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. To renew your visa for a third year, you will need to do 179 days (6 months) in a specific job position in an eligible region. 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 and third year visa.
Please note, following the Australia – UK FTD, UK passport holders will be exempted to work in specified jobs and areas to renew their WHV. Details to come.
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Renew your WHV 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.
Following the bushfires that devastated Australia in 2019- 2020, other jobs have been added to the list. Australia, and the rest of the world, has been affected by Covid-19. With the pandemic, the country needed help in the healthcare and medical sectors therefore, people who worked in these areas during the pandemic will be able to use this work to renew their visa. And after 2 years of borders closed, the country is lacking manpower in tourism and hospitality! As such eligible jobs have been added to the list!
Finally, remember that you are required to work 88 days in order to apply for a second year and 179 days for a third year.
Read also : How to calculate your days to renew your visa
In order to be sure you’ll qualify, 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
- Agricultural work (Plant and animal cultivation)
- The harvesting and / or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
- Pruning and trimming vines and trees
- General maintenance crop work
- Cultivation of plants, fungi or their products or parts – 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
- Primary processing of animal products (shearing, butchery, packaging and tanning) – Immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning; Note: The secondary stages of these activities are not taken into account (ex butcher sale)
- Manufacturing dairy from raw material.
Note: Your work must be directly linked to the cultivation or sale of the product (fruit, nuts, etc.). Maintenance gardening is not eligible. Tourist activities are not taken into account
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 (subclass 417)
- Coal mining;
- Oil and gas extraction;
- Metal ore mining;
- Construction material mining;
- Non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying;
- Exploration;
- Mining support services.
The list of mining jobs according to the ANZSIC is available here.
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
The work carried out in the mining and construction industry must be defined by the ‘Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC)’.
For the list of specified work in construction according to the ANZSIC, click here.
Bushfire recovery work
Following the tragic fires that hit Australia in the summer of 2019-2020, the government has made temporary changes to existing laws to allow backpackers to help get the country back on track while renewing their WHV. New regions, as well as new jobs, have been added for renewal.
We are talking about “assisting bush recovery efforts” or “disaster recovery work“. More concretely, 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.
Volunteer work helping to rebuild properties and businesses ravaged by fire will also be considered for the renewal of PVT visas.
Examples of eligible specified work in bushfire recovery:
- 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
Important
These jobs (paid or unpaid) can only be carried out in disaster affected areas otherwise this will not count for your renewal.
More information here: Work in disaster-affected areas
Critical COVID-19 work in the healthcare and medical sectors
Specified work must be critical to Australia’s response to COVID-19 including:
- 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
Tourism and hospitality in northern or remote and very remote Australia only
From 22 June 2021, tourism and hospitality work carried out in northern, remote and very remote Australia will be eligible for the purpose of a second or third Working Holiday (subclass 417 & 462) visa application lodged from March 2022.
Occupations eligible must directly provide a service to tourists, this include:
- Tourist guides and operators
- Tourist transport services
- Hospitality workers in hotels or other accommodation facilities, restaurants, cafes, bars and casinos
- Outdoor adventure or activity instructors
- Gallery or museum managers, curators or guides
- Conference and event organisers
Examples of eligible specified work in tourism or hospitality
- a chef in a restaurant
- a dive instructor
- a tour bus driver
Examples of ineligible specified work in tourism or hospitality
- cleaning work in a restaurant
- driving a school bus
- sales assistant in a souvenir shop
For subclass 462 visa holders, the previous definition of tourism and hospitality in northern Australia only will continue to apply for applications lodged before 5 March 2022 and to any work carried out before 22 June 2021 (regardless of when the application is lodged).
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: Homeaffairs
Updated 18/04/2022
Hi, does working in a food factory (cake making) count as specified work towards a 417 extension? Thanks!
Hi Jenny
Please check the 417 list https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/specified-work
Hi, does working on a solar farm count as specified work( in specified areas of regional Australia) forward to my second year? Thanks!
Hi Kristin,
Yes 🙂
n June 2018 I went to Australia on a WHV (417) and returned to the UK in May 2019. I was unable to do the 3 months farm work and so could not stay for my second year Visa (462).
I have been in England since returning in May and I would like to go back to Australia to work and extent my stay by completing the 3 months farm work. Can I apply for another WHV?
If this is not possible what other Visa’s can I apply for in order to live and work in Australia?
I have relatives in Australia, can they sponsor me in any way ?
Any help and advice would be much appreciated
Hi Tom,
Unfortunately, if you haven’t done your 88 days you wont be able to apply for a second year. You should check your other visa options on the immi website (student, TSS, 491) : https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/
Hello,
With extending for a second 6 month period with the same employer- if the employee does work in Tourism and in does work in Northern Australia but not in a Ansco role outlined on that list provided for tourism and hospitality would this exclude them from working for the same employer twice?
Must their role be on the specified list for a 462 visa
Thanks very much
Hi Shell
We refer you to the immi website https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/6-month-work-limitation
Cheers
Thanks yes I have already been on this website but was hoping you might know if the job had to be specifically listed on the list for tourism or not?
Hey Shell,
No sorry we are not allowed to provide such info. Best to contact immi 🙂
Hi, I’ve check the government websites and feel the description is vague. Does working as a site administrator on a mine site count as specified work?
Thanks
Hi Holly,
I would advise you to contact the immi (via your immi account or over the phone) to confirm. Cheers
Hi this is Sukh I am working as a wood fire pizza chef . I have commercial cookery certificate 4 . Could I apply for my TR behalf of experience wood fire pizza chef or not? This experience will count for skill assessment or not plz answer my question? Thank you
Hi Sukh,
If you have experience and the required qualifications yes. Please check our dedicated article on TSS visa : https://www.australia-backpackersguide.com/tss-visa-subclass-482-new-sponsorship-457/
Hi, I will be coming to Australia on a WHV (417) in April 2022 and would like to start specified work right away in order to apply for a 2nd WHV before turning 31 in September.
On the immi.homeaffairs website it says hospitality and tourism is only eligible in northern, remote and very remote Australia. Still, I see quite a few job offers in hospitality that are in NSW or QLD that state it would be eligible for a 2nd WHV.
Am I reading this wrong? I would very much appreciate your help!
Thank 🙂
Hi Lina,
First of all if you intend to arrive in Australia before 19th April, you will get your visa refunded.
You have all the info here : https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/specified-work#:~:text=To%20be%20eligible%20to%20apply,industry%20and%20area%20of%20Australia.
Does construction work in Gold Coast count for the 88 days since Gold Coast is now classed as a regional area? Thanks
Hi James,
Please check the post code of your place of work. Cheers
Hello,
I always work in hospitality jobs. I found an opportunity on the Hayman Islands, the post code 4801 is in the list for remote and very remote place to work in tourism and hospitality.
But I didn’t find anything about someone who worked for tourism and validated his specified work.
My question is, does it really work ? Or do you have some feedbacks ?
Hi Louvel,
If the postcode and job is eligible no worries !
Hi I was wondering if the mine in Townsville and cairns count for the 88days visa
Hi there,
Please see https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/specified-work (for 417 visa holders). Cheers
Hi everyone,
Does working as a receptionist in a hotel count as specified work for the 417 visa.
I’m not quite sure if it falls underneath the tourism sector.
Thanks!
Hi Francesca,
First check that the area / postcode is eligible.
Eligible jobs in tourism include 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