allyinbris

Hello all, wondering if you can help me with this.

I have to fly back to the UK in two weeks (completely unplanned and not exactly thrilled either) so will be applying for the visa B. My dilemma is that I've already applied for one in April when I did a trip back to the UK (it's expired by now so no huge deal) AND will be applying for it again in November for my trip to Thailand AND am applying for it next week.

So to my the questions. Am I allowed this many Visa B's in a year? Does it affect my application (885, lodged in August 2009) or put it on hold or something? Has anyone here applied for Visa B's thrice (or more!) in a year? And stupidly, are the immigration folks going to be wondering why on earth this person has applied for permanent residency and is still making an escape three times a year? Cheers all.

allyinbris

Bump! Because I really do need some advice.

I'm going to go ahead and apply for it at immigration next week though. I hope I don't get refused a visa because this will be my fourth time in two years! Will let you know how I go just in case someone else might find it helpful.

sambo76

Hi, I was advised by immigration that you can apply for a bridging visa B for up to a year - though when I asked when I got my last bridging visa, the man wasn't too helpful and advised it wasn't true and they would decide how long the visa would be for. He gave me 3 weeks! We applied in Jan 09 on a 886 and will need another bridging visa in Feb too. We have already had 3 of them

I think if you have applied long enough ago they will give you as many as you like - and charge you $95 each time too :-)

allyinbris

Thanks for sharing sambo76. I called up immigration to ask about limits on visa b's and the lady I was talking to said that it's unlimited and I could apply for a 1 year visa. Especially since there was no time frame given for my visa application (she said they haven't even looked at my application yet!).

However, the application (form 1006?) needs to be sent to the Adelaide GSM Processing Centre because they won't grant 1 year visas at any of our local immigration offices.

Oh, she also said that it's not unlimited travel for that 1 year to and fro Australia though. When you travel once and return to Australia, you'll have to apply for another visa if you wish to leave again. I might just stick to the normal one for now!

pumpkin blossom

Odd. I got bridging visa b last year, at Adelaide. They told me it was from three months and I could come and go as many times as I liked (he was encouraging me to think of more holiday ideas lol).

sambo76

That's what we were told and the T&C of the bridging visa B advise - Multiple entries to and from Australia during the validity of your visa.
Seems a bit pointless to have a bridging visa valid for a year but to have to apply again to travel more than once?