Protection Visa Changes From 1 November 2026: Upfront $1,863.50 ART Review Fee, Bridging Visa B Closed to Protection Applicants, and Bridging Visa E Conduct Conditions Return

On Saturday 31 October 2026 the Australian Government registered the Migration Amendment (2026 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2026. They commenced the next morning, Sunday 1 November 2026, with no advance notice. If you have applied for a Protection visa, are thinking about appealing a Protection visa refusal, or hold a bridging visa while a Protection visa application is on foot, three things changed overnight.

1. The fee to appeal a Protection visa refusal to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) is now paid upfront, when you lodge the review application. It is $1,863.50. If you cannot pay it and do not fall within one of the narrow exceptions, the ART cannot hear your case.

2. Protection visa applicants can no longer apply for or be granted a Bridging visa B (BVB), the bridging visa that lets you travel overseas and come back while you wait. A Protection visa applicant who leaves Australia will not be able to return.

3. The Minister can again impose conduct conditions 8564 and 8566 on certain Bridging visa E (BVE) grants. That discretion had been accidentally removed in 2024.

We are Nationwide Migration and Education, a Brisbane migration agency and a team of registered migration agents at 320 Adelaide Street, Brisbane. Everything here comes from the Regulations and their Explanatory Statement on the Federal Register of Legislation and is current as at 2 November 2026.

Change 1: the ART review fee for protection decisions is now paid upfront

How it worked before 1 November 2026

Until now a Protection visa applicant who was refused could apply to the ART for merits review without paying anything upfront. The fee was only charged if the review failed, and it was payable within 7 days of being notified of the ART's decision. In practice that meant anyone could get a hearing, and the people who won never paid.

How it works now

Regulation 4.31B of the Migration Regulations 1994 has been repealed and replaced. For decisions made on or after 1 November 2026, the fee must accompany the application for review. An applicant who does not pay the fee, and who does not qualify for one of the exceptions below, cannot access merits review at all.

The fee is set at 50 per cent of the standard ART review fee for a reviewable migration decision under regulation 4.13(1). At commencement that is $1,863.50. It is indexed every year under regulation 4.13A, so expect it to rise each July.

When the fee is not payable

There are only two situations in which the fee is not payable:

• the applicant is in immigration detention, or

• the application is combined with another review application under regulation 4.31A, and the fee has been paid for that other application.

The old fee-waiver provisions in regulations 4.31BA to 4.31C have been repealed for new decisions. There is no general hardship waiver for a protection review application lodged under the new rules.

When the fee is refunded

The whole fee must be refunded if any of the following happens:

• the applicant was not entitled to apply for review, or the decision was not a reviewable decision

• the ART varies the decision, or sets it aside and substitutes a new decision

• the ART remits the matter to the Department for reconsideration

• the Minister issues a conclusive certificate, or substitutes a decision more favourable to the applicant

• the application is withdrawn because the applicant has died

In short, if you win, you get the money back. If the ART affirms the refusal, or you withdraw for any reason other than death, the fee is gone.

Which cases the new fee applies to

The upfront fee applies to applications for review of decisions made on or after 1 November 2026. If your Protection visa was refused before 1 November 2026, the old rules still apply to your review application, including the old fee, waiver and refund provisions, even if you lodge the review after 1 November.

The date that matters is the date of the Department's decision, not the date you receive the letter or the date you lodge at the ART.

What this means in practice

The review deadline and the money are now a single problem. A Protection visa refusal notified in Australia generally gives you 28 days to apply to the ART, and an application lodged without the fee is not a valid application unless an exception applies. If you receive a refusal, do not spend the first three weeks deciding whether to appeal and the last week finding the fee. Decide early, and arrange the fee at the same time.

Change 2: Bridging visa B is closed to Protection visa applicants

What a Bridging visa B does

A Bridging visa B (subclass 020) is the only bridging visa that lets a person who is waiting on a visa decision leave Australia and come back. People have used it to visit sick relatives, attend funerals, sit overseas examinations and manage business affairs while an application or review was pending.

What changed

Schedules 1 and 2 of the Migration Regulations have been amended so that a Protection (Class XA) visa applicant can no longer make a valid BVB application and cannot be granted a BVB. The rule applies whether the Protection visa application is undecided at the Department, under merits review at the ART, or under judicial review in the courts.

There are two parts to the new rule:

• At the application stage(Schedule 1, item 1302), a BVB application must now be made in association with a substantive visa application other than a Protection (Class XA) visa.

• At the decision stage (new clause 020.224), the applicant must not have a Protection (Class XA) visa application that is undecided or under merits or judicial review.

The decision-stage bar is the broader one. It applies even if the applicant also has another substantive visa application under consideration. It also catches members of a family unit who made a combined Protection visa application while judicial review of the refusal is still pending.

The practical consequence

The effect of the Regulations is blunt: a Protection (Class XA) visa applicant who departs Australia will not be able to re-enter. There is no travel while a Protection visa application or review is on foot. Anyone in this group who is holding a ticket, or who has been planning a trip around a BVB, needs advice before they travel, not after.

Which cases the BVB change applies to

The BVB amendments apply to visa applications made on or after 1 November 2026. If you already hold a BVB that was granted on an application lodged before 1 November, this change does not cancel it. But once that BVB's travel period ends, you will not be able to get another one while your Protection visa matter is pending.

Change 3: conduct conditions 8564 and 8566 return to Bridging visa E

The third change is a correction. The Migration Amendment (Cessation and Grant of Bridging Visas) Regulations 2024 unintentionally removed the Minister's discretion to impose two conduct conditions on certain Bridging visa E (subclass 050) grants. The 2026 Regulations restore it.

The two conditions are:

• Condition 8564: the holder must not engage in criminal conduct.

• Condition 8566: the holder must comply with the code of behaviour specified by the Minister.

The Minister may now impose one or both conditions on a BVE that is granted:

• personally by the Minister under section 195A of the Migration Act 1958 (clause 050.616A)

• to a person who already holds a BVE and is granted a further BVE because a ground in subclause 050.212(6A) or (8) applies, which includes the Minister being satisfied the person has a compelling need to work (clause 050.613)

• to certain Protection visa applicants who are not in a class of persons specified by the Minister (clause 050.613A)

The conditions only bind a holder if they were imposed at the time of grant. Where they are imposed, a breach can lead to visa cancellation. These amendments also apply to visa applications made on or after 1 November 2026.

Who is affected, in one table

What to do now

If you have just received a Protection visa refusal, check the date on the decision. On or after 1 November 2026 means the upfront fee applies. Get advice on the merits of a review within days, not weeks, so that the fee and the lodgement deadline can be managed together.

If you have a Protection visa application or review pending and you need to travel, do not book anything until you have had advice. Under the new rules, leaving Australia ends your ability to return.

If you hold a Bridging visa E and receive a new grant with condition 8564 or 8566 attached, read the grant letter carefully. The code of behaviour is enforceable and a breach can cost you the visa.

If you are advising someone in this position, the transitional line is the date of the Department's decision for the fee, and the date of the bridging visa application for the BVB and BVE changes.

How we can help

We do the straightforward matters and the complicated ones: refusals, cancellations, tribunal reviews, health and character problems. If your file is messy, it is not our first messy file. A Protection visa review under the new upfront-fee rules is exactly the kind of matter where early advice saves money, because the fee is only refunded if the review succeeds.

Book a consultation at https://nationwidemigration.com.au/services or call our Brisbane office on +61 7 3726 5183. Bring three things:

1. The Department's decision letter, so we can confirm the decision date and the review deadline

2. Your current visa grant notice, including any bridging visa and its conditions

3. A short note of anything that has changed since you lodged, including any need to travel

General information only, current as at 2 November 2026. Not migration advice for your specific circumstances.