Protection Visa Changes from 1 November 2026: No Bridging Visa B and a $1,863.50 Upfront ART Fee

From 1 November 2026, a person who has applied for a Protection (subclass 866) visa can't get a bridging visa B, the bridging visa that lets you leave Australia and come back while an application is processed. On that same day, review of a protection decision at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) started to cost $1,863.50, paid when you apply. Before then, you paid nothing unless the review failed.

Both changes come from one set of amending regulations. A third change lets the Minister impose two more conditions on certain bridging visa E grants.

Timing decides which rules apply to you. Bridging visa changes apply to visa applications made on or after 1 November 2026, and the new fee applies to review applications made from that date. Anything lodged earlier keeps the old rules.

What changed on 1 November 2026?

No bridging visa B while a protection application is open

A bridging visa B (BVB) does one thing other bridging visas don't: it lets you leave Australia and come back within a set travel period while a substantive visa application is processed. Home Affairs now says it plainly on its BVB page. You cannot get a BVB if your application is for a Protection visa.

To make a valid BVB application now, both of these must be true:

• You have a qualifying application. That means a valid application for a substantive visa other than a protection visa that hasn't been finally decided, or a judicial review case about such an application, lodged within the time limit and not yet finished.
• You have no open protection case. You haven't made a protection visa application that is still undecided and not withdrawn, and you have no judicial review case about a protection visa application still running.

A second check happens when the Department decides the BVB. If a protection application is open at that point, including while it is at the ART or in court, the BVB can't be granted.

Worked example: an applicant in Australia has two applications open, a protection visa application and an application for another substantive visa. Before 1 November, the second application could support a BVB. From 1 November, it can't, because the protection application is still open. According to the explanatory statement, the change is meant to stop protection applicants getting a BVB even where more than one substantive application is under consideration.

Integrity is the government's stated reason. Its explanatory statement says the aim is to reduce the incentive to lodge protection applications without merit to gain the international travel flexibility a BVB gives.

The upfront ART fee: what you pay and what comes back

Review of a protection decision now costs half the ART's fee for other migration reviews. That fee is $3,727, so a protection review costs $1,863.50. It's indexed each year.

It applies to review of a decision to refuse or cancel a protection visa. It also covers a decision under section 197D that a protection finding would no longer be made about a person. If it isn't paid when you apply, the online application won't submit, and the ART says it can't reduce or waive the fee. There's no hardship reduction, unlike the 50% reduction available for other migration reviews.

Two groups don't pay:

• a non-citizen who is in immigration detention when they apply
• an applicant whose application is combined with another application for which the fee has been paid

You get the whole fee back if the ART varies the decision, sets it aside and substitutes a new one, or sends the matter back to the Department for reconsideration. It's also refunded if you weren't entitled to apply, if the decision wasn't reviewable, if the Minister substitutes a more favourable decision or issues a conclusive certificate, or if the application is withdrawn because the applicant has died. A withdrawal for any other reason gets a refund only in very limited circumstances, according to the ART.

Applied to the ART before 1 November?

Lodged a review application before 1 November 2026? Then the old rules continue. You didn't pay upfront. If the review is unsuccessful, you'll generally have to pay a fee, and the ART sends an invoice that must be paid within 7 days. If it succeeds, in most cases there's nothing to pay.

One trap is procedural. An online application that was started but not submitted before 12:00 am AEDT on Sunday 1 November 2026 doesn't carry over. You have to start a new online form and pay $1,863.50 before you can submit it.

Deadlines to apply haven't moved. Your time limit is in the letter that came with the Department's decision, and our guide to refusals and ART deadlines explains how those limits are counted.

Bridging visa E: two more possible conditions

Those regulations also add conditions 8564 (the holder must not engage in criminal conduct) and 8566 (the holder must have signed a code of behaviour) to the conditions the Minister may impose on certain bridging visa E grants. They cover three situations:

• a BVE the Minister grants personally to a person in immigration detention
• a further BVE granted to a current BVE holder on a ground that includes a compelling need to work
• a BVE granted to some people who have applied for a protection visa

According to the explanatory statement, this restores how these conditions were meant to work, fixing an unintended consequence of bridging visa amendments made in 2024.

FAQ

Can protection visa applicants get a bridging visa B?

No, not for a bridging visa B application made on or after 1 November 2026. A BVB can't be applied for or granted while the applicant has a protection visa application that is undecided, or a review or judicial review case about one still running. This applies even if the person also has another substantive visa application open.

Who is eligible for a bridging visa B?

A person in Australia who holds a bridging visa A or B and has applied in Australia for a substantive visa that can be granted in Australia and isn't a protection visa. They must have no protection visa application awaiting a decision, and no court case about one. The BVB lets them leave and return within a set travel period.

How much is the ART fee to review a protection visa decision?

It's $1,863.50 for an application made on or after 1 November 2026, paid when you apply. That is half the ART's $3,727 fee for other migration reviews, and it's indexed each year. People in immigration detention don't pay, and neither do applications combined with another application whose fee has been paid.

Do I get the protection review fee back if my review succeeds?

Yes. The whole $1,863.50 is refunded if the ART varies the decision, sets it aside and substitutes a new one, or sends the matter back to the Department for reconsideration. It's also refunded if the application is invalid or the Minister substitutes a more favourable decision. A withdrawal for other reasons is refunded only in very limited circumstances.

Can the ART reduce the protection review fee for financial hardship?

No. The ART says it can't reduce or waive the fee for reviewing a protection decision. The only exemptions are for people in immigration detention and for applications combined with another application whose fee has been paid. The 50% hardship reduction applies to other migration reviews, not protection reviews.

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Refused a protection visa, or planning travel while a protection application is open? Book a consultation and we'll check which rules apply to your dates before a deadline passes. Our refusals and appeals service handles ART applications from start to finish.