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Special bilateral arrangements exist between a number of countries which have Working Holiday Visa Schemes. These arrangements make it possible for young people to spend time in another country on a working holiday, without having to go through the normal immigration and work permit requirements. Read more below:
Australia's Bilateral Working Holiday Visa Arrangements
Australia presently has reciprocal arrangements on working holiday visas with seventeen countries. Fourteen are already in force - Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden the United Kingdom. Agreements with Italy and France finalised in late 2003 will come into force on 1 January 2004. Further, a working holiday treaty with Belgium was signed in November 2002 but will not come into force until both Parliaments have ratified it. Ratification on the Australian side will probably be completed by the end of 2003 but is taking longer on the Belgian side - so the Belgian WH agreement will probably only enter into force in mid 2004.
For Australians Going Overseas on Working Holidays
If you are a young Australian who wants to go on a working holiday to one of the seventeen countries listed above, please refer to our more detailed page Information for Australians Going on Working Holidays.
For Those to Going to Australia on Working Holidays
If you are a national of Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden the United Kingdom, and you want to go to Australia on a working holiday, please refer to the DIMIA website working holiday page. You'll also need an application form. In addition, DIMIA Fact Sheet 49 will be useful for you. We also recommend two publications by Global Exchange, Netting a Job in Australia and New Zealand by Steve Rawling, and Work Around Australia by David Sheehan.
History and Form of Arrangements
Australia's arrangements date from 1975, when the first reciprocal arrangements were put in place with the United Kingdom and Ireland. To date, all arrangements except that signed with Belgium in November 2002 have been in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding or other informal exchange. Only that with Belgium is in the form of a treaty, apparently due to constitutional requirements on the Belgian side.
At present, Australia generally has no quota on the number of young people it will accept from a particular country (except for Hong Kong, see below), although the Minister for Immigration can set a quota if he decides it is appropriate.
It should be noted that under the bilateral arrangement with Hong Kong, both countries agreed in the first year of the scheme (which began on 15 September 2001) to each accept no more than 200 young people.
Of the countries which accept Australian young people, only Canada has a quota. In 2002 Canada accepted no more than 6,000 young Australians on the scheme. This quota was exhausted in the first few months of the year. The quota is determined by the number of Canadians that use the scheme to come to Australia. Canada then allows roughly the same number of Australians to go to Canada. Canada is also the only country to have outsourced the processing of working holiday visas for Australians to a private agency.
What Future Working Holiday Arrangements are in the Pipeline?
Australia is currently negotiating working holiday arrangements with further countries - Andorra, Austria, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United States.
In a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on 30 May 2002, Prime
Minister Howard and Dr Thaskin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, announced
that the establishment of a working visa arrangement between Australia and
Thailand will be examined. In a visit to London in August 2002, the then Immigration
Minister Ruddock announced that dialogue
was continuing with Austria and Greece to the point that more detailed
negotiations would occur soon.
The SCG's information as at November 2003 indicates that we are likely to
see new working holiday arrangements with Taiwan and Greece in 2004, if negotiations
can move forward successfully with those countries. We also understand that
talks with Spain, Andorra and Estonia are progressing well.
The SCG's discussions with DIMIA in January 2003 indicate that we are most likely to see new working holiday arrangements with Italy, France and Greece in 2003 or 2004, if negotiations can move forward successfully with those countries.
In January 2001 Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock set minimum benchmarks for the conduct of working holiday arrangement negotiations with other countries. This means that if the other country cannot meet certain minimum requirements set forth by Australia, negotiations can stall or languish.
Generally, those countries with which Australia has already implemented its Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) electronic tourist visas are the most likely candidates for further bilateral arrangements on working holiday visas. This is because nationals of those countries have low records of overstaying their visas to Australia.
Who Negotiates Working Holiday Arrangements?
International negotiations and policy for working holiday visas within the Australian government is handled in the Tourism and Working Holiday Maker Section, Temporary Entry Branch, Migration and Temporary Entry Division of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) in Canberra. However, actual face-to-face negotiations for new arrangements with the immigration officials of various countries tend to be carried out not by DIMIA officers from Canberra, but the Australian ambassador to the relevant country and a DIMIA officer based in that post overseas, or one from a nearby overseas post.
Why are Working Holiday Arrangements a Good Idea?
The Southern Cross Group believes it is important to expand Australia's bilateral network of working holiday arrangements. These schemes mean that young people can more easily spend time abroad acquiring language skills and work experience. Such schemes promote cultural understanding and have a positive effect upon the economies of the two countries involved. Young people who wish to spend time working in countries where there are no such agreements in place face considerable difficulties. Usually permission to work in countries where Australia has no bilateral WHM arrangements will be contingent upon finding a job in the other country before leaving Australia, and the overseas employer will then have the responsibility of acquiring a work permit for that person. This is a huge disincentive for many overseas employers who are unwilling to invest the time and money in what can be a process involving considerable red-tape locally.
In all cases, Australia sends far fewer young people abroad under its working holiday arrangements than it receives from the other countries concerned each year. In September 2002, the Australian Government released a report concluding that the Working Holiday Makers Scheme delivers positive economic outcomes for Australia and its labour market. Read more here. 85,207 working holiday visas were granted by Australia to foreign nationals in 2001-2002.
Working Holidays for New Zealanders and to New Zealand
If you would like to read about the bilateral arrangements on working holidays which New Zealand has in place, please refer to our New Zealand Working Holiday Visa page.
Several years ago Australia agreed to a special visa program for young people of United States citizenship. This is NOT the same as a working holiday scheme. The Youth USA Exchange Program allows US citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 to visit Australia for up to four months and is similar to the United States' J-1 Visa Program (Exchange Visitor Visa). The Youth USA Exchange Program was established with the United States on the understanding that it is a precursor to a full bilateral working holiday arrangement between Australia and the United States. If you are a US citizen interested in going to Australia on the Youth USA Exchange Program, consult the website of the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC. You must be preselected by a nominated organisation (as at January 2003 there were six) before applying for your Australian subclass 416 B visa. If you are a young Australian who wants to go to the US on a J-1 visa, consult our Information for Australians Going Overseas page.
