The Federal Court has allowed bankrupt former billionaire Nathan Tinkler to fly to the United States to look for work on the condition that he return to Australia no later than April 8.

Justice John Nicholas rejected Mr Tinkler's trustee's calls for the former mining magnate to pay a $500,000 surety, which would be forfeited if he failed to return.

"I am not satisfied that it is necessary to impose such a requirement in order to ensure the applicant's return or that it would be just or equitable to do so."

However, he ordered Mr Tinkler to provide the trustee "full and up-to-date" information on his whereabouts and contact details while in the United States as well as a copy of his return ticket.

The judge handed down his decision on Friday after delaying it last week, which forced Mr Tinkler to cancel his January 28 flight to Hawaii and his scheduled job interview in New York on February 1.

Mr Tinkler has planned a 10-week trip with his fiance to see his children, who live with his ex-wife in Hawaii, and to look for work in the United States after struggling to find a job in Australia.

Trustee Ferrier Hodgson's John Melluish, had raised concerns Mr Tinkler "is or could be a flight risk" due to his sources of income overseas, his fiance and family were accompanying him and he had no bank accounts in Australia. The trustee had refused two earlier requests by Mr Tinkler to travel to Honolulu in 2016.

Justice Nicholas rejected that Mr Tinkler was a "flight risk" after accepting that his desire to visit his children and seek work was genuine.

But he cautioned that if Mr Tinkler failed to return by the due date he could be imprisoned for up to a year.

"A failure on the part of the applicant to return to Australia as required by the relevant condition would almost certainly result in the issue of a warrant for his arrest."

Mr Tinkler, who owes his creditors more than half a billion dollars, has not paid any money to his trustee despite an income assessment requiring him to pay $60,407 in 2016.

Although working for his father's company Oceltip Coal 2 on a $120,000 salary from April to September 2016, Mr Tinkler told the court that he not been paid due to a contract dispute between Oceltip and a third party.

Justice Nicholas rejected the trustee's proposal for Mr Tinkler to pay the income contribution as a condition of travel. But he ordered him to provide information that would allow the trustee to make a fresh income assessment.

If Mr Tinkler found a job in the United States the income would likely benefit his creditors. However, the trustee would still have to gives its consent for him to work overseas.