If you want to stay in Australia for another year, you have the option to apply for a Second Year Visa. Prerequisite: You must have completed 3 months or 88 days of specified work in a rural area in Australia. How you calculate these 88 days for your second year visa in Australia is a bit complicated, but this article will surely shed light on the matter.
Requirements for the 2nd Working Holiday Visa
The same as when applying for your 1st Working Holiday Visa, you have to meet the following requirements when applying for the Second Year Visa. When applying, you must be between 18 and 30 years old (you can apply until your 31st birthday or 35th if you Irish, French or Canadian). You must have a valid passport. You must have worked for 3 months or 88 days in a specific job in a rural area.
More information here: Apply for second year visa
Calculate the 3 months or 88 days correctly
The Australian government has implemented some rules regarding the 88 days work. Three months means 3 calendar months, e.g. 1 January to 1 April. You can either work :
- in one block with the same employer OR
- several blocks for one or more employers. The different period of work can be performed in different kinds of specified work and different industries. For example, you can work as a harvest helper in the Northern Territory for one month and as a miner in Tasmania for two months.
Number of hours
A day’s work: A minimum of hours spent working in the industry in which you are employed. In Australia, these are usually 35 to 40 hours a week and 7 to 8 hours a day. If you work less than what’s usual, the day is not worth a full working day.
For a full day to be accounted you must work 7 or 8 hours depending on the industry. If you work more than 35 hours per week (hourly rate contract), you can count the weekends in your 88 days. So it will be 7 days worked instead of 5. If you work full-time, the 88 days also includes your days off. Full-time workers can also count sick days during periods where they were in paid employment.
If you are working part time hours, you need to count your days individually. If you work less than 7 or 8 hours per day, you must work more days to reach the number of hours required for your week to be counted. For example, if you work 5 hours per day, you have to work 7 days for your week to be counted in the 88 days.
If you are working on Piece Rate (make sure it is written in your contract), there is no minimum hours needed to work to count a day.
Contract type
In general, it doesn’t matter whether you are a casual, full-time or part-time employee. The important thing is that you don’t work below the industry standard. For example, if you work two weeks on two weeks off, you can count the full four weeks (28 days). But only if this is common in the industry (e.g. in mining).
In general, the weekends are included when you work full time.
If you are employed part-time or work casual, you only count the days that you actually worked.
If you work for several employers on the same day, only one day counts.
Also, if you work overtime, the day will only be counted as one. For example, if the industry standard is 6 hours, but you work 12 hours a day, you will only get one day.
What about the salary?
Some applications for a second visa were refused because the government considered that the worker had been underpaid. So remember to check that you are paid the legal minimum wage.
Minimum wages for all jobs in Australia are set by collective agreements (awards). They can vary depending on your age and the type of contract under which you are employed (full time, part-time or casual). Casual workers must be affected more than permanent employees (15 to 25% depending on the collective agreement).
To know the legal minimum wage to which you are entitled, it is important to know the professional sector on which you depend. Indeed, the minimum wage varies from job to job because it is set by collective agreements. For example, if you work in horticulture, you will depend on the Horticulture Award. On the contrary, if you work on a construction site, it will be the “Building and Construction General On-site Award”.
The national minimum wage has been set at $19.84 per hour since July 2020 (before tax). This represents $753.80 for a week at 38 hours.
Eligible Jobs
There are several jobs you can do to count towards your second visa. Industries differ depending on your visa type (417 and 462).
For 417 visa holders
Industries approved for specified work:
- plant and animal cultivation
- fishing and pearling
- tree farming and felling
- mining
- construction
- bushfire recovery work in declared bushfire affected areas only, after 31 July 2019
For 462 visa holders
Approved industries and areas for specified work:
- plant and animal cultivation in northern Australia and other specified areas of regional Australia
- fishing and pearling in northern Australia only
- tree farming and felling in northern Australia only
- tourism and hospitality in northern Australia only
- construction in northern Australia and other specified areas of regional Australia
- bushfire recovery work in declared bushfire affected areas only, after 31 July 2019.
Eligible jobs to renew WHV in Australia
Find out all eligible jobs for a second working holiday visa.
Sick leave, accidents, weather
In the case of illness or an accident, the missed days for full-time employees are still counted. Provided that it was agreed on in advance that sick leave will be paid. In these cases, the employer has to provide evidence.
If employees are unable to work and are not paid due to illness, an accident or weather-related circumstances (such as a storm during harvest), the days are not counted.
Calculate 88 days for your second year visa in Australia – Examples
Examples where the requirements for a 2nd working holiday visa are met:
Examples where the requirements for a 2nd working holiday visa are NOT met:
Conclusion
Firstly, remember to check that the job and the geographical area are eligible. Be sure to check your status when you sign your Tax File Number Declaration when starting a new job (full-time/part-time/ casual) as this will affect your day count. If you are employed on a “casual” basis, we advise you to count only the days actually worked in order to be completely sure that you have completed your specified work.
If you do your 88 days in several instalments, be sure to keep a count of your days so you don’t have any bad surprises.
Each case is unique, so the decision will always depend on the goodwill of an immigration officer.
Remember to keep all documents proving your work (payslips, photos, bank statements, etc.).
Minimal wage
In order for your second WHV application to be approved, it is important to know that you must be paid the national minimum wage currently set at $19.84 per hour (before tax). This represents $753.80 for a 38 hour week.
Apply for a third year working holiday visa
Since July 1, 2019 it is possible to do a third year of WHV in Australia!
For this, it is necessary to perform 6 months of specified work in regional areas while being on your second WHV (417 or 462). The types of jobs and eligible regional areas are the same as for the second visa.
Hi there hope you can help pls…
We’re working on a farm picking fruit 5-6 days a week on a piece rate agreement but so far have not able to make minimum wage rates.
Our payslips show $365 made and no tax decided for 5 days in one week worked but not how many hours we worked (40ish). Is this work going to count? Thanks for any advice!
Hi Laura
First is to make sure you have a written and signed piecework agreement with your employer. Award and agreement free employees can be paid piece rates or commission payments. They must still receive at least the national minimum wage.You should check https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/minimum-wages/piece-rates-and-commission-payments. If you have any issues or are unsure about your salary please contact Fairwork for free advise. Cheers
Hello
I am 31 and actually not eligible for the second year visa as I am from Germany. But should I bother to try to fullfil anyway the farmdays in case Australia will change the age restrictions in the next year’s?
Hi Sunny,
Hard to say really… it doesnt seem to be the case. Know that you can always apply for a 408 covid visa. Cheers
Hi
I’m working as a casual fortnightly from a Wednesday to Tuesday eg. 16/9/20-29/09/20. I am working at a Corn farm in Gingin casually but do 40hrs a week and around 80hrs fortnightly. Does my fortnight count as 14 days or only as 10 days towards my 88 days?
Also my payslip only states my worked fortnightly hours, so what if I worked 80hrs but in reality only 9 days instead of 10. No one will notice and it will be counted as 10 or 14 days is that correct?
Thanks!
Hi Yannik,
You need to check the minimum of hours spent working in the industry in which you are employed (fairwork website). From what you are saying, it seems that it will count for a full week worked so 14 days fortnightly.Cheers
Hi there,
I have worked on a wheat farm usually 5 days a week, but over harvest 7 days a week. There are 4 days in the same week where we couldn’t work because of the rain, do I need to work an extra 2 days to make up 5 total or can some of the hours from the 7 day weeks cover this?
Also, I have accrued many hours in holidays. Can I take these paid holiday days and they count as a day of specified work?
Thanks
Hi Alice,
You have to refer to the normal hours in the industry. For example, if you worked 5 days / 38h, week-ends will count towards your second year. You have to add up the days worked. I don’t think you ll be able to add your ‘holiday days’ to reach the requested days. Cheers
Thank you. How will the government know the number of hours as industry standard? Do you know what it is for agriculture?
I mentioned that about paid holidays as it says on the government’s website:
“Australian public holidays and sick days (or equivalent worker’s compensation leave days) can be counted as a day of specified work if you are paid for that day.”
Do you still disagree that the paid annual leave wouldn’t count as a day of specified work?
Thanks
hi there,
my partner and I were working 5 days a week at a piece rate but the most we would ever make in a week was 300-500 based on how ripe the crops were that day to pick.
does that still count even though we weren’t making the minimum based on how low we were picking a day even though it was 8 hour days 5 days a week ?
thanks in advance
Hi Ànnie
Please check https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/minimum-wages/piece-rates-and-commission-payments
From this example from the immi ‘Example: While on his first visa, Jose works on a fruit orchard picking and packing mangoes. Jose is working on a piecework rate and works 5 or 6 days a week for 3 months. Depending on the weather and ripening of crops he works between 5 to eight hours each working day. Jose can count all of these days of work towards the 3 month specified work requirement, which he meets.’ it seems it will be eligible. Cheers