Australia's Working Holiday Visa Could Give You Year-Long Residency

27.09.2024 - 21:49 / cntraveler.com

If you’ve long wished to explore the Outback, but don't want to give up your job, there's a way to live out your day dream—Australia's Working Holiday visa programs are a great option for people between 18 and 30 years old (35 in a few cases) to live and work in Australia for the short-term.

This may all sound too good to be true, but soon enough, you could be surfing the famous waves at Bells Beach, enjoying laidback seaside life in Byron Bay, or urban-adventuring in Melbourne. However you choose to divvy up your year between work, study, and travel, you’ll want to know which program is right for you.

Australia's Working Holiday Maker visa was first launched in January 1975 and was originally limited to applicants from only three countries: Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. That year some 2,000 people were granted visas to spend a year working and traveling in Australia. Over the years the program has grown substantially, and it is now available to qualifying citizens of 45 countries.

There are two different related visas. The Working Holiday Maker (WHM) visa (also referred to as subclass 417 visas) are granted to passport holders from 19 countries or regions. Work and Holiday visas (subclass 462 visas) are granted to passport holders from 26 other countries and regions. The primary difference is that Work and Holiday visas have annual caps and there are some additional eligibility requirements.

As Australia’s Department of Home Affairs explains, the Working Holiday Maker visas allow visitors to work in the country to fund an extended vacation. Holders of these visas can also study or train for up to four months, travel to and from Australia as many times as they want during the course of the year, and perform work for up to three months that would qualify them for a second Working Holiday or Work and Holiday visa. That’s right: even after your initial 12 months are over, you may be able to extend your stay down under.

If you have a passport from the following countries, you may be eligible to apply for a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462):

From 2021 to 2022, the United States had the most Work and Holiday visas granted to applicants. Of the 11,598 first-time Work and Holiday visas that were issued, 2,907 went to US passport holders.

The other class of Working Holiday Maker visas are the Working Holiday visas (subclass 417) are available to young people who hold passports from these 19 countries:

In 2021 and 2022, the United Kingdom received the most Working Holiday visas: 15,592 of the 67,575 that were issued. And while most people granted Working Holiday visas must be 30 of age or younger, applicants from Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom have extended