Bridging visa E work rights: how to get permission to work on a BVE

Updated 3 October 2026

A Bridging visa E with condition 8101 bars work; to work, you apply for a new BVE without 8101 by showing a compelling need to work (financial hardship).

Home Affairs’ subclass 050 page says your grant letter and VEVO show your conditions; Form 1008 provides the new-BVE application route through ImmiAccount or paper, with a nil charge (A$0) under the Migration Regulations 1994.

Form 1008 says a BVE’s conditions cannot be changed; work permission requires a new BVE. Protection applicants must also explain any delay in applying acceptably. Form 1008 limits work permission for judicial review and Ministerial intervention BVEs to particular circumstances. Under section 245AC of the Migration Act 1958, employers must not allow work that breaches condition 8101. Check VEVO and gather proof of your living costs.

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Work rights at a glance

Do you have work rights on a BVE?

Yes, if your grant letter shows no condition restricting work. No, if it shows condition 8101. Home Affairs’ subclass 050 page says your grant letter tells you whether you may work; check VEVO too.

The Migration Regulations 1994 distinguish these work conditions:

• Condition 8101 (no work): you must not work in Australia. Regulation 1.03 defines work as “an activity that, in Australia, normally attracts remuneration”.
• Condition 8104 (limited hours): no more than 40 hours a fortnight. A fortnight is 14 days starting on a Monday.
• Condition 8116 (specified activities only): work is restricted to activities specified in a legislative instrument. This guide does not identify permitted activities because the relevant instrument has not been verified.

Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 requires condition 8101 in these situations, subject to the stated exceptions:

• A non-protection judicial review BVE: clause 050.612A.
• A protection applicant’s subclass 050: clause 050.613A, unless 8116 applies or an exception covers the holder.
• A protection applicant’s subclass 051 after 45 days or more in Australia during the preceding 12 months: clause 051.611A, unless 8116 applies or the holder is in the specified class.
• A Ministerial intervention BVE where the holder was unlawful between final determination and the request: clause 050.615A, unless 8116 applies.
• A BVE deemed granted in immigration detention under section 75: clauses 050.612 and 051.611.

The section 195A exception is explained below. Other BVEs may carry 8101, or carry forward earlier conditions, under clauses 050.611 and 050.617 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

Working without permission can lead to cancellation. Section 116(1)(b) of the Migration Act 1958 makes a condition breach a cancellation ground. Home Affairs’ subclass 050 page states: “If you work when you are not allowed to, we can cancel your BVE and detain you. You could also be removed from Australia.”

Cancellation for having “worked without authority” can also trigger public interest criterion 4013 under the Migration Regulations 1994. That criterion imposes a three-year exclusion, subject to exceptions, for the 19 temporary subclasses that require it.

If your visa lists both 8101 and 8201, they control different activities: Schedule 8 condition 8201 restricts study or training to three months, not work.

Condition 8101 on a Bridging visa E: how it is removed

Condition 8101 is not waived or varied on your existing BVE: Home Affairs’ Form 1008 says you apply for a new BVE with different conditions.

1. Confirm your current condition. Check your grant letter or VEVO for 8101, as directed by Home Affairs’ subclass 050 page.

2. Check why you hold the BVE. Clause 050.212(8) of the Migration Regulations 1994 provides the hardship route for a BVE granted because of a valid onshore substantive-visa application. A substantive visa is a visa other than a bridging, criminal justice or enforcement visa. Judicial review and Ministerial intervention limits are explained below.

3. Gather evidence of financial hardship. Form 1008 requires evidence supporting your circumstances, even if you previously supplied it. The next section explains what to provide.

4. Apply for a new BVE. Use Form 1008 (Internet) in ImmiAccount only if no other BVE application is pending, under LIN 21/045. Alternatively, use paper Form 1008, including Part E, questions 15 to 19. Home Affairs’ online Bridging visa A, B and C webform “cannot be used to apply for a” BVE. The charge is A$0 under Schedule 1 item 1305 of the Migration Regulations 1994; how to fill in each part of the Bridging visa E Form 1008 is explained step by step.

Under clause 050.613 of the Migration Regulations 1994, a BVE granted on this compelling-need basis cannot carry 8101 or 8104. Its listed possible conditions are 8201, 8207, 8401, 8505, 8506, 8507, 8508, 8510, 8511, 8512 and 8548. No work-hours limit appears in that list.

Applying does not itself remove 8101: work permission must be reflected in the new grant.

What counts as financial hardship?

For a BVE, a compelling need to work exists “if and only if” you are in financial hardship, under regulation 1.08 of the Migration Regulations 1994. The Regulations do not define “financial hardship”.

The Home Affairs subclass 050 page, updated 8 August 2025, says “you might be in financial hardship if you cannot pay for the reasonable cost of your living expenses”. It also states: “If you do not meet the requirements we will not grant you a new BVE that allows you to work.”

Home Affairs’ Form 1008 asks about:

• Your savings and how you have supported yourself.
• Income from overseas and whether family members work.
• Weekly family income and weekly expenses.
• Family in Australia outside the application, and why they cannot support you.

It requires evidence such as receipts, bills and bank statements, even if the Department already received that information.

There is no verified dollar threshold in the sources used for this guide. Explain your actual finances rather than assuming a particular balance proves hardship.

Who faces extra limits on work?

Form 1008 identifies three situations where financial hardship alone does not settle permission to work.

Protection visa applicants

Since 1 July 2009, Form 1008 has required a compelling need to work plus an “acceptable reason for your delay”. Explain why you did not apply while holding a substantive visa, and why you applied only after becoming unlawful.

The Migration (Specification of Classes of Persons) Instrument 2019, LIN 19/061, treats certain applicants as meeting the delay test: current or former subclass 785 holders, and subclass 786 holders who applied within seven working days of a section 91L notice.

Which rule applies also depends on whether you hold subclass 051 or subclass 050; the Migration Regulations 1994 contain separate condition rules for each.

Judicial review BVEs

A non-protection judicial review BVE must carry 8101 under clause 050.612A of the Migration Regulations 1994. For protection judicial review, Form 1008 says work is permitted only if the last bridging visa allowed work and judicial review was lodged within time.

Ministerial intervention BVEs

For a first request made from 1 July 2009, Form 1008 says work is permitted only if the last bridging visa allowed work and you remained lawful from final determination until the request. Where the Minister has intervened but a visa cap prevents grant, clause 050.212(6A) of the Migration Regulations 1994 allows a BVE on a compelling-need-to-work basis. This guide explains the wider rules for a Bridging visa E while Ministerial intervention is pending.

Section 195A BVE holders and the 2025 work-rights instrument

From 1 October 2025, the Migration (Specification of Class of Persons) Instrument 2025, LIN 25/091, specifies “any person who has been granted a Subclass 050 visa or a Subclass 051 visa under section 195A”. These holders fall outside the protection-applicant rules forcing 8101 under clauses 050.613A(1)(b) and 051.611A(1)(c) of the Migration Regulations 1994.

This does not automatically remove an existing no-work condition. Clause 050.616A still permits 8101 and other conditions on a section 195A BVE. Check the actual grant letter and VEVO.

The instrument is one dated entry in this guide’s list of Bridging visa E changes.

What you and your employer see in VEVO

1. You see your conditions in your grant letter and VEVO, according to Home Affairs’ subclass 050 page.

2. Your employer sees your work entitlement. Home Affairs’ VEVO for organisations page says registered organisations need an organisation ImmiAccount, an ABN and your permission. Results show unlimited, limited—with conditions—or no work rights.

3. The employer should save the VEVO PDF. Home Affairs recommends this because compliance officers may request it during field inspections.

Employer penalties: sections 245AB and 245AC

Section 245AB of the Migration Act 1958 covers allowing an unlawful non-citizen to work. With knowledge or recklessness, the offence carries two years’ imprisonment, 360 penalty units, or both. The civil penalty is 240 penalty units. A defence involves reasonable verification steps at reasonable times, including VEVO.

Section 245AC carries the same penalties for allowing a lawful non-citizen to work contrary to a work-related condition. This includes a BVE holder with condition 8101.

Since 1 July 2024, section 245AAA has separately prohibited coercing or exerting undue pressure on a lawful non-citizen to breach a work-related condition.

Home Affairs’ information for employers page, updated 30 September 2026, says serious, deliberate or repeated breaches carry up to five years’ jail and fines up to A$131,040 (360 penalty units). It also says prohibited employers cannot hire new temporary visa holders. These broader figures are not the ordinary section 245AB or 245AC imprisonment maximum.

Reporting protections if you were exploited

Home Affairs’ Strengthening Reporting Protections pilot, operating from 1 July 2024, protects eligible temporary visa holders with work rights against cancellation for an exploitation-linked work-condition breach where:

• There is no other cancellation reason, such as security, character or fraud.
• Exploitation happened within the last 12 months, or longer in exceptional cases.
• The Fair Work Ombudsman or an accredited third party helping resolve the matter certifies it.
• The person agrees in writing to comply with their conditions.

For someone without work permission, Home Affairs says: “If you are a temporary visa holder who is not allowed to work, we will consider your case on its merits.” Home Affairs also says it “is illegal to exploit migrant workers”, even if they “have broken their visa rules”. These protections are not permission to work: condition 8101 still applies.

If you cannot work: SRSS and Special Benefit

1. Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS). Home Affairs’ SRSS page describes needs-based support for eligible non-citizens who cannot support themselves, can demonstrate hardship and are resolving their status. Help may include money, accommodation, health and mental health care, children’s schooling and case management.

   Eligibility may cover bridging visa holders with valid protection applications and significant barriers, people recently released from detention, and finally determined protection applicants or community BVE holders with exceptional circumstances. Examples include serious health barriers, life expectancy under 12 months or a departure pathway.

   Apply through the providers listed by Home Affairs, with a statement and evidence. The SRSS page identifies three months of bank statements, accommodation details, payslips, Form 1567 medical evidence and school enrolment. It states no payment amount; support is needs-based. Home Affairs’ June 2026 administration report records 1,927 recipients at 31 December 2025.

2. Special Benefit (Centrelink). Services Australia’s Special Benefit eligibility page requires financial hardship beyond your control, an approved temporary visa and an income and assets test. However, the Social Security (Special Benefit – Class of Visas) Determination 2025 lists Bridging F (060) and Bridging R (070), not BVE subclasses 050 or 051. Holding a BVE does not, by itself, satisfy this visa requirement.

3. The Government’s position. Home Affairs’ SRSS page, updated 23 July 2025, states: “Most non-citizens with a bridging visa have work rights and access to Medicare. The Australian Government expects bridging visa holders to look after themselves while they resolve their immigration status.”

Work rights on other bridging visas

Other bridging visas have their own work rules, set by each class’s conditions in the Migration Regulations 1994. The companion page, Which bridging visas allow work, explains work permission at grant.

Work permission can also matter for Medicare. Under the Health Insurance Act 1973, authority to work is one eligibility route for a temporary visa holder with a pending non-parent permanent-visa application, subject to the other statutory requirements. This guide explains how to apply for Medicare on a bridging visa.

Does it cost anything to ask for permission to work?

No. The request is a new BVE application, with an A$0 application charge under Schedule 1 item 1305 of the Migration Regulations 1994.

How many hours can I work once condition 8101 is gone?

A BVE granted for a compelling need to work cannot carry 8101 or 8104 under clause 050.613, so no hours limit applies. Other BVEs may carry condition 8104’s 40-hour fortnight limit.

Does unpaid help count as work under condition 8101?

Yes, if the activity normally attracts remuneration in Australia. Regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines work by the activity, not whether you receive payment.

Form 1008 warns that “the person who decides your application may have only this information to consider”. An Australian migration lawyer can check your BVE’s legal basis, hardship evidence, inconsistencies and any protection-application delay explanation before lodgement. If you need a Bridging visa E lawyer, contact one directly; the site enquiry service is a disabled preview and cannot send details yet. A refused work request leaves the existing no-work restriction in place while living costs continue. This Bridging Visa E Guide provides information, not a prediction of the decision, and is not a government site or law practice.