Bridging visa E changes: new rules by date, newest first

The 2 October 2026 Student visa change removes the old 28-day onshore route for former students without a substantive visa; a Bridging visa E is not substantive under the Migration Act.

The Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026 commenced on 2 October 2026; the September announcements and ART review bill are not law as at 3 October 2026.

The Student Visa Reform Regulations apply to applications made on or after 2 October 2026, not earlier applications.

Those Regulations retain a narrow exception following an ART decision setting aside a Student visa cancellation or refusal to revoke it.

The Student Visa Reform Regulations did not change the Bridging visa E criteria or condition lists.

Check the event date, legal status and page affected before relying on a reported new rule.

The Home Affairs subclass 050 page directs holders to their grant letter and VEVO to check their specific conditions.

Sources checked: 3 October 2026.

Bridging Visa E Guide is an information guide, not a government website or law practice. It is not endorsed by the Australian Government.

Bridging visa E changes, newest first

• Date: 2 October 2026 — Student visa reform.

  Instrument: Enacted instruments: Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026, F2026L01347, and LIN 26/102, F2026L01348.

  Status: Law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: The Student Visa Reform Regulations removed the old former-student route allowing an onshore application without a substantive visa within 28 days of a Student visa ending. Applications made before commencement are unaffected. A narrow exception remains following an Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) decision setting aside a Student visa cancellation or refusal to revoke it. LIN 26/102 specifies offshore application classes by substantive visa held; it does not list BVE holders among those classes.

  Page affected: The dated explainer, Bridging visa E to Student visa.

• Date: 17 September 2026 — compliance and visitor-visa announcements.

  Instrument: Government announcements: the Minister for Home Affairs’ media release and National Press Club speech.

  Status: Announced, not law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder:

  Compliance announcement: In the National Press Club speech, the Minister described giving overstayers a bridging visa before detention and departure. He did not identify the bridging visa subclass. No BVE legal change was established by this announcement.

  Visitor-visa proposal: The Minister announced a proposed no-further-stay condition for future visitor visas. It was not law, and no commencement date had been announced, as at 3 October 2026.

  Page affected: Bills and announcements that are not law yet, below.

• Date: 20 August 2026 — ART review bill passed the House.

  Instrument: Proposed legislation: Administrative and Judicial Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2026, recorded on Parliament’s bill page.

  Status: Bill, not law; before the Senate on 3 October 2026.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: Parliament’s bill page records passage through the House, not commencement of new review rules. This bill creates no present identity-check obligation for a BVE holder.

  Page affected: The dated explainer, Administrative and Judicial Review Bill 2026.

• Date: 1 July 2026 — charges and detention-cost amount.

  Instrument: Enacted instruments: Migration (Daily Maintenance Amount for Persons in Detention) Determination 2026, F2026L00778; Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026, F2026L00874; and Migration Regulations 1994, Schedule 1 item 1305.

  Status: Law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: The detention determination sets A$702.31 per day for the period 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2028. This is a detention-cost amount, not a fee charged to every BVE holder. F2026L00874 sets the BVB charge at A$575, or A$195 for a primary applicant holding a passport from the specified Pacific-regional class and combined applicants. The Migration Regulations retain an A$0 BVE application charge.

  Page affected: BVE application costs and conditions; separate BVB charge information.

• Date: 18 March 2026 — EGH19.

  Instrument: Court decision: EGH19 v Commonwealth of Australia, described on Home Affairs’ Community Protection page.

  Status: Court decision, as reported by Home Affairs.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: Home Affairs says EGH19 found no power under the subclass 070 Bridging visa R framework to impose condition 8620 (curfew) or condition 8621 (electronic monitoring). This concerns BVR conditions, not a new condition on a BVE.

  Page affected: BVR conditions; the BVE/BVR distinction in this change log.

• Date: 12 December 2025 — BVR application restrictions.

  Instrument: Enacted instrument: Migration Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2025, F2025L01551, inserting regulation 2.08H.

  Status: Law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: Regulation 2.08H bars BVE applications by current BVR holders and people who became unlawful after holding a BVR and have remained in the migration zone. Under that rule, only protection visa or BVR applications are valid for those people.

  Page affected: Bridging visa R conditions and application restrictions.

• Date: 1 October 2025 — LIN 25/091.

  Instrument: Enacted instrument: Migration (Specification of Class of Persons) Instrument 2025, LIN 25/091, F2025L01156.

  Status: Law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: LIN 25/091 specifies people granted a subclass 050 or 051 visa under section 195A as outside the mandatory condition 8101 (no work) rule for the relevant protection-applicant cases. This is not a promise of work rights for every protection applicant.

  Page affected: BVE work rights.

• Date: 4 September 2025 — Ministerial Instructions; amended 17 September 2025.

  Instrument: Ministerial Instructions under sections 351 and 501J, and personal procedural decisions, published on the Home Affairs Ministerial intervention page.

  Status: Instructions issued; amended 17 September 2025.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: The Ministerial Instructions replaced the 2016 Guidelines, while personal procedural decisions affected specified older requests. The Home Affairs page states that a Ministerial request is not part of the statutory visa application process; section 197E of the Migration Act means a request alone does not stop removal.

  Page affected: Ministerial intervention and related BVE eligibility.

• Date: 5 December 2024 — section 197E.

  Instrument: Enacted law: Migration Act 1958, section 197E, inserted by C2024A00107.

  Status: Law.

  What changed for a Bridging visa E holder: Section 197E makes clear that a Ministerial request alone does not stop removal. A request is distinct from the Minister deciding to consider exercising a listed power, which engages the statutory suspension rule.

  Page affected: Ministerial intervention and removal.

What changed for Bridging visa E holders in 2026?

Three dated 2026 items affect this selected change log: Student visa application rules, charges and detention costs, and the BVR decision reported by Home Affairs.

1. 2 October 2026 — Student visa application rules. The Migration Amendment (Student Visa Reform) Regulations 2026, F2026L01347, apply to applications made on or after commencement, not applications made earlier. A former student on a BVE cannot use the old 28-day route to lodge a valid onshore Student visa application without a substantive visa. This is an application-rule change, not a change to BVE grant criteria. The event explainer linked above covers the narrow ART exception.

2. 1 July 2026 — charges and detention costs. The Migration (Daily Maintenance Amount for Persons in Detention) Determination 2026, F2026L00778, sets A$702.31 per day from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2028. The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026, F2026L00874, set BVB charges at A$575, or A$195 for the specified Pacific-regional passport class and combined applicants. The Migration Regulations 1994 retain an A$0 BVE application charge. Under those Regulations, condition 8507 (pay or arrange payment of detention costs) requires payment or an arrangement satisfactory to the Minister within the specified period; it is not a universal BVE charge.

3. 18 March 2026 — EGH19. Home Affairs says EGH19 found no power under the BVR framework to impose curfew or electronic-monitoring conditions. Its Community Protection page identifies conditions 8620 and 8621, which concern BVR holders, not BVE holders. The Migration Regulations 1994 compilation checked still contains those BVR provisions; that does not establish that they may be used contrary to the reported court decision.

Undated arrival-control clarification: Sections 84A–84D of the Migration Act 1958 establish an arrival-control framework. It excludes people already in the migration zone when a determination commences. This is distinct from public interest criterion (PIC) 4014 in the Migration Regulations 1994. The Act’s compilation date is not the commencement date of an individual arrival-control determination.

The Migration Regulations 1994 versions and later instruments checked through 2 October 2026 disclosed no amendments to Part 050, Part 051, Schedule 1 item 1305 or the BVE condition lists during the checked period beginning 1 January 2025. Rules around a BVE can nevertheless change, as the Student visa entry shows.

Bills and announcements that are not law yet

Three pending items are not new BVE law as at 3 October 2026: overstayer measures, a visitor-visa proposal and an ART review bill.

1. 17 September 2026 — overstayer compliance announcement. In the Minister’s National Press Club speech, he described an overstayer receiving a bridging visa before detention and departure. This was announced, not law; the Minister did not identify the bridging visa as subclass 050 or 051. He also stated an intention to legislate on non-genuine protection claims, not a completed legislative change.

2. 17 September 2026 — proposed no-further-stay condition for visitor visas. The Minister’s media release announced the proposal: announced, not law, with no commencement date announced as at 3 October 2026. In his National Press Club speech, the Minister said it concerned future visitor visas and would not affect people already here. For an existing condition, the Migration Regulations 1994 provide separate waiver rules; see the 8503 waiver guide.

3. 20 August 2026 — ART review bill. Parliament’s bill page lists the Administrative and Judicial Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 as “Before Senate” on 3 October 2026. The Senate committee’s account describes proposed approved-form requirements, identity verification for prescribed applicants not in immigration detention, and provision for oral decisions. If enacted in that form, these proposals would affect relevant reviews involving BVE holders, including non-detention BVE refusals. They are not present obligations; the dated bill explainer linked above separates the proposals from current law.

Does an announcement change an existing BVE condition?

No. The announcements checked by 3 October 2026 did not amend the BVE condition lists; Home Affairs directs holders to their grant letter and VEVO.

What changed in 2025?

Four 2025 entries cover BVR application restrictions, the protection-applicant work-condition instrument, Ministerial Instructions and a revoked Medicare order.

1. 12 December 2025 — BVR application bar. The Migration Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2025, F2025L01551, inserted regulation 2.08H. It covers current BVR holders and people who became unlawful after a BVR and have remained in the migration zone. Protection visa and BVR applications remain permitted under that rule; a BVE application does not. Separately, the same instrument’s regulation 2.25AF change suspends specified BVR community-safety conditions during custody or in-patient admission.

2. 1 October 2025 — LIN 25/091. The Migration (Specification of Class of Persons) Instrument 2025, LIN 25/091, specifies people granted subclass 050 or 051 under section 195A as excluded from the relevant mandatory-imposition rule for condition 8101 (no work). Exclusion from that rule is not a blanket grant of work permission. The Home Affairs subclass 050 page directs holders to their actual grant conditions and VEVO; the Condition 8101 on a Bridging visa E guide explains the work-rights question.

3. 4 September 2025, amended 17 September 2025 — Ministerial Instructions and personal procedural decisions. The Home Affairs Ministerial intervention page records that the Ministerial Instructions under sections 351 and 501J replaced the 2016 Guidelines. It also publishes personal procedural decisions affecting older requests. Permission to make another request does not establish BVE eligibility: the relevant routes in the Migration Regulations 1994 require a first request. The 2025 Ministerial Instructions guide keeps those questions separate.

4. 1 July 2025 — Medicare order revoked. The Revocation Order 2025, F2025N00470, revoked the specific BVE Medicare order for people from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It did not remove Medicare eligibility from every BVE holder. The source records that late claims for services received during the eligibility period remain payable.

Was the code of behaviour rewritten in 2025?

No. LIN 25/017 replaced the earlier instrument while keeping the same approved code, according to its explanatory statement.

The Migration (Public Interest Criterion 4022—Code of Behaviour) Instrument 2025 was made on 25 February, registered on 27 February and commenced the next day. Under the Migration Regulations 1994, the relevant adult current/former section 195A BVE criterion does not apply to every BVE applicant.

No newer Ministerial intervention change was found in the sources checked on 3 October 2026. The last supplied update to the Home Affairs Ministerial intervention page remains 23 September 2025. This is a bounded source check, not an assurance about unpublished changes.

What changed in 2024?

Six 2024 entries cover the WMD-refusal rule, removal during Ministerial requests, BVR conditions, the ART, paper BVE lodgement and employer compliance.

1. 7 December 2024 — WMD-refusal rule. The instrument recorded as F2024L01595 on the Federal Register changed the specified weapons-of-mass-destruction refusal cases. The bridging visa ends at the moment of refusal, triggering the replacement subclass 050 rule in regulation 2.24A of the Migration Regulations 1994. That replacement carries condition 8103 (work only with written permission) and condition 8207 (no study or training). This exceptional rule is not the rule for ordinary visa refusals.

2. 5 December 2024 — section 197E. A request alone does not stop removal under section 197E of the Migration Act 1958, inserted by C2024A00107. Only where the Minister decides to consider exercising a listed power does the statutory six-month suspension apply, running from that decision or a later agreed day. It can end earlier under the statutory events, including a decision not to intervene or to stop considering.

3. 6–7 November 2024 — YBFZ and the regulatory response. The explanatory statement for the Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Regulations 2024, F2024L01410, reports the 6 November YBFZ judgment finding the then BVR curfew and electronic-monitoring provisions invalid. The regulatory response on 7 November introduced a community-protection test for those conditions. Both events concern BVR conditions, not a new BVE curfew.

4. 14 October 2024 — ART replaced the former tribunal. The ART (Consequential and Transitional Provisions No. 1) Act 2024 brought the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) references into the Migration Act 1958 from this date. It also repealed section 417. The Home Affairs Ministerial intervention page explains that section 351 remains available for relevant earlier tribunal decisions that had enlivened section 417.

5. 31 July 2024 — paper BVE lodgement changed. LIN 24/045, F2024L00938, substituted section 7 of LIN 21/045. Paper Form 1008 must not be lodged by fax or email. Authorised channels are handing it to an officer when detained, lodging it in person at an officer interview outside immigration clearance, or posting it to an Immigration office in Australia. Separately, Home Affairs Form 1008 contains the work-permission section described in Part E of the BVE form; LIN 24/045 changed lodgement rules, not the creation of Part E.

6. 1 July 2024 — employer compliance and worker protections. The Migration Amendment (Strengthening Employer Compliance) Act 2024 received assent on 20 February and commenced on 1 July. It introduced employer coercion and undue-pressure offences and civil penalties, alongside prohibited-employer provisions. Separate measures commencing on the same day were the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Reporting Protections) Regulations 2024 and Migration Amendment (Workplace Justice Visa) Regulations 2024. The Home Affairs reporting-protection page describes conditional protections, not unconditional protection from cancellation; cases involving a visa that does not allow work are considered on their merits.

The final entry groups measures with the same commencement date. The reporting-protection and Workplace Justice Visa regulations are separate instruments, not measures all enacted by the Employer Compliance Act.

Earlier changes, 2009 to 2023

Six earlier entries trace removal-related release, Medicare orders, online BVE applications and the protection-applicant work rules back to 2009.

1. 8 November 2023 — NZYQ orders. Home Affairs’ Community Protection page and the explanatory statements associated with F2023L01629 and F2024L00441 describe NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs [2023] HCA 37. Their account is that removal detention cannot continue where there is no real prospect of removal becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future. Home Affairs reports placement of people required to be released on BVRs with mandatory conditions; a BVR is distinct from a BVE.

2. 1 November 2022 — Ukraine BVE Medicare order effective. The Medicare order F2022N00243 covers the defined class of Ukrainian nationals and immediate family holding a BVE granted on or after 1 August 2022, including qualifying Australian-born children. Its effective date is 1 November 2022; that is separate from the qualifying BVE grant threshold.

3. 1 July 2021 — online Form 1008 approved. The Migration (Arrangements for Bridging visa applications) Instrument (LIN 21/045) 2021 approved Form 1008 (Internet). Its approval is conditional on the applicant having no other pending BVE application.

4. 26 October 2017 — UMA BVE Medicare order dated. The Health Insurance (Eligible persons unauthorised maritime arrivals and holders of Bridging E (Class WE) visa) Order 2017, F2018N00054, is dated 26 October 2017. That date is not stated here as the first date of Medicare eligibility or as its registration date.

5. 25 November 2011 — eligibility date carried by the UMA BVE Medicare order. The verified Health Insurance Order 2017, F2018N00054, records retrospective eligibility from 25 November 2011 for unauthorised maritime arrivals holding a Bridging E (Class WE) visa. This entry identifies the eligibility date in that order, not an unidentified earlier amending instrument.

6. 1 July 2009 — protection-applicant work rule. Home Affairs Form 1008 records the protection-applicant work rules from this date: a compelling need to work and an acceptable reason for delay in applying for protection. The current Migration Regulations 1994 provide the relevant compelling-need and acceptable-delay basis, including the specified-class alternative. The original 2009 amending instrument is not identified by the sources used for this guide.

How is this page kept current?

This page separates commenced law, pending bills and announcements, using dated checks of primary government sources.

The evidence behind this version is:

• Law: Federal Register of Legislation texts and version records, including later amendments not yet incorporated into a compilation.
• Bills: Parliament’s bill page for passage and current status.
• Announcements: Government releases and speeches, kept separate from law unless an enacted source establishes the change.
• Court decisions: Accounts attributed to Home Affairs or an explanatory statement where the judgment itself was not read.
• Source-check date: “Sources checked” means 3 October 2026 for the research used here. It is not a named lawyer-review date.

These distinctions matter in this version: the Student Visa Reform Regulations are commenced law, Parliament’s ART review bill remains a bill, and the Minister’s visitor-visa proposal remains an announcement.

Does a changed source date prove a new BVE rule?

No. A source-update date is not, by itself, an enactment or commencement date.

For example, LIN 25/017’s explanatory statement says it retained the same code wording; a Migration Regulations compilation date does not establish a new BVE amendment; and the Home Affairs Ministerial intervention sources checked retained the earlier Instructions. These findings are bounded by the source check, not permanent assurances.

Quick questions about this change log

Did the 2026 charge increase make a BVE application payable?

No. The Migration Regulations 1994 retain an A$0 BVE application charge; the July 2026 BVB charge is separate.

Does the visitor-visa proposal apply to someone already in Australia?

The Minister’s 17 September 2026 speech describes future visitor visas, not people already here. The proposal was not law on 3 October 2026.

Where are the COVID-19 BVE changes?

This guide does not identify a COVID-specific BVE change from the verified sources supplied for this update. That does not establish that no historical COVID concession existed.

Was there a new Ministerial intervention change in September 2026?

No change was found in the primary sources checked on 3 October 2026. The Home Affairs page retained the September 2025 Instructions and procedural-decision links.

Which page each change affects

Each change belongs with the affected application, condition, review or departure question, rather than a general claim that BVE rules changed.

Undated clarification: Sections 84A–84D of the Migration Act 1958 concern arrival controls and exclude people already in the migration zone when a determination commences. They are distinct from PIC 4014 in the Migration Regulations 1994. No individual determination date is asserted here; the guide to travel on a Bridging visa E addresses the separate departure and re-entry question.

For the wider visa context, return to the Bridging Visa E Guide.

Before lodging a BVE application connected with Ministerial intervention, an Australian migration lawyer can check earlier requests against cl 050.212(5B) and (6) of the Migration Regulations 1994. Those provisions restrict the relevant BVE routes to a first request.