Working Holiday Visa - 6-month Work Limitation Policy

Australia's reciprocal Working Holiday Maker (WHM) program has been fostering stronger links between young people from Australia and around the world since 1975. It allows young adults to have a 12-month holiday, during which they can undertake short-term work and study. 

The WHM program now includes over 40 partner countries or jurisdictions in two visa subclasses, the Working Holiday (subclass 417) visa and the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa. 

Specified Work and Conditions

Working Holiday Makers in Austr​alia can work in any occupation or industry while in Australia, generally for up to 6 months with one employer.

Mandatory visa condition 8547 limits you to a maximum period of 6 months’ work with any one employer, unless they fall within one of the exemptions below.

Exemptions to 6-month work limitation

From 1 January 2024, you can work for the same employer in Australia for more than 6 months without asking permission if your work is:

• in different locations and work in any one location does not exceed 6 months

• in plant and animal cultivation anywhere in Australia

• natural disaster recovery work

• critical sectors, including agriculture, food processing, health, aged and disability care and childcare, tourism and hospitality, anywhere in Australia

• certain industries, including, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, construction and mining, in northern Australia only (see Work in certain industries in northern Australia only​ below).

Work in different locations

You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in different locations, including working from home. Work in any one location must not exceed six months.

For example, you can work for:

• two hotels in the same chain at different premises

• independently-owned franchises in different workplaces

• State and Territory schools and health care facilities at different addresses

• the same business with the one ABN (Australian Business Number) at two different orchards

• a subsidiary company (owned by the same parent company) but the ABN on your payslip is different

• different businesses (separate legal entities with different ABNs) owned by the same employer

• yourself (self-employed) and provide services to the same business for more than six months as long as that business is not the only business you provide services to during that time

• independently-owned franchises, even though they operate under the same business name

• a business from home or work remotely. A change to or from working remotely or at home counts as a change in location.​

Work in plant and animal cultivation

You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in plant and animal cultivation anywhere in Australia.

For example:

• harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops

• pruning and trimming vines and trees. This must be your primary employment task and directly associated with the cultivation and commercial sale of plant produce, such as fruit and nut crops (commercial horticultural activities)

• maintaining crops

• cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts

• processing of plant products

• maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase

• processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning

• manufacturing dairy produce from raw material.

The following work is not eligible:

• general garden maintenance

• maintaining animals for tourism or recreational purposes

• secondary processing of animal products, such as small goods processing and retail butchery.

Work in natural disaster recovery

You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if your work relates to natural disaster recovery work anywhere in Australia.

This includes:

• construction, farming, or any other work in association with recovery or restitution of land, property, farm animals or wildlife

• providing support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas

• clean-up, construction or any other work in association with restitution or restoration of services, land, waterways, property or infrastructure

• providing support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas.

Work in a critical sector

You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in one of the five critical sectors below anywhere in Australia:

1. Agriculture

This includes:

• all activities involved in farming

• food processing, which involves processing of plant and animal products for human or animal consumption.

2. Health

This includes:

• all work carried out in hospitals and any duties or occupations related to providing or supporting health services. This includes

• doctors

• nurses

• medical support staff (including administrative)

• radiology and

• cleaning services.

3. Aged care and disability services

This includes:

• disabilities services

• aged care services

• aged or disabled carers.

4. Childcare

This includes:

• nursery/crèche worker/aide/attendants

• family day care workers

• nanny/au pair

• out of school hours care workers.

5. Tourism and Hospitality

This includes all work carried out in the tourism and hospitality industries that directly provide a service to tourists. It also includes any duties or occupations related to providing or supporting such services, including:

• tourist guides and operators

• outdoor adventure or activity instructors, such as dive instructors

• tourist transport services, such as tour bus drivers

• gallery or museum managers, curators or guides

• hospitality workers, such as in hotels or other accommodation facilities, restaurants, cafes, bars and casinos

• conference and event organisers.

Work in certain industries in Northern Australia only

You do not need to ask our permission to work longer than 6 months with one employer in Northern Australia if you work in any of the following four industries:

1. Fishing and pearling

• conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish and other aquatic species

• conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell.

2. Tree Farming and felling

• planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled

• felling trees in a plantation or forest

• transporting trees or parts of trees that were felled in a plantation or forest to the place where they are first to be milled or processed or from which they are to be transported to the place where they are to be milled or processed.

3. Construction

• residential building construction

• non-residential building construction

• heavy and civil engineering construction

• land development and site preparation services

• building structure services

• building installation services

• building completion services

• other construction services.

4. Mining

• coal mining

• oil and gas extraction

• metal ore mining

• construction material mining

• non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying exploration

• mining support services.

Note: If your work does not fall within an exemption to condition 8547, you will have to seek permission to work longer than 6 months for the same employer.

How to Calculate 6 months

The 6 months starts from the day you start work. It includes full-time, part-time, casual, shift and voluntary work. It is based on the length of time that has passed since you started working, not how many hours or days you have worked.

The condition applies separately to each visa, including bridging visas. This means that the 6-month period starts again when you are granted a new WHM visa and/or when a bridging visa comes into effect while you are waiting for your application to be processed.

How to count specified work

To be eligible for a second WHM visa, you must have carried out at least 3 months of specified work. '3 months' is taken to mean a period equivalent to the 3 shortest 'calendar' months of the year, that is, a minimum period of 88 calendar days, including weekends or equivalent rest days during your period of employment.

To be eligible for a third WHM visa, you must have carried out at least 6 months of specified work on or after 1 July 2019.  '6 months' is taken to mean a period equivalent to the 6 shortest 'calendar' months of the year, that is, a minimum period of 179 calendar days, including weekends or equivalent rest days during your period of employment.

To meet the requirement for a minimum period of specified work you must complete the same number of normal work days or shifts as a full-time employee in that role and industry would normally work in a 3-month (88 calendar day) or 6 month (179 calendar day) period. You can do this in a variety of ways, for example:

• working 5 days a week for a continuous period of 3 or 6 calendar months, including on a piecework rate agreement

• working less than 5 days a week over a period longer than 3 or 6 calendar months, including on a piecework rate agreement

• working multiple short periods of work in any combination of full time, part time or on a piecework rate, which add up to the equivalent of 5 days a week over 3 or 6 calendar months

You do not need to do your 3 or 6 months of specified work all in one go, or all with one employer. You are free to spread the work over the stay period of your current visa. You can also undertake specified work for longer than the required minimum period.

You cannot complete the specified work requirement in a total period shorter than 3 or 6 calendar months.

List of approved industries and areas for specified work

1.       Tourism and hospitality in northern or remote and very remote Australia

Work in a range of occupations that directly provide a service to tourists, including:

• tourist guides and operators

• outdoor adventure or activity instructors

• tourist transport services

• gallery or museum managers, curators or guides
  

• hospitality workers, such as in hotels or other accommodation facilities, restaurants, cafes, bars and casinos

• conference and event organisers

Eligible:

• a chef in a restaurant

• a dive instructor

• a tour bus driver

Ineligible:

• cleaning work in a restaurant

• driving a school bus

• working as a sales assistant in a souvenir shop

2.       Plant and animal cultivation

• the harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops

• pruning and trimming vines and trees directly associated with the cultivation and commercial sale of plant produce, such as fruit and nut crops (commercial horticultural activities).

Note: This must be your primary employment task and general garden maintenance is not eligible.

• general maintenance crop work

• cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts

• immediate processing of plant products

• maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase Note: Maintaining animals for tourism or recreational purposes is not eligible.

• immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning

• manufacturing dairy produce from raw material

Eligible:

• picking fruits on an orchard

• feeding and herding cattle on a farm

• horse breeding and stud farming

• conservation and environmental reforestation work

• zoo work involving plant or animal cultivation

Ineligible:

• working as a nanny on a farm

• secondary processing or provision of plant and animal products, such as:

o   wine-making, brewing and distillation

o   milling

o   manufacturing of smallgoods

o   retail of dairy or butchery products

o   giving wine tastings at a vineyard

3.       Fishing and pearling in regional Australia

• conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish and other aquatic species

• conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell

4.       Tree farming and felling

• planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled

• felling trees in a plantation or forest

• transporting trees or parts of trees that were felled in a plantation or forest to the place where they are first to be milled or processed or from which they are to be transported to the place where they are to be milled or processed

5.       Mining

• coal mining

• oil and gas extraction

• metal ore mining

• construction material mining

• non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying

• exploration

• mining support services

Ineligible:

• performing specialised social science services (such as anthropological and archaeological assessments) for mining companies

• cooking/catering on a mine site

• cleaning the interior of mine complexes or buildings.

6.       Construction

• residential building construction

• non-residential building construction

• heavy and civil engineering construction

• land development and site preparation services

• building structure services

• building installation services

• building completion services

• other construction services

Eligible:

• landscaping the grounds of a construction/house site

• painting the interior/exterior of new buildings

• erecting fences on a construction site

• scaffolding

Ineligible:

• ship/boat building

• manufacturing materials used on a construction site (such as concrete or steel)

• town planning or architecture

7.       Bushfire recovery work

• construction, farming, or any other work in association with recovery or restitution of land, property, farm animals or wildlife

• support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas

Eligible:

• re-building fences destroyed in a bushfire affected community

• caring for wildlife in a bushfire affected community

• support work for volunteer organisations assisting victims of bushfires

• demolition of buildings, trench digging, land clearing and earth moving

• residential and non-residential construction or renovation/repair, including of roads, footpaths, bridges, parking lots, fencing, railways, dams, irrigation systems, sewage and storm water drainage systems

Ineligible:

• hospitality, cleaning or administrative work in a business that was not damaged by bushfire

• construction or renovation work in an area that is not a declared bushfire affected area

• work carried out on or before 31 July 2019

8.       Natural disaster recovery work

WHMs can count work assisting in the recovery of natural disasters, such as floods, cyclones and other severe weather events, as ‘specified work’. The work can be paid or voluntary.

This applies to recovery work carried out from 31 December 2021 in areas that have been declared affected by flood, cyclone or other severe weather events. It applies to visa applications lodged on or after 2 February 2024, or applications lodged but not decided by this date.

Eligible:

• general cleaning up, including wiping down items, moving and cleaning furniture and appliances, hosing out properties and outdoor areas or mopping floors and transportation of rubbish

• demolition of buildings, trench digging, land clearing and earth moving

• residential and non-residential construction or renovation/repair, including of roads, footpaths, bridges, parking lots, fencing, railways, dams, irrigation systems, sewage and storm water drainage systems

• work for charitable organisations assisting flood affected communities, including administrative, technical, and coordination support

• administrative support, including customer service and working in call centres providing flood recovery support

• coordination support, including services for insurance companies and local, state and federal government organisations and community and evacuation centres

• transport support, including delivering food, medications or other essential items to flood victims

• caring for, transporting and managing affected animals and related equipment.

Ineligible:

• hospitality, re-building, cleaning or administrative work in a business that was not damaged by floods

• employment in a business not involved in flood recovery work

• clean-up, construction or any other work in an area that is not a declared flood affected area

• work carried out on or before 31 December 2021.

9.       Critical COVID-19 work in the healthcare and medical sectors

• medical treatment, nursing, contact tracing, testing and research
  

• support services including cleaning of medical, health care and quarantine facilities and equipment directly involved in the response to COVID-19.

Eligible:

• nursing care for COVID-19 cases in a hospital or quarantine facility

• mental health support work for COVID-19 cases in a hospital or quarantine facility

• research relating to COVID-19 vaccine or treatment

• contact tracing for public health departments

• cleaning at a COVID-19 testing centre or quarantine facility

Ineligible:

• general administration or cleaning work with no connection to COVID-19

• occupational therapy or physiotherapy for non-COVID-19 cases

• financial and administrative services at a hospital, health or aged care facility

• mental health support work not directly in response to COVID-19

• work as a laboratory technician on vaccines other than for COVID-19

• medical research other than for COVID-19

• manufacturing or selling personal protective equipment or personal hygiene products