Australian immigration sees increase in Working Holiday Visa program

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A recent report from Australian Immigration and Citizenship indicates that there has been an overall annual growth of 8.3 percent in the immigration department's Working Holiday Visa program. The Working Holiday Visa program allows foreigners aged 18 to 30 years of age to take a working holiday of up to 12 months in Australia.

The figures are for the 2010/2011 program year and show that Australian immigration approved a total of 162,980 Australian working holiday visa applications. This number is an increase of 10,000 visa applications over the the 2009/2010 year.

Specifically, several countries saw a dramatic rise in Australian working holiday visas granted, including Ireland with a substantial 87.4 percent increase from the previous year and Taiwan which saw an increase of 41 percent. Additionally, the UK made up 21 percent of the total Australian Working Holiday Visa applications.

In order to be eligible to apply for the Working Holiday Visa, you must hold a passport from one of the following countries:
Belgium
Canada
Cyprus, Republic of
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong*
Ireland, Republic of
Italy
Japan
Korea, Republic of
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Taiwan
United Kingdom


*Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (includes British National Overseas passport holders).

Additionally, you may be eligible to apply for a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462), which provides similar opportunities for tertiary educated people aged 18 to 30.This visa is for people from Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the USA. There is no longer a work and holiday visa arrangement with Iran; However, Iranians already in Australia on this visa may be able to extend their current work and holiday visa from within Australia.


If you would like to apply for an Australian visa, WorkPermit.com can help. WorkPermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with over twenty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Please feel free to contact us for further details.