Eligible jobs for a second and third year visa in Australia

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.

Important: Following the Australia – UK FTD, UK passport holders will be exempted to work in specified jobs and areas to renew their WHV when the agreement enters into force. Details to come.

Renew your WHV in Australia

Several conditions apply to renew your Working Holiday Visa in Australia :

• be under 31 or 35 years old depending on your nationality
• have a valid passport
• be able to show that you have health cover for the length of your stay
• completed three months (88 days) of specified work in regional Australia for a second year and 6 months (179 days) for a third year.

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. Same for the areas recently (2022) affected by the floods.
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 all specified subclass 417, 462 work must be paid in accordance with the relevant Australian legislation and awards.

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

List of eligible activities

• Agricultural work (Plant and animal cultivation)
• The harvesting and / or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
• Pruning and trimming vines and trees (commercial horticultural activities)
• 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 (shearing, butchery, packaging and tanning)
• Manufacturing dairy from raw material.

Examples of eligible and ineligible jobs

Examples of eligible specified work in plant and animal cultivation:

• picking fruits on an orchard
• feeding and herding cattle on a farm
• horse breeding and stud farming
• conservation and environmental reforestation work

Examples of ineligible specified work in plant and animal cultivation:

• work as a nanny on a farm
• secondary processing or provision of plant and animal products, such as:
  • wine-making, brewing and distillation
  • manufacturing of smallgoods
  • retail of dairy or butchery products
  • giving wine tastings at a vineyard

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 only)

List of eligible activities

• 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.

Examples of ineligible jobs

Examples of ineligible specified work in mining:

• performing specialised social science services for mining companies (example: archaeological assessments)
• cooking/catering on a mine site
• cleaning the interior of mine complexes or buildings

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.

Examples of eligible and ineligible jobs

Examples of eligible specified work in construction:

• landscaping the grounds of a construction/house site
• painting the interior/exterior of new buildings
• erecting fences on a construction site
• scaffolding

Examples of ineligible specified work in construction:

• ship/boat building
• manufacturing materials used on a construction site (such as concrete or steel)

Bushfire recovery work

Following the tragic fires that hit Australia in the summer of 2019-2020, the government made 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, were added for renewal.

List of eligible activities

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 & ineligible jobs in bushfire recovery

Examples of eligible specified work in bushfire recovery (paid or volunteer):

• 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

Examples of ineligible specified subclass 462 work in bushfire recovery:

• 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

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

Flood recovery work

Eligible activities

• 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

Examples of eligible & ineligible jobs in flood recovery

Examples of eligible paid or volunteer specified work in flood recovery:

• general cleaning up (wiping down items, moving and cleaning furniture and appliances, 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, etc.
• 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

Examples of ineligible specified work in flood recovery:

• 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.

Critical COVID-19 work in the healthcare and medical sectors

Specified work eligible

Work carried out 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

Examples of eligible & ineligible jobs

Examples of eligible specified work:

• 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

Examples of ineligible work:

• 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

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, 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).

Official Source: Homeaffairs

Updated 02/06/2022