Obligations

Entering Australia

You must activate your visa by entering Australia within twelve months of it being granted. Failure to activate your visa within this period will result in it expiring. If your visa expires and you still wish to travel to Australia under the Work and Holiday program, you will need to reapply.

Visa conditions

You must comply with all your visa conditions while in Australia on a Work and Holiday visa.  In addition to the work and study limitations, additional visa conditions may be imposed on your Work and Holiday visa.  A breach of any of these conditions may result in your visa being cancelled and you may have to leave Australia.

Studying

While in Australia on a Work and Holiday visa, you must not study or train for more than 4 months.

Working

While in Australia on a Work and Holiday visa, you must not be employed with any one employer for more than 6 months.

The 'employer' is the business for which you are working directly.

If you are referred by an agency or labour supplier to a business, you can work for six months for that business. The same agency or labour supplier can refer you to another business where you can work for another six months.

You are allowed to work with each employer for up to six months and cannot work for longer than six months in the same position, in the same location, doing the same work. The six month work limitation applies to full-time, part-time, casual or shift work.

You cannot stay in the same job beyond six months by using different employment agencies, business affiliates or sub-contracting arrangements.

More information is available on finding work, licensing or registering arrangements and employer obligations.
See: Information on working in Australia

Extending the work period

In exceptional circumstances, it may be possible to extend the period of work with one employer to longer than six months. An extension may be allowed for a very short period of time and only if there is sufficient justification to grant it.

Exceptional circumstances must be extraordinary and unforeseeable and must affect an Australian permanent resident, citizen or business.

Exceptional circumstances might include remaining in your current job:

• for a very short time (days or weeks) as you are critical to the completion of a specialised project that has unexpectedly gone over time. This generally only relates to highly skilled activities, for example, a lawyer in the middle of a trial.

Exceptional circumstances do not include remaining in your current job because you:

• have the required skills or because of labour shortages
• are not able to apply for another kind of visa.

Submit your completed form ’Request permission to work with an employer beyond six months on a Working Holiday or Work and Holiday visa’ to the department, at least two weeks before the expiry of the six month employment limitation.
See: Request permission to work with an employer beyond six months on a Working Holiday or Work and Holiday visa (101KB Word file)

Change in circumstances

If you obtain a new passport, you must advise the department of the new details as soon as possible.