Getting Started - Visa

Before you start planning your trip you have to make sure you're eligible for the Woking Holiday Visa. This visa is only available for two groups of nationals: If you are from Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan or United Kingdom you can apply for Working Holiday visa subclass 417. Subclass 462 visa may be available for people from Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.

Since I had the 417 visa most of the information in this blog is for this type of visa holders. The main conditions of this visa:

You have to be between 18-30 years of age to qualify for the visa which allows you to stay and work in Australia for up to 12 months with the option of renewing you visa for another year if you have successfully completed 3 months or 88 days of specified work in regional Australia while on your first Working Holiday visa. (But more on renewing the visa in a later post).

You can apply for the visa online or by post. Doing it online should take around 30 minutes but you can save your application and finish it at a later time. Additionally to your personal details you have to answer questions about your travels, medical history and criminal history. I assume if you have had medical problems or have a criminal record you are unlikely to be granted the visa. And depending on the country you are living in and/or have been travelling recently you may have to take a medical test. If you are not asked to undertake a medical test and have no medical conditions or criminal record you should receive your visa within minutes of submitting your application.

Your visa will be linked to your passport (with just your passport number employers and officials can check if you have the right visa ) so your passport must be valid for the entire time you plan to stay in Oz + 6 months after that. It is advisable to renew you passport before you apply if it expires in less than 3 years since you'll never know how long you might want to travel (maybe you want to apply for a New Zeland Working Holiday Visa after your stay in Australia or travel Asia...)

The cost of the visa is 230 AUD at the moment but is subject to change any time.

Useful links:
Department of Immigration and Citizenship - All about the Working Holiday Visa