Australia Makes Changes to Working Holiday Visa Programme

Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has announced changes to the popular working holiday visa programme. The programme has First Holiday Working Visa and Second Holiday Working Visa and the amendments are related to the latter.

DIBP defines the First and Second Holiday Working Visas as:-

First Holiday Working Visa - You must be outside Australia when you apply for your first Working Holiday visa and when the visa is decided.

Second Holiday Working Visa - If you apply in Australia, you must be in Australia when the visa is granted. If you apply outside Australia, you must be outside Australia when the visa is granted.

What is the Change?

The first working holiday visa allows people aged between 18 and 30, working with a partner company, to stay and work in Australia for 12 months and extend it for another 12 months, if they have worked for 3 months either in Agriculture or other positions in Regional Australia.

Michaelia Cash, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, said there are issues being reported regarding the working holiday visa. She said that visa holders are being exploited by a handful of employers who pay low wages and send a wrong message about the programme.

The changes are therefore made in the second holiday work visa. Currently, visa holders under holiday visa programme can undertake voluntary works and still be eligible for second holiday work visa, but the case won't be the same anymore. People who undertake voluntary works would not be eligible to qualify for the second holiday work visa. And anyone applying for it has to present Payslip from the employer to show that their regional work term is completed.

‘The current arrangements can provide a perverse incentive for visa holders to agree to less than acceptable conditions in order to secure another visa. As is the case with all visa programmes, it is essential that integrity in the working holiday visa programme is maintained so as to prevent exploitation and ensure public confidence in the system is upheld," She said.

The changes in the programme will be rolled out soon and details of the same will be announced on the department's website, reported Australia Forum.

Source: Australia Form, DIBP