Bridging Visa C

It might be unfortunate for some that one becomes unlawful non-citizen (illegally stay), for whatever reasons. Once one becomes unlawful non-citizen, there will be some limitation on which visa subclass one can apply.

Once one apply for whatever visa that one allowed to apply, instead of getting Bridging Visa A as mentioned before, one will get Bridging Visa C instead. It will be granted automatically at no cost once unlawful non-citizen applies for another substantive visa. 

This is one of the ways that unlawful non-citizen people can legalize their migration status in Australia. However, there is a no travel right, just like Bridging Visa A. One thing that Bridging Visa C is different from Bridging Visa A is that Bridging Visa A is allowed the visa holder to apply for Bridging Visa B to travel out of the country. Bridging Visa C does not allow the visa holder to apply for Bridging Visa B, therefore the visa holder is stuck here. Cannot travel out until the outcome of the substantive visa has been finalized.

I would guess that travel out of the country is not really a big deal for unlawful non-citizen that some of them have been "underground" for long long time. They can wait for their substantive visa and holding Bridging Visa C for a while!!!

Bridging Visa B

As mentioned previously that Bridging Visa A is FREE of charge and it allowed the visa holder (or applicant) to stay indefinitely in Australia while s/he waiting for the outcome of the substantive visa.

However, Bridging Visa A doesn't have the travel right. It means that the visa holder is not allowed to travel out of Australia under Bridging Visa A. If the visa holder travel out of Australia under Bridging Visa A, s/he will not be able to come back under Bridging Visa A because the Bridging Visa A is automatically ceased once the visa holder passed through the custom at the airport or port.

So, what happen if the visa holder want to travel out of Australia, for whatever reasons??

Bridging Visa B is the answer. Those who want to travel out of Australia needs to apply for Bridging Visa B (form 1006). It comes with small fee of $140 (as of today). 

Visa applicant can apply for Bridging Visa B at any DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border Protection) office or apply by post. Sadly Bridging Visa B cannot apply online just yet (as of today).

Bridging Visa B usually can be granted within 1 day.

The maximum stay that Bridging Visa B allows the visa holder to stay out of Australia is 3 months. Therefore, it is important that the visa holder travel back to Australia before Bridging Visa B expires. Otherwise, s/he need to apply for another visa to come back to Australia. Usually people apply for Tourist Visa when they forgot to come back because of Bridging Visa B expires (too much fun overseas).

Bridging Visa A holder can apply for Bridging Visa B as many times as they like. However, it is important to remember to come back before 3 months period run out.

Bridging Visa A

Bridging Visas are one the most confusing areas of Australian visas system. Not many people know what Bridging Visas are and what is the purpose of each one of them?

One of the most common Bridging Visas is Bridging Visa A. Bridging Visa A is the Bridging Visa that is automatically granted at NO COST once the visa applicant has applied for the substantive visa, onshore.

Offshore visa applicants won't be able to obtain a Bridging Visa A.

The purpose of Bridging Visa A is for the visa applicant to legally stay in Australia and wait for his/her substantive visa to be finalized. Therefore the Bridging Visa A does not really have an expiry date. It will cease once the substantive visa has been finalized, either successfully grant or refuse.

There are things that you need to know about Bridging Visa A:

• Bridging Visa A does not have the travel facilities. If a Bridging Visa A holder wants to travel out of Australia, then s/he needs to apply for Bridging Visa B. Bridging Visa B will allow the visa holder to travel out of Australia, usually up to 3 months.
• Working right will be exactly the same as the previous substantive visa. Therefore, it is important that the visa holder knows his/her work rights or work conditions of the substantive visa so that the work rights won't be breached while holding Bridging Visa A.
• Student visa holders can still work up to 40 hours/2 weeks.
• Tourist visa holder will have no work right.
• Bridging Visa A will not come into effect until the last substantive visa expires. Therefore, it is important that the visa holder follows the visa conditions of the previous substantive visa strictly. For example, student visa holders need to attend school until either their previous substantive visa expires or the new substantive visa has finalized.

That is the basic knowledge that a lot of us should know about Bridging Visa A. So that we won't breach any of the visa conditions.

Becoming an Australain citizen

Personally, I think it is a privilege to be an Australian citizen, either by birth or by choice. There are several ways of becoming Australian citizen. One of the most common one among migrants is by "conferral".

You are eligible for Australian citizenship by conferral if you:

•  Legally live here in Australia for at least 4 years (on whatever visa)
• Have been a Permanent Residence and live in Australia at least 1 year after your permanent residency (on whatever Permanent Residence visa subclass)

It is important that you know how to calculate the residency period in Australia. Everytime you travel out of Australia, you cannot count those days toward your residency. 

If your child is under 16, your child can be a secondary applicant at no cost. There are greater benefits of become Australian citizen, especially for your child education.

Apart from any social benefits from Centrelink (I won't elaborate here), your child will have access to a FREE public education until year 12. Your child will have access to HECS and VETHELP if she/he decided to continue his/her education at higher level.

Many parents have decided to become Australian citizens, simply for their child's education.

In order to become an Australian citizen by conferral, the applicant needs to sit for the Australian citizenship test. It is 20 multiple choice questions. You need to get at least 15 of them correctly. You have 45 minutes to sit for the test. It is a computerized test, therefore, you will get your results immediately. You are allowed to take the test several times in one day, provided that the officer at the centre is available. It is quite obvious that the officer is quite flexible with the test.

As lots of countries now allow the dual citizenship. I personally encourage everyone to take up Australian citizenship. There are lots of benefits that you can access if you are an Australian citizen. Another great things of being an Australian citizen is that, there are lots of countries in the CommonWealth that you could travel to without having a visa or easily apply for "a visa on arrival".

As an Australian citizen, you could also live permanently in New Zealand as it is part of agreement between our 2 governments.

As you can see there are great benefits to call Australia home and become part of the country; be Australian citizen. I strongly suggest everyone look into this option seriously as the process of becoming Australian citizen is quite easy and straightforward.