The Department of Home Affairs puts it plainly: on this visa "you will have full work rights and are protected by Australian workplace law". Part 820 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 confirms it from the other direction — clause 820.6 sets the conditions attached to the visa at "Nil". There is no hour limit, no nominated employer, no restriction by occupation and no requirement to tell the Department where you work.
The complication is everything that happens before grant, which for most people is the longest part of the process.
What the 820 itself allows
Full-time, part-time, casual, contract, self-employment, running a business, more than one job at once — all of it. Protection under Australian workplace law is not conditional on the visa you hold: minimum pay rates, awards, leave entitlements and the rules about unfair dismissal apply to a temporary visa holder the same way they apply to anyone else doing that work. The most common reason underpaid temporary visa holders stay quiet is a belief that complaining will affect the visa. Your 820 is not conditional on your employer.
Before the visa is granted: what your bridging visa allows
Your work rights during the wait come from the visa you are actually holding, not from the application you have lodged. Most onshore Partner applicants who held a valid visa when they applied are granted a Bridging visa A, and this is where people get caught.
A Bridging visa A does not come with its own work rights. Clause 010.611 of Schedule 2 says that, in the ordinary case, the bridging visa carries whichever of a list of conditions applied to the visa you held when you made the Partner visa application. The work conditions on that list include:
- Condition 8101 — "The holder must not engage in work in Australia." A complete bar, not an hour limit.
- Condition 8104 — "The holder must not engage in work for more than 40 hours a fortnight while the holder is in Australia."
- Condition 8105 — the student work condition, which limits work to 40 hours a fortnight during any fortnight when the course of study or training is in session.
So the answer is personal to you. If you applied holding a visa with no work condition, your Bridging visa A generally has none either. If you applied from a visitor visa carrying condition 8101, that bar normally follows you onto the bridging visa and stays until the 820 is granted. See applying from a visitor visa and applying from a student visa.
Watch out
For conditions 8104 and 8105 the Regulations read 40 hours as 48 hours where the visa held is a Subclass 500 (Student) visa, or a bridging visa granted on the basis of a valid Subclass 500 application. A bridging visa granted on the basis of a Partner application is neither of those. Do not assume the higher figure carries across.
Check VEVO, not your memory
Australian visas are digital. There is no label in your passport, and your bridging visa grant letter is a record of a moment, not a live statement of your position. VEVO — Visa Entitlement Verification Online — is the Department's own free service and shows the visa currently in effect and its conditions. Check it the day your bridging visa comes into effect, and again whenever anything changes. See Bridging visa A.
Getting a work restriction lifted: "compelling need to work"
If your bridging visa carries a work condition, you can apply for a further Bridging visa A without one. Clause 010.211(4) of Schedule 2 allows this where you hold a Bridging visa A or B granted from an onshore substantive visa application, you held a substantive visa when you made that application, the bridging visa is subject to one of the listed work conditions, you have not applied for a protection visa, and the Minister is satisfied that you have a compelling need to work.
Regulation 1.08 of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines that term narrowly. For this purpose, a person has a compelling need to work if they are in financial hardship. It is not a test of whether work would be convenient, or whether you have a job offer.
That shapes the evidence. Income, savings, rent or mortgage, essential outgoings, debts, dependants and any loss of support are the material that decides it. A bare statement that money is tight will not carry the application. If the new bridging visa is granted, it replaces the one you hold.
What employers check, and what to say when one says no
An employer confirms work rights through VEVO. That is the whole mechanism: no label, no certificate, no letter from the Department. You can run the check yourself and send the result, which is usually faster than asking an employer to work out how to do it.
Some employers still refuse to consider anyone on a bridging visa, assuming it means a short or uncertain stay. Three things are worth putting in front of them, in writing: a current VEVO check showing the conditions or the absence of them; the fact that a bridging visa granted for a Partner application stays in effect until the application is decided, so there is no expiry date to renew; and the fact that the 820, once granted, carries full work rights with no employer restriction at all. None of that obliges anyone to hire you. It does remove the misunderstanding that is usually doing the work.
Where professional help matters here
Work rights are where people most often act on a guess and find out later that they breached a condition. A breach of condition 8101 or 8104 is a ground on which a visa can be cancelled, and a cancellation while a Partner application is pending is a far larger problem than the job was worth. An application — including a further bridging visa application on financial hardship grounds — prepared by a migration lawyer is more likely to succeed, because the hardship evidence has to be assembled properly the first time and the interaction between your old visa's conditions and your bridging visa is easy to read wrongly. No one can promise an outcome.
What to do next
Run a VEVO check now and write down exactly which conditions appear. Then read 820 visa conditions and obligations for what else you are agreeing to, studying on the 820 visa if study is part of the plan, and what the 820 visa lets you do for the rest of the picture.
Common questions
Can I work full time on an 820 visa?
Yes. The Department of Home Affairs says that on a temporary Partner visa you have full work rights and are protected by Australian workplace law. Part 820 of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 attaches no conditions to the visa, so there is no hour limit, no nominated employer and no restriction by occupation.
Can I work on my bridging visa while I wait for the 820?
It depends on the bridging visa. A Bridging visa A granted because you applied for a Partner visa generally carries whichever work condition applied to the visa you held when you made the application. If that visa had no work condition, the bridging visa usually has none either. If it had condition 8101 or 8104, that restriction normally carries across. Check your own conditions in VEVO rather than assuming.
What is condition 8101?
Condition 8101 in Schedule 8 to the Migration Regulations 1994 says the holder must not engage in work in Australia. It is a complete bar on working, not a limit on hours. If it appears on your bridging visa in VEVO, you cannot work while that visa is in effect.
How do I get the work restriction removed from my bridging visa?
By applying for a further Bridging visa A on the basis that you have a compelling need to work. Regulation 1.08 of the Migration Regulations 1994 defines a compelling need to work as being in financial hardship, and the Minister must be satisfied of it. Evidence of your income, expenses and debts is central, and the new bridging visa replaces the old one when it is granted.
How does an employer check my work rights?
Through VEVO, the Department's online Visa Entitlement Verification Online service. Australian visas are digital and there is no label in your passport, so a letter or a printout is not how employers are meant to confirm status. You can run a VEVO check yourself and send the result to an employer.
Sources
Keep reading
Medicare on the 820 Visa
An 820 holder can apply for Medicare. How enrolment works, where bridging visa holders stand, and how to cover yourself for health care while you wait.
Read the guide →
Studying on the 820 Visa
You can study on an 820 visa, but the Department says there is no government support and costs are at your own expense. How fee status is decided.
Read the guide →
Travelling on a Granted 820 Visa
A granted 820 lets you travel in and out of Australia as often as you want. Before grant you need a Bridging visa B, and New Zealand passports face a trap.
Read the guide →