Bridging visa

[nikkigosrani]

Hi,

I have applied for a partner visa a few days ago. I came into Australia on a e-visitor visa lasting 3 months. The bridging visa will not come into effect until the e-visitor visa expires. Is there a way of expiring the visitor visa early so I can be on the bridging visa and work as it is a long time not to be able to work.

Thank you for your help in advance

Nikita

[Leanne Stevens]

Unfortunately there's no easy way around this. You will not have work rights until the 3 months is up, and the BVA is in effect. If the tourist visa were to be cancelled, it would also cancel your Bridging Visa A.

[SOMV]

As far as I am aware there isn't a way of speeding up the expiry of your current visa.

 

Don't forget that your Australian partner/sponsor is actually meant to be able to provide for you and support you. It used to be that bridging visas were not granted with permission to work and an application had to be made specifically to apply for work rights because it was assumed that a sponsor would be able to support his or her partner. And if a visa applicant did want to be able to work, the applicant then had to show why the applicant had a compelling need to work. It also used to be that often an assurance of support bond used to have to be lodged to show that an applicant would be suported by a sponsr or assurer if he or she needed to rely on benefits and so on.

 

You are lucky that things are much simpler these days and you are automatically given work rights once the bridging visa kicks in.

 

Also don't forget that you entered Australia on a tourist visa and the purpose of that visa was to be a tourist and not to work and not to have the chance to lodge a partner visa application on arrival. The fact that you have now applied for a partner visa is generally overlooked by the Department but if they wanted to they could be tough and say that actually you entered on fraudulent grounds.

 

So my advice would be to sit back quietly, enjoy your three month holiday, and make sure that you conform to all current visa conditions.

[nikkigosrani]

Thank you for replying. And just another question will it be ok to do voluntary work? I am not so concerned about money but more so being bored while my partner is at work so I am just looking at something where I can be a bit productive. Thank you

[SOMV]

You should enjoy such a long holiday, what a luxury

 

The rules with respect to volunteer work for visitors are roughly this, so you may want to make sure that if you do do any volunteer work it is along these lines:

 

Voluntary, unpaid work, is ok if it is work is genuinely voluntary and you are not paid for it, other than for meals, accommodation or out of pocket living expenses. AND if the voluntary work could have been undertaken by an Australian resident who would have received a wage, then this may not be ok.