Visa Extentions

All the information below is taken from the Australian Government Website. www.immi.gov.au

Backpackers will now be eligible for a one year extension to their visa provided they spend three months employed in harvesting during the first year.

Working holiday makers, who have worked as a seasonal worker in an eligible regional Australian area for a minimum of three months while on their first Working Holiday visa, will be eligible to apply for a second Working Holiday visa.

Seasonal work and regional Australia, for the purposes of the second Working Holiday visa, are defined below:

Seasonal work.

Seasonal work is any type of work that is undertaken as the employee of a primary producer, including, for example:

• plant and animal cultivation
• 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

Regional Australia

Regional Australia is restricted to areas within the postcodes listed on the department's web site.

See: Regional Australia Postcode List

To meet the three month seasonal work requirement for a second Working Holiday visa, work must be completed in an area whose postcode is included in the list. Seasonal work completed in areas that do not fit within the department's definition of Regional Australia cannot be counted towards the requirement.

Working holiday makers who intend on applying for a second Working Holiday visa will need evidence of the length of time they have spent working as a seasonal worker in regional Australia. Before starting seasonal work in a regional area, working holiday makers should obtain a copy of Form 1263 Working Holiday visa: Employment verification from their nearest departmental office, or from the forms section of the department's web site.

See: Form 1263 Working Holiday visa: Employment verification (63KB PDF file)

This form can be used to record all employment details and submitted with an application for a second Working Holiday visa. Other acceptable evidence of seasonal work includes pay slips, payment summaries, tax returns and employer references.