We recently covered the Work and Holiday visas (subclass 462). If you were not on the list of eligible countries, all hope is not lost. There is another option for you; the Working Holiday visa (subclass 417). In fact you would rather be on the list of eligible countries for this visa as it does not have educational requirements, english requirements and does not require a letter of support from the applicant’s government. Further to this, unlike the work and holiday 462 program, there are no visa grant limits based on your country of passport.
Read: Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462)
Outside that the working holiday 417 visa is much the same. It allows its holder to stay and work in Australia for up to 12 months and study for up to 4 months. You may also apply for a second 417 visa but an individual may only hold a maximum of two 417 visas in their lifetime.
The applicant:
- Must not have previously been in Australia on a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462)
- Must not have held more than one Work and Holiday visa (subclass 417)
- Must apply outside of Australia unless they are applying for their second 417 visa
- Must be the holder of an eligible passport
- Must be at least 18 years of age but not have turned 31
- Must be a genuine visitor
- Must have sufficient money
- Cannot be accompanied by dependent children
The current processing time for this visa is around a month.
Age
You must have turned 18 years of age and not have turned 31 at the time of application. You may apply for your visa before your 31st first and still be granted your visa after you have turned 31.
Eligible passports
The eligible countries are as follows:
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Japan
- Malta
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Republic of Cyprus
- Republic of Korea
- Republic of Ireland
- Sweden
- Taiwan – Cannot be an official or diplomatic passport
- United Kingdom
Genuine visitor
So as to maintain the integrity of the program, the applicant must seek to enter and remain in Australia with the sole purpose of spending a holiday in Australia. They must intend to adhere to their visa conditions, including work and study limitations, and will leave Australia if they are no longer hold a visa that allows them to stay. This is generally taken to be satisfied unless there is evidence that exists within their application or from a visa history that suggests otherwise.
This does not mean that an applicant cannot decide that they want to further their stay in Australia after the cessation of their 462 visa, for example, an applicant may apply to stay in Australia on a skilled worker visa or a partner visa. This cannot be their intention on applying for the 462 visa however.
Condition 8547
One of the important conditions that every 462 visa holder must understand is condition 8547.
“The holder must not be employed by any one employer for more than 6 months, without the prior permission in writing of the Secretary”
- Any work is considered employment. Au pairs are considered to be engaging in work
- Casual, part-time or full-time work is considered employment
- Workplace training is considered employment and will count toward the 6 month limit
- The business must be operating in Australia. Work for a foreign business requires special permission
- One receiving workers compensation will be considered to still be working whilst receiving payments
- Breach this condition and you visa is subject to cancellation
6 months is calculated accumulatively. You may choose to work for 2 months, go on a holiday for a month and return to that same employer for 3 months. Although the time that has passed would be 6 months, you will only be considered to have worked 5 months with that employer and can further your employment with that same employer for another month. You may, under limited circumstances, extend your 6 month limit. Learn more about condition 8547 and how you might extend your 6 month limitation in our in depth articles.
Read: Condition 8457
Read: Working Holiday Visa Condition 8547 – Extend Work With Your Employer Past 6 Months
Sufficient money
The applicant must be able to show evidence that they are able to afford their fare to leave Australia as well as support themselves while in Australia.
Fare to leave Australia
The applicant will need to have sufficient money to travel to their intended overseas destination on leaving Australia.
The applicant may submit the following evidence:
- Bank passbooks
- Bank statements
- Official letters from banks or other financial institutions (on the institution’s letterhead, dated and signed)
- Written confirmation by a third party (such as parents) and documents to show that the third party has sufficient funds through the provision of bank passbooks or bank statements
- Credit card statements or similar
Support their stay
Whilst the applicant will be able to work to support their stay in Australia through temporary or casual work, they still need to show that they are capable of financing ‘personal support’, in other words, sustaining their living and associated expenses for at least the first 3 months of their stay.
The same kind of evidence as ‘fare to leave Australia’ would count. The amount of money however is variable based on the extent to which accommodation or assistance may be provided to the applicant through relatives and friends in Australia. Generally however, an amount of AUD$5,000 in addition to the departure fare will be taken to be sufficient.
Not accompanied by dependent children
An applicant for the 462 visa may have dependent children but cannot be accompanied by them to Australia. Dependent children are not able to join them at a later date either. In the event that the applicant has dependent children, the applicant needs to demonstrate that their dependent children will not be accompanying them to Australia. This could be evidence of custody arrangements.
An applicant who has a dependent child in Australia with whom they have no contact with will satisfy this requirement.
An applicant who has a dependent child with an Australian citizen or permanent resident must still meet this requirement and show that their dependent child will not accompany them to Australia.
Pregnant 462 applicants will not meet this requirement unless they are able to ensure that they will be departing from Australia before they give birth. Evidence could include a letter from a doctor on when they are last cleared to fly and a departure ticket out of Australia that leaves before that date.
Second 417 visa
You may apply for a second 462 visa. You may not apply for a third 417 visa. The applicant:
- Must have worked for at least 3 months on their first 417 visa
- Work must have been remunerated in accordance with relevant Australian legislation and awards
- Must have engaged in specified work
- Must have worked in regional Australia
3 months
3 months as defined by the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) is 88 full work days. One full day of work is taken as 7 to 8 hours a day. Days where work was for less than that number of hours cannot count towards meeting your 88 day requirement. If you work for longer than that in a day, you will not be able to count that day as two days. Work must have been undertaken whilst on the 417 visa.
It is not important whether the applicant was engaged in full time, part time or casual work. The time is calculated for the time that they applicant was in paid employment. Sick days are counted if the applicant was entitled to sick leave.
Where employment was full time (5 days a week) weekends count and 5 days of work constitutes to a full work week (7 days). Any similar arrangement, such as cyclical or shift work where it is under agreement, for example, if an applicant worked for 2 weeks and then had 2 weeks off that was paid, the applicant is taken to have been working for 4 weeks (28 days).
However if the applicant was not engaged in full time work, the days of work that are counted are only the days that are worked.
If an applicant has two employers, they can only count time from one employer.
To evidence this, the applicant should provide original or certified copies of payslips and a completed verification form 1268 that is signed by the employer.
Specified work
Work activities of the applicant must meet specified work. It is not about who the applicant works for or which industry the applicant has worked in. The 88 days of work must have been specified work, that is, work in the following:
- Plant and animal cultivation
- the harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
- pruning and trimming vines and trees
- general maintenance crop work
- cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts
- immediate processing of plant products
- maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase
- immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning
- manufacturing dairy produce from raw material
- Fishing and pearling
- conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish and other aquatic species
- conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell
- tree farming and felling
- planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled
- felling trees in a plantation or forest
- transporting trees or parts of trees that were felled in a plantation or forest to the place where they are first to be milled or processed or from which they are to be transported to the place where they are to be milled or processed
- Mining
- coal mining
- oil and gas extraction
- metal ore mining
- construction material mining
- other non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying
- exploration
- mining support services
- Construction
- residential building construction
- non-residential building construction
- heavy and civil engineering construction
- land development and site preparation services
- building structure services
- building installation services
- building completion services
- other construction services
Work undertaken in a specified industry, but which is not of a specified work kind is not eligible. For example, a receptionist working for a construction company or a caterer on a mining site would not be considered to have met the specific work requirement.
Appropriate remuneration
Work must have resulted in appropriate remuneration, that is the it must meet the national minimum wage. This can be discovered through the Fair Work Ombudsman website.
Regional Australia
You must have performed specified work for at least a total of 88 days in regional Australia, that is within the following postcodes:
New South Wales
2311 to 2312
2328 to 2411
2420 to 2490
2536 to 2551
2575 to 2594
2618 to 2739
2787 to 2898
Northern Territory
Entire territory
Queensland
4124 to 4125
4133, 4211
4270 to 4272
4275, 4280, 4285, 4287
4307 to 4499
4510, 4512, 4515, 4516
4517 to 4519
4522 to 4899
Victoria
3139
3211 to 3334
3340 to 3424
3430 to 3649
3658 to 3749
3753, 3756, 3758, 3762, 3764
3778 to 3781
3783, 3797, 3799
3810 to 3909
3921 to 3925
3945 to 3974
3979
3981 to 3996
Western Australia
6041 to 6044
6083 to 6084
6121 to 6126
6200 to 6799
South Australia
Entire state
Tasmania
Entire state
Have questions on how to meet the requirements for your second 417 visa? Australian Immigration Law Services has got your back. Call +61 2 8054 2537, 0434 890 199 or book online.
