Who can legally help with a Bridging visa B application in 2026? Agents, lawyers and exempt persons

Under the Australian Department of Home Affairs' official Bridging visa B (BVB) (Subclass 020) page (as of the Department's August 2026 official page), only some people can help you with a BVB application. If you appoint someone to give you immigration assistance, that person must be a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner, or an exempt person. Everyone else is outside that list — including people who present themselves as "visa consultants" or "application assistants" without falling into one of those three categories. Separately, you may appoint anyone to receive documents on your behalf relating to your visa matter, because receiving mail is not the same thing as giving immigration assistance.

Who, exactly, is allowed to give immigration assistance?

The Department's page gives a closed list of three. In everyday terms, the difference between them turns on how they are regulated, not on what they are allowed to do for you on a BVB: all three may be appointed to give immigration assistance and to deal with the Department about your application.

Category	What the category is, in general terms	What appointing them does
Registered migration agent	A migration agent who is registered as such under Australia's migration advice framework	Authorises them to give you immigration assistance and act for you on the BVB matter
Legal practitioner	A lawyer admitted to practise in Australia	Same authorisation, given through the same appointment form
Exempt person	A person who is exempt from the requirement to be registered	Same authorisation, given through the same appointment form
Anyone you choose (not assistance)	Receivedocuments only — no immigration assistance	Appointed as an authorised recipient

The Department publishes dedicated pages explaining how each category is defined and how its status is regulated. Those pages, not this article, are where the detailed definitions live; treat any statement about what counts as registration, admission or exemption as needing confirmation against the Department's current published material.

Where is the line between "helping" and "immigration assistance"?

This is the question most applicants get wrong, and it is the question that decides whether someone may lawfully be doing the work at all.

The restriction attaches to the activity, not to the job title. Someone who reads you the form, tells you which boxes to tick, explains how your travel dates affect eligibility, drafts your travel-reason statement, or tells the Department things about your case is giving immigration assistance. That activity is what the closed list governs.

By contrast, the Department separates out one narrow role: receiving documents relating to your visa matter. You can appoint anyone for that. A partner, flatmate, employer or friend can be your authorised recipient. What that person does is take delivery of correspondence; it does not authorise them to advise you or to deal with the merits of your application.

So a useful test: if the person disappeared tomorrow, would you be left holding a file you do not understand, with decisions already made on your behalf? If yes, that was immigration assistance.

Does it matter if nobody is charging a fee?

The framework is triggered by the assistance being given, and the Department's overview page frames this issue exactly where applicants feel it — money. Its instruction is to read the "Who can help with your visa application" information before you pay someone.

Put plainly: "I'm not charging" is not a category. A friend who does the work of a migration agent for free is still doing the work of a migration agent. Conversely, paying someone purely to hand you letters is a different matter from paying them to advise. The commercial arrangement is the context; the nature of the task is the test.

Which form actually makes the appointment?

Two forms do different jobs, and confusing them is how people end up appointing the wrong kind of help:

Form 956 — Appointment of a registered migration agent, legal practitioner or exempt person. This is the form used to appoint someone to provide immigration assistance.
Form 956A — Appointment or withdrawal of an authorised recipient. This is the form used to appoint someone to receive your correspondence.

If you applied online, you upload the written notification or the form through ImmiAccount. If you applied for the substantive visa by paper form, you send the documents to the office assessing your visa application — the Department notes you can find that office on the acknowledgement letter's contact details. The page also requires you to inform the Department if you simply want someone to receive correspondence, or if you have asked someone to give you immigration advice, so silence is not a neutral option once help is involved.

Can that person lodge the BVB application for you — and does channel matter?

Yes, an appointed person can act for you, but nobody can escape the lodgement rules, which follow the substantive visa application:

If the substantive visa was applied for in ImmiAccount, the BVB must be applied for in ImmiAccount.
If the substantive visa was applied for by paper form, you pay the visa application charge and then complete and submit BVB Form 1006 by webform. Receipt details must be provided on the form for it to be a valid application.
If you have applied for merits or judicial review of a decision on the substantive visa, the BVB application also goes in by paper / webform — Form 1006, after payment, with receipt details on the form.

You, and anyone included in the application, must be in Australia when you lodge it. Nobody can fix that for you from overseas, whoever they are.

Three things to check before money changes hands

This article is general information about how the published framework works; it is not advice on your own circumstances. Anything turning on your specific facts should be checked against the Department's current published guidance or discussed with someone lawfully able to advise you, rather than settled from a summary like this one.

Beyond asking which category someone falls into, three practical checks follow directly from the Department's own material:

Match the form to the job. If the work is immigration assistance, the appointment runs through Form 956. If someone suggests Form 956A is enough for them to run your case, the paperwork does not match what is being done.
Check the channel before you check anything else. Your helper cannot choose ImmiAccount over the webform route, or vice versa. The path is set by how the substantive visa was applied for and whether review is on foot.
Assume the basics stay yours. The non-delegable parts — being in Australia at lodgement and at the decision, holding a Bridging visa A or B, and applying within the timing window described below — are your responsibilities, not theirs.

Suppose an applicant asks a friend to "just submit it online" while the substantive visa was filed on paper and a review is pending. The friend cannot make that application valid on ImmiAccount, regardless of goodwill.

What still has to be true, whoever helps you

A helper changes who deals with the Department; it does not change eligibility. From the Department's page:

You must hold a Bridging visa A or B, and have applied in Australia for a substantive visa that can be granted while you are in Australia.
You must be in Australia when you apply and when the decision is made.
You should apply no more than 3 months and not less than 2 weeks before the date you want to travel. Too far ahead makes it hard for the Department to assess whether the substantive visa decision will be ready; too late risks leaving without a visa that lets you return.
A BVB allows travel outside Australia until a set date. If you are not back before that date, it ceases, and you would need a new visa to return.
If you applied together with family members for the substantive visa, one application covers the family unit and one visa application charge is payable — but only include family members with substantial reasons for needing to leave, and note that each member must meet the BVB requirements in their own right.

If you make a mistake on the application, the Department's route for correcting it is Form 1023, Notification of incorrect answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a friend or family member fill in my BVB application for me?

Receiving your correspondence is open to anyone, appointed with Form 956A. Anything beyond that — advising you on eligibility, completing the substance of the application, or dealing with the Department on your case — is immigration assistance, and only a registered migration agent, a legal practitioner or an exempt person may be appointed for it, using Form 956.

Do I have to appoint anyone at all?

No. Nothing on the Department's BVB page requires representation. Applicants who lodge themselves follow the same channel rules — ImmiAccount where the substantive visa was online, otherwise the Form 1006 webform after paying the visa application charge.

Is there a difference between an agent handling my case and an agent just getting my letters?

Yes, and the forms reflect it. Form 956 appoints someone to give immigration assistance; Form 956A appoints an authorised recipient who receives documents on your behalf. They are separate appointments on separate forms.

What happens if I already paid someone who was not on the list?

The Department's advice is to read the "Who can help with your visa application" information before paying. The three-category list governs who may be appointed to give immigration assistance, so the question to resolve is what work has actually been done and under what appointment, checked against the Department's current published guidance.

Can my helper be overseas while my BVB is decided?

The application-side constraints are personal to you, not to them: you and anyone included in the application must be in Australia when you lodge and when the decision is made. If you travel before the BVB is granted, you may not hold a visa that allows you to return.

Do I need to tell the Department later if my arrangements change?

Yes. The page lists changes to phone number, email, address or passport, the birth of a child, and withdrawal of the application as things you must tell it about. Appointing or withdrawing help is also notified — with Form 956A for an authorised recipient and Form 956 for immigration assistance.