missapps

HI again!!

So am just about ready to push the button and send my 487 visa in- but things keep cropping up-

How do you get the bridging visa? and how will i know?
Im on WHV- runs out 31st oct.
Have flight booked for 31st oct to london my return flight from last year- cannot change the dates for this have already phoned and asked
will apply this week for 487 visa and understand that i get bridging visa a to stay on in oz until my 487 comes through as its onshore

So basically how do i know if i can take that flight if they dont tell me in time about my bridging visa and then when i fly back to WA i wont be allowed in.
How exactly does it work??

goldchoccycoin

You need to be very careful with this - they will likely give you a Bridging Visa A, which does NOT allow travel outside of Australia. Therefore, when it kicks in (the day your WHV expires) you won't be able to leave Aus unless you get a Bridging Visa B - which you have to apply for with compelling resaons.

I would seek the advice of a regsitered migration agent or just sit tight, don't leave Aus and wait for the 487 - you would lose the flight but not your right to be in Aus.

saraliz

Tking is right, you need to be very careful in what you do.

When you lodge your 487, you will automatically be issued a Bridging Visa A (this is usually immediate). A Bridging Visa A only allows you to remain in Australia - as soon as you depart Australia, the Bridging Visa A will cease.

To travel outside of Australia while awaiting the outcome of a visa application, the normal course of action would be to apply for a Bridging Visa B which allows re-entry to Australia. Generally, you would need to demonstrate compelling and compassionate reasons for your travel.

ColonialCousin

You probably know better given you are a migration agent but when I applied for my Onshore PR Visa, the bridging visa A came into effect only after the existing visa expired. Till then, all the conditions of the existing visa remained in effect.

Cheers
CC

missapps

Thanks guys, basically i knew about the bridging visa A having restrictions upon it, but just didnt know WHEN i would get this, but from ive gathered from your responses, it comes into effect immediately after my WHV runs out?!
Thank you. Right i'd better be prepared to live out of my backpack a little while longer than and let my family/friends awaiting my november return!!!
Oooops.
Hey its not all coloured rainbows!!
Thanks

sambo76

Hi there

We are on a bridging visa A with travel restrictions after applying for a 886 relative sponsored visa. We applied for this in January 09 and went into immigration where they told us that even though we had been granted a bridging visa A this would come into effect after our student visa expired in March 09 and we could leave the country and return. We then went to Thailand for a week and got back into the country no probs. A while later after checking our visa application online I noticed that we held no current visa, so off to immigration again where we found out that we were in fact now illegal as our student visa had expired and as we had left the country, our bridging visa A had automatically been cancelled! All was fine though and they gave us a new bridging visa A but we had been here for 3/4 weeks with no visa, so be very careful.
I hope that they lift these travel restrictions as it seems that the 886 could take up to 2 years to be granted and if we need to leave the country we have to a) pay for a visa B and b) prove we have a genuine reason for it. We are getting married in Thailand in February and want to go back to the UK for next Xmas for a holiday and thinks it's kind of unfair to have to keep paying out money for more visas

JAJ

The few weeks of being unlawful may well mean that your clock for Australian citizenship is reset, in other words, time before that date will not count for the 4 years.

sambo76

Thanks JAJ didn't think of that!