If My Visa Is Cancelled Can I Still Work In Australia?

The bottom line: once your visa is cancelled, you lose your legal right to work in Australia immediately — unless you're granted a bridging visa that specifically permits employment. Working without that permission isn't a grey area under Australian law; it's an offence with real consequences for both you and any employer who keeps paying you.

If that's the situation you're facing right now, here's what actually happens next, and what your options look like.

The moment cancellation takes effect

Under the Migration Act 1958, a person without a valid visa becomes an "unlawful non-citizen" the second their visa is cancelled. Section 235 of the Act makes it an offence for an unlawful non-citizen to work in Australia — and "work" is defined broadly to cover almost any activity that would normally attract payment, paid or not. So the honest answer to "can I work if my visa is cancelled in Australia" is no, not on the cancelled visa itself, and not while you're unlawful.

This applies regardless of why the cancellation happened — a 116 visa cancellation (visa ceasing to be valid, often linked to the reason it was granted no longer existing) and a 501 visa cancellation (character grounds) both strip work rights the same way. The grounds differ; the consequence for your ability to work doesn't.

Where a bridging visa changes things

This is where bridging visa work rights after cancellation become relevant. If you lodge a valid application for a new substantive visa, or apply for merits review, the Department of Home Affairs may grant you a Bridging Visa C or Bridging Visa E while that's assessed.

The critical detail is Condition 8101 — "No work." Whether you can work on a bridging visa E or C depends entirely on whether this condition is attached. If it is, working while visa cancelled Australia-wide is still illegal, even though you technically hold a bridging visa. You can apply to have Condition 8101 removed, but the Department needs evidence of genuine financial hardship — bank statements, living cost breakdowns, and a compelling reason you can't otherwise support yourself. Approval isn't automatic, and it's assessed case by case.

Worth knowing: since October 2025, a narrow exception exists for certain BVE holders granted under Section 195A of the Migration Act (people released from immigration detention by ministerial discretion) — Conditions 8101 and 8116 no longer apply automatically to that specific group.