working holidays and permanent residency

Want to Work whilst you Visit Australia?  How can this type of visa help me towards permanent migration?

As a general rule, those who visit Australia are not permitted to work… but if you are looking to migrating to Australia, a working holiday visa can be a great starting point. This visa is granted for 1 year and will give you time to see different cities and towns to decide what might suit your work and lifestyle. You are also open to work in any occupation or job. This gives you the opportunity to show your worth to an employer who may be in a position to then sponsor you on to a proper full-time working visa.  It is also one of the rare visas that still allows you to apply for a student visa whilst in Australia if you need to upgrade your skills.  And at just $650 AUD its great value!
​

​working holiday visas – subclass 417 and subclass 462

​Common criteria:
~ starting age 18 years… maximum age 30 years or 35 years (depending on the country of your passport)
~ for your first visa, you must be outside of Australia to apply
~ if you are a dual citizen, you can only qualify for your first visa provided you have not previously held a 417 visa or 462 visa, so no swapping from one visa subclass to another using different passports.
~ have enough money to support yourself upon your initial arrival into Australia as it can take you some time to find employment. The expected amount to show is $5000 AUD plus the cost of a ticket to depart Australia
~ be in good health (you will be required to undergo an official medical check)
~ be of good character (you will need official police certificates to show this)
~ generally, you have not previously had a visa cancelled or refused, this could cause you to have an exclusion period applied to you.
​

Which country passport qualifies for a subclass 417 – Working Holiday Visa: ​

Belgium	Canada	Cyprus	Denmark
Estonia	Finland	France	Germany
Hong Kong SAR	Ireland	Italy	Japan
Korea (South)	Malta	Netherlands	Norway
​Sweden	Taiwan	UK & Nth Ireland	---

Which country passport qualifies for a subclass 462 – Work and Holiday Visa:

Argentina	Austria	Brazil	Chile
China	Czech Republic	Ecuador	Greece
Hungary	Indonesia	Israel	Luxembourg
​Malaysia	Mongolia	Papua New Guinea	​Peru
Poland	Portugal	San Marino	Singapore
Slovak Republic	Slovenia	Spain	Switzerland
Thailand	Turkiye	​Uruguay	USA
Vietnam​	To be opened: Philippines	---	---

​Other requirements for subclass 462 eligible countries:

~ Education:
Many countries require that you have completed a tertiary education or at least 2 years of an undergraduate university degree.  Acceptable tertiary qualifications: degrees, graduate certificates, diplomas.  Higher level (certificate I to IV) and High School certificates are generally not accepted.
~ Functional level of English (not applicable to all countries, check with us):
There are different ways you can prove your functional English level.  The most common is you hold an approved passport (USA, UK, Canada or Ireland); have completed schooling delivered in English; or you pass an approved test – eg IELTS, PTE, Cambridge.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER and know:

How can you qualify for another visa to stay longer in Australia?
A great bonus of this visa is that by doing a few months of specified work in regional Australia will open the door for you to apply for a second, and possibly, a third visa!  That’s 3+ years of building your work experience and possible sponsorship to staying more permanently in Australia.

What is specified work in regional Australia?
Australia is a BIG country and there is work in all the 4 corners of the land. The government wants to encourage you to explore and help the smaller cities and towns. It’s possible you may actually fall in love with the people, area and work – enticing you to stay longer or even to seek permanent residency.

What areas of Australia are “regional”?
Put simply – stay away from most capital cities – especially Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.  Amazingly some capital cities are still deemed regional – like Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin.

How long do you need to work?
To qualify for a 2nd visa – you will need to work at least 88 days (3 months) full-time or equivalent time to qualify.  And to qualify for the 3rd visa – double this again, 179 days (6 months).

What is “specified work”?
There are a range of jobs that can meet this criteria.  Examples of this are:
- Tourism and Hospitality industry (in very remote areas)
- Fruit and/or vegetable picking and packing
- Taking care of animals being reared for consumption such as cattle herding
- Fishing and Pearling directly related to commercial operations
- Building construction
- Work in bushfire effected areas to help with re-building/re-growth of the area
As you can see, there is a variety of work and ways to meet criteria for a 2nd and 3rd visa.

Great Australian Migration offers a "work, time and location check" service to those in Australia and to those that have gone back home and now want to try for their 2nd or 3rd year visa.  We will check your documents such as reference letters, pay slips, contract and/or other proof in support of the work you have done, the location of where it was done and that you have enough hours/days to satisfy criteria.  This is $300AUD.  And if you are looking to obtain your first visa and need help with it all, we are here to help with that too – full service for $1250AUD.

Contact us for more information, whether its this visa or another… we are here to help you 😊