If you wish to renew your Working Holiday Visa for a second year in Australia, you must work  for a minimum of three months – or 88 days – in a specific job position during your first year. Working Holiday Makers on a 417 visa can choose to complete their 88 days anywhere in regional Australia. However, on a 462 visa, you’re constricted to Northern Australia. Other conditions are also required for the renewal. In this article, we provide you with a list of the jobs eligible for a second year visa to enjoy another year Down Under.  

Important : Since 1 July 2019, 417 & 462 visa holders are eligible to apply for a third visa. They need to carry out 6 months of specified work in regional areas while on their second Working Holiday. Eligible types of work and regional areas are the same as for the second visa. The 6 months work must be carried out on or after 1 July 2019. Therefore a successful application cannot be lodged before January 2020.

Eligible jobs for a second and third year visa in Australia

There are many different industries you can work in to qualify for a second and third working holiday visa. You can work in agriculture in such industries as harvesting, cultivation, processing as well as forestry, fishing and pearling, mining and construction industry. Remember that you have to work in a regional area.
Here is the list of all the jobs eligible to renew, extracted from the Australian government website (www.homeaffairs.gov.au).

Plant and animal cultivation

  • The harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops;
  • Pruning and trimming vines and trees;
  • 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;
  • Immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery in an abattoir, packing and tanning;
    Note: Secondary processing of animal products, such as small goods processing and retail butchery is not eligible.
  • Manufacturing dairy produce from raw material.

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.

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.

Mining

  • Coal mining;
  • Oil and gas extraction;
  • Metal ore mining;
  • Construction material mining;
  • Non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying;
  • Exploration;
  • Mining support services.

Construction

  • Residential building construction;
  • Non-residential building construction;
  • Heavy and civil engineering construction;
  • Land development and site preparation services;
  • Building structure/installation/completion services;
  • Other construction services.

Some examples of eligible/no eligible jobs

Here is a list of jobs you can work in which qualify as specified work:

  • Fruit picking;
  • feeding and herding cattle
  • landscaping the grounds of a construction/house site
  • conservation and environmental reforestation work
  • zoo work involving plant or animal cultivation

Some jobs won’t be qualified as eligible, such as :

  • town planning or architecture
  • working as a nanny on a farm
  • working at a cellar door providing wine tastings
  • cooking/catering on a mine site
  • cleaning the interior of mine complexes or buildings.

Official Source: www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Forms/Documents/1263.pdf

Addition: Specified Work for 462 visa holders

Subclass 462 visa holders must complete their 88 days working in Northern Australia to become eligible for a second year visa. In this case, eligible industries also include tourism and hospitality. 

Tourism and hospitality

  • work in a range of positions where the primary purpose is to 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, including a range of positions in hotels or other accommodation facilities, restaurants, cafes, bars and casinos
  • conference and event organisers

Note: Work undertaken in the tourism and hospitality industry must appear in the list of tourism and hospitality occupations, which is based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) codes. See the section on Tourism and hospitality occupations for the complete list of eligible occupations.

For more information: 2018 Changes Working Holiday Visa

Updated 15.01.2020 – First published 25.10.2016

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