A how-to guide for the working holiday visa in Australia

Does anyone else ever wish there was a formula for how to do life? I've found myself countless times googling the most hilarious things like "what do I need to know to get a job?" "how to boost my credit score?" and more recently "how can I get a working holiday visa in Australia?"

I'm still unsure about how to do it all, but I can give some guidance on the latter. When my boyfriend and I decided to come to Australia we started from scratch. Knowing nothing. Googling everything. So here is my advice for anyone in the United States looking to live and work in Australia (spoiler-- it is totally worth it.)

Here's the things I cover (click on one to skip to that section):

1.What does it mean to be on a working holiday visa?

2. Getting the visa

3. Finding housing

4. Opening an Australian bank account

5. Landing a job

6. Choosing a phone plan

7. Buying insurance

What does it mean to be on a working holiday visa?

It is pretty much as simple as it sounds. If you are looking for a way to travel while earning money to pay for your stay (and even save!) a working holiday visa is a great option. This allows you entry into Australia (this works similarly in New Zealand too) as well as full permissions to work for any employer for up to six months per employer over the course of a year. Lots of international folks come to work in hospitality, construction, guiding... which boosts the economy here and offers thousands of people an affordable way to explore Australia!

Getting the visa:

As a U.S. citizen, it is really easy to get a work holiday visa (visa number 462) as long as you are between the ages of 18-35. This visa is valid for one year upon the date you enter Austalia and you can come and go within the country as many times as you'd like. You simply need to upload paperwork on their government website IMMI and prove that you have at least $5,000 Australian dollars (about $3300 USD). Do note that the visa costs $635 AUD.

You can find more information about visa options in Australia here: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder

Finding housing:

There are a few popular sites where people search for rooms, studios, apartments or room shares in Australia. The most official way for those wanting to be in the same place for at least six months is to find housing through a real estate organization like realestate.com.au. However, it seems like most people on the working holiday visa here (myself included) prefer more flexiblity and use sites like flatmates.com.au. Flatmates is basically like online dating but for roommates and houses and you can fine tune your searching to certain areas of town and price range.

In Hobart, Tasmania it took me a few months to find a place to live, but I had the best luck on Flatmates as I posted a personal profile so homeowners could reach out to me as well.

Opening an Australian bank account:

First of all, yes this is necessary if you want to work in Australia. Employers will need to pay straight into your national account. This is one of the things my boyfriend Danny and I spent countless hours navigating, but in the long run we ended up hearing from a fellow work-holidayer to go with Up Bank. Everything is online, there are no opening fees and the app is really user friendly-- I'd recommend it!

Another important thing, you cannot open a bank account here until you are in the country so no need to get too far ahead of yourself. Plus before you open your account you will need a tax filing number called a TFN. To register for one you also need to wait until you are in the country to give a local address. There are a lot of scam TFN sites. Use the offical one through the govnerment website called ato.gov.au.

When you arrive download Up Bank or another banking app, or visit a bank branch in person (ANZ is one of the largest and most international friendly if you want to have an in person banking option). When you open your account you will receive a TFN, this is very important becuse you will give this numbers to your employers. (Side note: Don't make the mistake I made!)

Now, finally you will need to register for a supperannuation. This is Australia's mandatory retirement fund and even though you most likely will not be retiring in Australia you still have to sign up. This can seem overwhelming beucase the "supers" as locals say are privately owned and there are a ton of options. You can either just allow your employer to choose their superannuation account, but the down side of this is that you could end up with lots of super account if you get various jobs during your time. Or, you can just choose one on your own. I went with Australian Super. It is the largest, very easy to use and once you sign up and get your account number you simply give it to your employer and they will pay into it for you. That's it!

For anyone else like me all this money and registration stuff can be really overwhleming so here is the step by step breakdown:

1. Arrive in Australia with more than $5,000 AUD

2. Go to ato.gov.au and register for a TFN

   1. when you have filled out everything be SURE to click the button prompting you to email you a copy or else you have to wait for the card to arrive in the mail, which can take weeks. Yes, I learned this the hard way.

3. Download a banking app like Up Bank or go to an inperson branch (ANZ is one of the largest banking options and is one that accepts those on working holiday visas) and create an account using your TFN.

4. Go to Australian Super, or find another private company for a supperannuation, take five minutes to fill out your info including your employer's ABN (like their specific cereal code) and get a super number to send to your employer.

   1. note: you cannot recieve any payments until your employer has your TFN and superannuation number.

Landing a job:

You are going to come across plenty of organizations online you can pay to help set you up with a job. Companies like Global Work and Travel and BUNAC can set you up with work before you arrive and allieviate your need to search yourself, however it is costly. You will also see lots of listings for jobs in the city where you want to go on sites like Seek, Inded and Jora. But based on my research and experience I would recommend you just print off a bunch of resumes and go door to door when you arrive.

I read so many forums and heard word of mouth that it would be SO EASY to get a job in Australia, but there is a big caveat to that. Yes Australia has plenty of jobs for those on the work holiday visa, but the majority of those jobs are working on farms picking fruit. The benefit of jobs like those or finding anytype of work in rural areas is that if you work at least 88 days rurally you can apply to extend for another year of the working holiday visa.

But be careful. Some farms pay people based on how much they can pick. If you are looking for farm work try to find places that pay hourly (I say this for your own sanity and wellbeing).

In Australia the government mandates rates of pay for type of work and type of employment. For example jobs in customer service / farming / hospitality work that most people on a working holiday visa will get, the base rate for casual work is $29 AUD an hour (19 USD) during the weekdays and is a bit higher on the weekends. However if you get contracted on a more regular schedule with benefits of regular employees like sick days you will be considered a part-time or full-time employee and be paid closer to $21 AUD an hour. If you ask me, casual work is much more preferable. Just be ready for your schedule to look a bit different each week.

I am happy to have found a job working front of house at a cute coffee shop in Hobart, Tasmania workign about 30 hours a week. I can attest that people here are so kind and so friendly toward their employees. Another tip: know how to be a barista becuase the coffee culture in Australia is huge and there seem to be coffee shops hiring on every corner.

Come to Aussie to hang with the cutest wombats!

Choosing a phone plan:

By now you might be thinking "ugh all this planning is exhausting!" Hang in there. It is all worth it! I will keep this one simple. Don't pay your US phone coverage provider for international minutes-- it will be way too expensive if you want to be abraod more than a few weeks. Instead go to a carrier in Australia when you arrive (I choose Telestra as it is the largest and has great coverage) and sign up for a monthly or six month pre-paid plan. You can even get an e-sim card and have both plans at once.

TIP: Make sure your US phone carrier hasn't locked your phone to their provider before traveling. Call and make sure to say you will be traveling abroad and need to host another carrier on your phone. Yes, I also learned this the hard way and had to use my boyfriend's phone to make lots of calls to get my phone unlocked when I arrived!

Buying insurance:

You’ll need insurance while working with the 462 work holiday visa. While there is public insurance in Australia, most people recommend private insurance. I found Medibank and Allianz Australia to be two great options and you can filter the options each company offers for the specific visa type you have. I went with the Medibank overseas worker base option, which is affordable and offers hospital coverage after a certain excess.

A note for those not from the United States:

This advice comes from my experience as a US citizen on the working holiday visa in Australia. Unfortunately not all countries give their citizens permission for this visa, hence why the student visa is another popular option. Some countries give out a limited number of visas or have lengtheir procedures for applications. I cannot speak to how it is done in other countries but can say that I feel priveledged and grateful for the opportunity I have as a US citizen.

Finally... the last paragraph!

Whew, you've made it through a lot of information. I hope you have found it helpful. Please email me or comment here if there are questions you have regarding any of the information here or if there are other topics regarding my experience in Australia that you would like me to share futher. Sometimes I can get a bit heady scribbling whimsical things in my journal but I'm hoping that this guide can help others actualize their dreams of travel.

Life is beautiful. Let's get out and experience it.

Love,

Ava//

Rewilding Child