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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Working Holiday Visa

I'm starting to gather more info for the trip to Australia. I am so excited. It's making it all seem more real to me. I used the Australian Visa Wizard and it brought me to the right conclusion as to which visa we should be applying for. BF and I will apply for a Working Holiday Visa. It's perfect for us!

We meet all the requirements for the visa which include:

  • You must be from one of 19 Working Holiday eligible countries and regions.
  • You must be aged 18-30 at the time of applying.
  • You must not have accompanying children (either at the time of applying or when you hold the visa).
  • If you have completed three months specified work in regional Australia on your first Working Holiday visa, you may be eligible to apply for a second Working Holiday visa.
  • You can study for up to four months.
Hotdog! I didn't realize we could study there if we wanted too so thats a fun bonus. We may also have to show proof of having $5000 AUD, health insurance, a medical report stating what healthy youngins we are and possibly a return ticket/proof of cash to buy a ticket out of there. It's going to also cost us a $170CAD fee to process the application.


5 comments:

The Asian Pear said...

hey that's pretty cool. How long are you planning to stay in Australia and have you decided which city yet?

Dolly Iris said...

A minimum of one year. We'll be traveling all over the place during that time. :)

Shevy said...

I went and checked out their site and was pretty weirded out by all the requirements for even pure visitors (i.e. not planning to work) who want to stay for more than 3 months.

Medical exams, chest xrays, character references, no criminal background, have to sign this thing about respecting Australian values, proof of sufficient funds for the duration of trip, etc. etc. etc.

All this to travel to a fellow Commonwealth country, one which was founded as a prison colony (when your choice, if you got one, was to be transported or hung)! Okay then. They just seem to be a little full of themselves.

Hope you successfully jump through all their hoops, have a great time and don't fall foul of any of those Australian values!

Dolly Iris said...

Shevy - As far as I know its not as difficult as it sounds. I have a lot of friend who have done or are doing the same thing and they didn't have any problems.

You only have to have proof of things like funds and medical exams if asked.

I don't mind signing something that means I understand the values of a country I am visiting. I read it over and its all seems pretty reasonable.

I think the overall point is just to make sure you don't head over there with no medical, funds or anything that would get you stuck there leaching off of the government there. I'm ok with that.

:)

Debt Dieter said...

Oi Shevy! We are pretty laid back people, but we have rules and regulations regarding people coming into the country, just like you country does too no doubt.

As for respecting Australian values, what's wrong with us asking you to do that when you come here? We like how we live & who we are, and it's one of the reasons so many people come here and end up wanting to live here permanently.

Seen the hoops you have to jump through to work in the US? At least we let people get working visas.