A Working Holiday Visa is a great opportunity for young people that want to travel and explore a new country while at the same time gaining valuable work experience.
If you are thinking about changing your life and buying a plane ticket for the land down under in this post you’ll find all the info to get your Visa and start your new adventure!
What exactly is a Working Holiday Visa
A WHV is a Visa granted to you by the Australian government that lets you travel and work in Australia for up to 12 months.
There are 2 types of Working Holiday Visa, the subclass 417 and the subclass 462.
The working holiday Visa (subclass 417) can be renewed into a second and even third year if you work a specified job for a determined period of time. (3 months to get the second year visa and 6 months to get the third year Visa). You can apply for this Visa only if you have a valid passport from one of the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
The work and holiday Visa(Subclass 462) instead cannot be renewed so it will last only 12 months. The countries that can apply for this visa are: Bangladesh, Chile, China, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United States and Uruguay.
What are the eligibility requirements
Before you begin the application process, it’s crucial to ensure you meet the eligibility requirements:
- Age: You must be between 18 and 30 years old (sometimes up to 35 for certain countries) at the time of application.
- Passport: you must hold a valid passport from an eligible country .
- Applying: you must apply online through the Australian government Department of home Affairs website.
- Previous Visas: you must not have entered Australia with a previous working and holiday visa (subclass 417 or 462)
- Funds: you must have enough money to fund your journey, in particular the Australian government requires you to have at least 5000$AUD to cover the first expenses.
Once you are sure you meet the requirements, let’s see in detail what you can and can’t do with a WHV.
- you can travel in and out of Australia for 12 months with no restrictions.
- you can work to help fund your journey with the only limitation that you can’t work for the same employer for more than 6 months without a previous consent from the Australian government.
- you can study for up to 4 months.
- you can get a second working holiday visa if you do 3 months of specified work.
Now you have all the fundamental information about this Visa, in any case don’t forget to check the Australian immigration website for more details about this or other Visas you might be interested in.
How to apply for it
Moving to another country for 1 year sure isn’t a light decision to take, so my advice is to take your time, gather all the infos you can get and think about it carefully. However, if you, like me, decide that this is what you want to do, I’ll show you the step to step procedure to apply for this Visa.
The process is really simple, firstly you need to visit the Australian Governement Department of Home affairs and search for the Working Holiday Visa. Before applying you’ll need to create an ImmiAccount, once you have done it you can start the real application process.
Take some time and answer all the questions, read everything carefully and make sure to have a photo of your passport to upload as well as proof of funds in your bank account. If you have it you can also upload a copy of your driver license and your country id. If you understand English and have your documents with you it will not take a lot of time to finish all the forms. At the end of the process you’ll need to pay the required fee that in this moment is 635 Australian dollars (roughly €388 or $423).
Once you completed your application and paid the fee you’ll receive the Acknowledgement of Application Received email from the Department of Home Affairs and you’ll be able to see the status of your application in the private area of your ImmiAccount.
At this point you just have to wait for the approval, they declare a processing time of less than 1 day for 50% of applications, and in my case i can confirm that the Visa arrived just a few hours later, but be aware that it could also take up to 1 month. Also don’t forget that you have 1 year from when the visa is granted to enter Australia.
Congratulations! Once you receive the Immi Grant Notification email with your Visa you are now free to travel to Australia and start this new exciting and amazing experience!