Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462)

Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462)

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The Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462) is a visa for young adults who want to holiday and work in Australia for up to 3 years. It is a visa that offers the holder an extended holiday in Australia and the ability to work to help fund their trip.

You may apply for up to 3 Work and Holiday visas. They are simply known as: first. second, and third Work and Holiday visas. Each of the visas allow you to stay for 12 months each.

You must be offshore to apply for your first Work and Holiday Visa.

Employers seeking to sponsor or hire foreign workers can visit our Australian Employer Services page.

First Work and Holiday Visa

To apply for a first Work and Holiday (Temporary) visa (subclass 462), you must:

  • Be outside of Australia when you apply;
  • Have not previously entered Australia on a Work and Holiday (Temporary) Visa (subclasses 462 and 417);
  • Hold a valid passport from an eligible country (see below);
  • Be aged 18 to 30 (inclusive)
  • Be a genuine visitor who wants to have a holiday in Australia;
  • Have enough money to support yourself on a work and holiday (about AUD 5000);
  • Have enough money to buy a return or onward travel ticket at the end of your stay; and
  • Not be accompanied by dependent children at any time during your stay.

Eligible countries are:

  • 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
  • Türkiye (Turkey)
  • Uruguay
  • Vietnam

Second Work and Holiday Visa

To apply for a second Work and Holiday (Temporary) visa (subclass 462), you must:

  • have complied with all the conditions on your first Work and Holiday visa
  • have not previously held more than one Work and Holiday visa
  • be 18 to 30 years old (inclusive)
  • have completed three months of specified work in northern or regional Australia while on your first Work and Holiday visa (this work must have been completed after 18 November 2016)

Three months (to qualify for second visa)

'Three months' of specified work means a period equivalent to three 'calendar' months, which is taken to be a minimum period of 88 calendar days, including weekends or equivalent rest days during your period of employment.

To meet the three months specified work requirement you must actually work for the same number of days that a full-time employee would normally work in a three-month (88 calendar day) period.

Specified work

To apply for a second Work and Holiday visa, you must have already completed three months of specified work in northern or regional Australia. This specified work must have been completed while on your first Work and Holiday visa.

Approved industries for specified work include:

Plant and animal cultivation

  • the harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
  • pruning and trimming vines and trees directly associated with the cultivation and commercial sale of plant produce, such as fruit and nut crops (commercial horticultural activities).

Note: This must be your primary employment task and general garden maintenance is not eligible.

  • 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

Note: Maintaining animals for tourism or recreational purposes is not eligible.

  • immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning
  • manufacturing dairy produce from raw material.

Examples of eligible specified work in plant and animal cultivation:

  • picking fruits on an orchard
  • feeding and herding cattle on a farm
  • horse breeding and stud farming
  • conservation and environmental reforestation work
  • zoo work involving plant or animal cultivation

Examples of ineligible specified work in plant and animal cultivation:

  • working as a nanny on a farm
  • secondary processing or provision of plant and animal products, such as:
    • wine-making, brewing and distillation
    • milling
    • manufacturing of smallgoods
    • retail of dairy or butchery products
    • giving wine tastings at a vineyard

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

Tourism and hospitality

  • work in a range of positions where the primary purpose is to directly provide a service to tourists, including tourist guides and operators, outdoor adventure or activity instructors, tourist transport services
  • gallery or museum managers, curators or guides
  • hospitality workers, including a range of positions in hotels or other accommodation facilities, restaurants, cafes, bars and casinos
  • conference and event organisers

Examples of eligible specified work in tourism or hospitality

  • a chef in a restaurant
  • a dive instructor
  • a tour bus driver

Examples of ineligible specified work in tourism or hospitality

  • cleaning work in a restaurant
  • driving a school bus
  • working as a sales assistant in a souvenir shop

Note: Work undertaken in the tourism and hospitality industry must appear in the list of tourism and hospitality occupations, which is based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) codes. See the section on Tourism and hospitality occupations for the complete list of eligible occupations.

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

Examples of eligible specified work in construction:

  • landscaping the grounds of a construction/house site
  • painting the interior/exterior of new buildings
  • erecting fences on a construction site
  • scaffolding

Examples of ineligible specified work in construction:

  • ship/boat building
  • manufacturing materials used on a construction site (such as concrete or steel)

The Australian New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) provides further detail about eligible work in construction. Work undertaken in the and construction sector must appear in the ANZSIC division for these sectors to meet the specified work requirement.

Bushfire recovery work

  • construction, farming, or any other work in association with recovery or restitution of land, property, farm animals or wildlife
  • providing support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas.

Examples of eligible specified work in bushfire recovery:

  • re-building fences destroyed in a bushfire affected community
  • caring for wildlife in a bushfire affected community
  • support work for volunteer organisations assisting victims of bushfires
  • demolition of buildings, trench digging, land clearing and earth moving
  • residential and non-residential construction or renovation/repair, including of roads, footpaths, bridges, parking lots, fencing, railways, dams, irrigation systems, sewage and storm water drainage systems

Examples of ineligible specified work in bushfire recovery:

  • hospitality, cleaning or administrative work in a business that was not damaged by bushfire
  • construction or renovation work in an area that is not a declared bushfire affected area
  • work carried out on or before 31 July 2019

Critical COVID-19 work in the healthcare and medical sectors

  • medical treatment, nursing, contact tracing, testing and research
  • support services including cleaning of medical and health care facilities and equipment

Examples of eligible specified work:

  • providing care to COVID-19 patients in a hospital
  • research relating to COVID-19 treatment
  • cleaning at a COVID-19 testing centre
  • read more information on our page Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408)

Examples of ineligible work:

  • general administration or cleaning work that is not in response to COVID-19
  • selling personal protective equipment

Third Work and Holiday Visa

To apply for a third Work and Holiday (Temporary) visa (subclass 462), you must:

  • have previously held 2 subclass 462 visas in Australia. If you haven't, see the first Work and Holiday visa or second Work and Holiday visa
  • be 18 to 30 years old (inclusive)
  • have undertaken, from 1 July 2019, 6 months of specified work while on your second Work and Holiday visa, or a bridging visa in certain circumstances

Six months (to qualify for a third visa)

'Six months' of specified work is taken to mean a period equivalent to the six shortest 'calendar' months of the year, that is, a minimum period of 179 calendar days, including weekends or equivalent rest days during your period of employment.

To meet the six months' specified work requirement, you must complete the same number of normal work days or shifts as a full-time employee in that role and industry would normally work in a six-month (179 calendar day) period. You can do this in a variety of ways, for example:

  • working five days a week for a continuous period of six calendar months, including on a piecework rate agreement; or
  • working less than five days a week over a period longer than six calendar months, including on a piecework rate agreement;
  • working multiple short periods of work in any combination of full time, part time or on a piecework rate, which add up to the equivalent of five days a week over six calendar months.

You do not need to do your six months of specified work all in one go, or all with one employer. You are free to spread the work over the period of your stay in Australia. You can also undertake specified work for longer than the required minimum of six months.

All of your six months of specified work must have been undertaken:

  • on or after 1 July 2019; and
  • while you held:
    • your second Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa; or
    • after your first Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa expired, a bridging visa that was granted before your first Work and Holiday visa expired when you applied for your second Work and Holiday visa.

Work undertaken while you held any of the following visas is not eligible:

  • your first Work and Holiday visa; or
  • any other kind of visa, for example a student visa; or
  • a bridging visa granted while you held any other kind of visa.

Northern Areas

Includes the entire Northern Territory and all areas north of the Tropic of Capricorn in Western Australia and Queensland. For a list of postcodes, look here.

Regional Areas

State/territory Postcode
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory is not classified as part of regional Australia.
New South Wales 2311 to 2312
2328 to 2411
2420 to 2490
2536 to 2551
2575 to 2594
2618 to 2739
2787 to 2899
Note: Excludes Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong.
Norfolk Island All of Norfolk Island is classified as part of regional Australia.
Northern Territory All of Northern Territory is classified as part of regional Australia.
Queensland 4124 to 4125
4133
4211
4270 to 4272
4275
4280
4285
4287
4307 to 4499
4510
4512
4515 to 4519
4522 to 4899
Note: Excludes the Greater Brisbane area and the Gold Coast
South Australia All of South Australia is classified as part of regional Australia.
Tasmania All of Tasmania is classified as part of regional Australia.
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
Note: Excludes Melbourne metropolitan area.
Western Australia 6041 to 6044
6055 to 6056
6069
6076
6083 to 6084
6111
6121 to 6126
6200 to 6799
Note: Excludes Perth and surrounding areas.

Bushfire affected areas

Bushfire recovery work carried out after 31 July 2019 eligible specified work for the purpose of a second or third Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa. For the list of postcodes, see here.

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This Is Australia can determine your eligibility for a work visa and provide you professional advice on the documentation, fees and submission process. Begin your pathway to permanent residency by contacting our migration agents via our booking form or call our Queensland office on (07) 5592 0755.

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