 1006, with the payment receipt details, through the Department's bridging visa webform.

How far ahead should an 836 applicant apply for a BVB?

An 836 applicant should apply for a Bridging visa B no more than 3 months and no less than 2 weeks before the planned departure, which is the window the Department recommends on its Bridging visa B page.

The page also states: "There are no processing times available for this visa." Applying too late risks leaving with no visa to return on, and the Bridging visa B is granted only while you are in Australia.

What happens if an 836 applicant leaves without a BVB?

An 836 applicant who leaves without a Bridging visa B loses an in-effect Bridging visa A at departure and needs a new visa to come back (the Department's Bridging visa A page; Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 82(8)).

If your visitor visa is still valid and allows re-entry, the Department's travel page still suggests getting a Bridging visa B before you go when that visa might end before you return.

Must you be back in Australia for the 836 decision?

You must be back in Australia for the 836 decision, because cl 836.411 of the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth) allows the grant only while the applicant is in Australia and not in immigration clearance.

Between trips you stay on your Bridging visa A, or on the Bridging visa B itself after you return within its travel period. Other Family visas, the Carer visa among them, are released from one queue in queue-date order, and the Department does not contact queued applicants until release, so a trip cannot be timed around a decision date. The Department's Other Family visas page estimated 12 years for a new Carer application, as at 9 July 2026; the guide to the queue, the cap and your likely year explains how that estimate works.

The rules on who can apply for an 836 and on the rest of the onshore process are in the parent guide, 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 Bridging visa B grant more likely, because the Regulations leave 'substantial reasons' undefined and the decision rests on the reason and evidence you file. They also check what visa you would come back on, since returning on a visitor visa with condition 8503 stops the 836 from being granted in Australia unless the condition is waived.

Ask about your case

Bridging visa B: travelling overseas while your 836 Carer visa is queued