Bridging visa E refused or cancelled: the review deadline and what happens next

Updated 3 October 2026

A refused Bridging visa E application leaves you an unlawful non-citizen unless you hold another visa, and from immigration detention you have 14 days, with no fee, to apply to the ART.

Outside detention, your refusal letter states whether you can ask the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) to review the decision and by when.

A BVE refusal does not trigger the section 48 bar, so you can still apply for other visas the law allows (s 48(1)(b)(i)).

These rules come from the Migration Act 1958, the Migration Regulations 1994 and the Home Affairs Bridging visa E (subclass 050) page. This page concerns refusal or cancellation of the BVE itself—subclass 050 or 051—not refusal of another visa while you hold a BVE. Start by finding your decision notice and recording when you were notified.

The site’s enquiry form is a disabled preview and cannot send details yet. If a deadline is approaching, contact an Australian migration lawyer directly. Review the enquiry page.

Your BVE deadline card

• In immigration detention: apply to the ART within 14 days after notification, no fee, no extension.
• ART decision: within 7 working days of receiving the application, unless you agree to a longer period.
• Applying again from detention: not earlier than 30 days after the refusal—or after review is finally determined—unless the Minister is satisfied you now meet the criteria.
• Not in detention: the refusal letter states whether review is available.

The detention review rules are in sections 347 and 367 of the Migration Act 1958 and regulations 4.13(2)(a) and 4.17 of the Migration Regulations 1994. The further-application rule is in section 74 and regulation 2.23; Home Affairs’ Bridging visa E (subclass 050) page explains the refusal notice.

At a glance

Deadline: In immigration detention you have 14 days from the day you are notified to apply to the ART, with no fee and no extension, under Migration Act 1958 section 347 and Migration Regulations 1994 regulation 4.13(2)(a).

What does a refused Bridging visa E mean for your status?

Without another visa in effect, you are an unlawful non-citizen under sections 13–14 of the Migration Act 1958. Under section 189(1), an officer must detain a person in the migration zone known or reasonably suspected to be unlawful. Section 198 requires removal in the cases it specifies, including removal as soon as reasonably practicable where that requirement applies.

If you already hold a BVE—for example, you applied for a new one with work rights—refusal of the new application does not itself end the existing visa, so you remain lawful while it remains in effect under sections 13–14 of the Migration Act 1958.

Yes, a bridging visa can be refused. For subclass 050, the Migration Regulations 1994 require the Minister to be satisfied you will comply with the conditions under clause 050.223. Any required security or bond must be lodged under clause 050.224, and an authorised-officer interview may be required under clause 050.222.

Some people cannot validly apply at all. Schedule 1 item 1305(3)(f)–(g) of the Migration Regulations 1994 bars a new BVE application after a BVE cancellation for breaching condition 8564 (no criminal conduct) or condition 8566 (do not breach an applicable signed code of behaviour), or after any visa cancellation under regulation 2.43(1)(p) or (q).

A bridging visa refusal is excluded from the section 48 application bar by section 48(1)(b)(i) of the Migration Act 1958, but it does not remove an existing bar.

How do you ask the ART to review a refused BVE?

1. Find the notification date and deadline. Section 66(2)(d) of the Migration Act 1958 requires the refusal notice to state any review right, time limit, who can apply and where.
2. Check which situation below applies. Under section 347(3), the deadline depends on whether you were in immigration detention on the day you were notified.
3. Lodge with the ART while physically in the migration zone. Section 347A allows only the person refused to apply, and requires that person to be physically present in the migration zone when applying.
4. Keep your supporting evidence ready. A detention bridging visa review has a short decision period under section 367 and regulation 4.17 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

If you are in immigration detention

A bridging visa refusal is reviewable under section 338(4)(a) of the Migration Act 1958 where you are in immigration detention because of that refusal.

You have 14 days after the day you are notified to apply if you are in immigration detention on that day. Sections 347(3)–(5) of the Migration Act 1958 prevent the ART from extending this deadline. There is no review fee under regulation 4.13(2)(a) of the Migration Regulations 1994.

The ART must decide and notify you within 7 working days of receiving the application, unless you agree to a longer period, under section 367 and regulation 4.17. Section 352(3) gives Home Affairs 2 working days after being notified to provide its statement to the ART: that is the Department’s deadline, not your lodgement deadline.

If you are not in detention

The Home Affairs Bridging visa E (subclass 050) page says your refusal notice tells you whether you have a right to review. Where review is available, section 347(3) of the Migration Act 1958 gives you 28 days after the day you are notified; the ART cannot extend that limit.

Check the refusal letter and the ART’s fee information for the fee payable. This guide does not state a fee amount for a non-detention BVE refusal review because the amount for this particular review has not been confirmed.

Under section 494C of the Migration Act 1958, notification is generally taken to occur when a notice is handed over; 7 working days after the document’s date for prepaid post within Australia; or at the end of the day an email is sent or a notice becomes available in ImmiAccount.

If your substantive visa was refused, rather than the BVE, the review route, fee and deadlines are on the Australian visa refusal page.

The Administrative and Judicial Review Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 is a bill, not law: Parliament records that it passed the House on 20 August 2026 and remained before the Senate on 3 October 2026. On the Senate committee’s description, its proposed identity checks would apply to prescribed applicants not in immigration detention; see ART review bill 2026.

Can you apply for a Bridging visa E again?

Yes, with conditions. If you are in immigration detention, section 74 of the Migration Act 1958 prevents another application earlier than 30 days after refusal, or after review is finally determined. Regulation 2.23 of the Migration Regulations 1994 provides an exception where the Minister is satisfied you now meet the criteria.

Regulation 2.23 also allows the Minister to grant a BVE after an earlier refusal without a new application if you now meet the criteria.

Outside detention, section 74’s detention-specific 30-day rule does not set your waiting period. A new application must meet the applicable criteria; the Migration (Arrangements for Bridging visa applications) Instrument (LIN 21/045) 2021 approves the online form only if you have no other pending BVE application.

However, Schedule 1 item 1305(3)(f)–(g) of the Migration Regulations 1994 blocks a new application after the specified cancellations: a BVE cancelled for breaching condition 8564 or 8566, or any visa cancelled under regulation 2.43(1)(p) or (q).

Before lodging, check the requirements in How to apply for a Bridging visa E.

When a Bridging visa E is cancelled

Yes, a bridging visa can be cancelled. Three things need checking:

1. Why it was cancelled: the legal ground stated in the notice.
2. Whether you can seek review: your review right and notification deadline.
3. What it bars: your current status and whether another BVE application is valid.

These checks follow the cancellation and notice provisions in sections 116 and 127 of the Migration Act 1958, and the application restrictions in Schedule 1 item 1305 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

Why a BVE is cancelled

Breaching a visa condition is a cancellation ground under section 116(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958. The Home Affairs Bridging visa E (subclass 050) page says working when not permitted can lead to BVE cancellation and detention.

Regulation 2.43(1)(p) of the Migration Regulations 1994 includes BVE-specific grounds involving an offence charge or conviction in Australia or overseas, or certain Interpol notices. Regulation 2.43(1)(q) concerns advice that the holder is under investigation by a law-enforcement or security agency, together with advice from its head that the person should not hold a subclass 050 or 051 visa.

Review of a cancellation

A delegate’s bridging visa cancellation is reviewable under section 338(4)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 where you are detained because of it. The same detention review rules apply: 14 days after notification, no fee, and a decision within 7 working days, unless you agree to a longer decision period, under sections 347 and 367 and regulations 4.13(2)(a) and 4.17.

Otherwise, section 127(2)(c) of the Migration Act 1958 requires the cancellation notice to state whether review is available and the time limit.

What a cancellation bars

Under section 15 of the Migration Act 1958, cancellation makes you unlawful unless you hold another visa. Schedule 1 item 1305(3)(f)–(g) of the Migration Regulations 1994 bars another BVE application after cancellation for breaching condition 8564 or 8566, or under regulation 2.43(1)(p) or (q).

Cancellation for working without authority is also a risk factor under public interest criterion 4013 in Schedule 4 to the Migration Regulations 1994. It can affect later applications for visas that require that criterion.

Unlike a BVE refusal, a section 116 cancellation is listed in section 48 of the Migration Act 1958. The section 48 bar applies if you are in the migration zone without a substantive visa and the cancellation occurred since your last entry.

For cancellation of a substantive visa, see Visa cancellation in Australia.

Applying for a Bridging visa E from immigration detention

Immigration detention is the holding of an unlawful non-citizen under section 189 of the Migration Act 1958, and community detention under a residence determination still counts as legal detention under section 197AC.

1. Check eligibility and lodge correctly. You must be an “eligible non-citizen” under section 72 of the Migration Act 1958 and the applicable classes in regulation 2.20 of the Migration Regulations 1994. Under the Migration (Arrangements for Bridging visa applications) Instrument (LIN 21/045) 2021, a detainee’s paper Form 1008 is handed to an officer; Schedule 1 item 1305(3)(c) and regulation 2.10A require a detention review officer to have been informed of the application.

2. Attend an interview if required. Clause 050.222 of the Migration Regulations 1994 requires an authorised-officer interview for subclass 050 unless an exception applies.

3. Check the statutory decision period. Under section 75 of the Migration Act 1958 and regulation 2.24(3), an undecided eligible detainee’s application results in a BVE being taken to be granted after 2 working days or 28 days, depending on the applicant’s class, or 90 days if the required character declaration is signed in time. The period can be extended by agreement; the full explanation is on BVE processing in immigration detention.

4. On grant, read the conditions and end date. Under clauses 050.612 and 050.516 and Schedule 8 of the Migration Regulations 1994, a deemed subclass 050 carries condition 8101 (no work), condition 8201 (no study or training for more than 3 months), condition 8402 (report to an office of Immigration within 5 working days and then on the first working day of each week), condition 8506 (notify Immigration at least 2 working days before an address change), condition 8509 (within 5 working days, make a valid substantive visa application or show an officer an acceptable overseas travel ticket) and condition 8548 (no study or training for more than 4 months), and lasts 5 working days from grant or 14 days if the Minister is satisfied within 5 days of grant that acceptable arrangements to depart within 14 days have been made.

Section 195A of the Migration Act 1958 also allows the Minister personally to grant a visa to a detainee, with or without an application, if satisfied it is in the public interest; there is no duty to consider using that power.

For a person in criminal detention, regulation 2.25 of the Migration Regulations 1994 allows a BVE grant without an application where the relevant visa criteria are met.

An Australian migration lawyer can check eligibility, earlier cancellation grounds, lodgement requirements and the applicable decision period; see BVE lawyer in immigration detention.

Getting help after a BVE refusal

1. Record when you were notified and calculate the deadline. Under section 347 of the Migration Act 1958, a reviewable decision has a 14-day limit if you were in immigration detention on notification day, or 28 days otherwise; neither limit can be extended.

2. Get a direct legal check with the decision date. Bring the notice and notification details so an Australian migration lawyer can check review eligibility, the deadline and the evidence needed before lodgement. The site’s enquiry form is not accepting details yet.

The site’s enquiry form is a disabled preview and cannot send details yet. If a deadline is approaching, contact an Australian migration lawyer directly. See why the form is unavailable.

A BVE refusal leaves any existing section 48 bar untouched, while a substantive visa refusal or section 116 cancellation can trigger it when section 48’s conditions are met; the guide to what can and cannot lift the section 48 bar explains the distinction under the Migration Act 1958.

Frequently asked questions

Does a refused Bridging visa E stop me applying for other visas?

No—not by itself. Section 48(1)(b)(i) of the Migration Act 1958 excludes bridging visa refusals, although a section 116 cancellation is listed; other application restrictions can still apply.

Can the 14-day ART deadline be extended?

No. Sections 347(3)–(5) of the Migration Act 1958 set the 14-day detention deadline and exclude the ART’s power to extend it.

How quickly does the ART decide a detention review?

Within 7 working days of receiving the application, unless you agree to a longer period, under section 367 of the Migration Act 1958 and regulation 4.17 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

Is a deemed grant the same as a normal Bridging visa E?

It is a BVE taken to be granted under section 75 of the Migration Act 1958, with fixed conditions. For subclass 050, clauses 050.516 and 050.612 of the Migration Regulations 1994 provide a stay of 5 working days, or 14 days where the specified departure-arrangement requirements are met.

This page is part of the Bridging Visa E Guide, an information publisher, not a law firm, migration practice or government site.

From detention, section 347 of the Migration Act 1958 gives you 14 days with no extension, and section 367 and regulation 4.17 require the ART to decide within 7 working days unless you agree otherwise. Have your evidence ready when you lodge: an Australian migration lawyer can check the notification date, deadline, missing documents and evidence consistency, and help prepare and lodge a supported review application within that deadline.