Work and Holiday visa

For a first Work and Holiday visa you generally must:

• Be 18 to 30 years old (inclusive)
• Hold a passport from an eligible partner country
• Not be accompanied by dependent children
• Have functional English
• Have completed at least two years of undergraduate university study, or hold a higher qualification
• Show evidence of funds, generally at least AUD 5,000, plus enough for a departing flight
• Provide a letter of government support if your country's arrangement requires one

China, India, and Vietnam passport holders must first register for the ballot and be randomly selected before they can apply. Selection in the ballot is only permission to lodge. You still have to meet every requirement above.

The ballot for China, India, and Vietnam

First-time applicants who hold a passport from China, India, or Vietnam cannot apply for the 462 directly. They must register for a pre-application ballot in ImmiAccount, pay a AUD 25 registration fee, and be randomly selected. The department runs selections through the program year until registrations expire on 30 April.

• You register with your passport and a national identity card. Indian applicants need a PAN card, not an Aadhaar card. Vietnamese applicants need a 12-digit national ID.
• You must be 18 to 30 when you register.
• Being selected only lets you lodge an application. You still pay the AUD 840 visa charge and have to meet every eligibility requirement.
• If you are selected, you can only apply from outside Australia.
• The ballot does not change the annual grant cap for your country. It replaces a first-come application race with a random draw.

The 462 is not the 417

The subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa and the subclass 417 Working Holiday visa do the same thing, a year of work and travel for people aged 18 to 30, but they cover different countries and have slightly different rules. The 417 covers mostly European countries plus a few others and has no education or ballot requirement. The 462 covers countries including India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and the United States, and adds the English, education, and government-support conditions. You cannot choose between them; it depends on your passport.

What you can do on it

• Work for any employer, in most industries, for up to 6 months with any one employer.
• Study for up to 4 months.
• Leave and re-enter Australia freely within the 12 months.

It is not a study visa and it is not a skilled visa, and it does not lead to permanent residence on its own.

Second and third visas

You can apply for a second 462 after 3 months of specified work, and a third after a further 6 months. Specified work covers agriculture, tourism, hospitality, and similar sectors in northern or regional Australia, as defined by the department. A second or third visa costs AUD 1,000.

If you were weighing up study instead

A Work and Holiday year and a course of study are very different tracks. A 462 is cheaper up front, has no tuition, and lets you work full time, but it ends after a year with no qualification and no direct migration pathway. A student visa costs far more and caps work at 48 hours a fortnight, but an eligible qualification can lead to a Temporary Graduate visa and, in some fields, permanent residence. See why study in Australia for that side of the decision.

Condition 8547 limits you to no more than 6 months of work with any one employer without permission. Condition 8201 limits study to 4 months. You can enter and leave Australia as often as you like within the visa period. A second visa requires 3 months, and a third visa requires 6 months, of specified work in agriculture, tourism, hospitality, or other eligible sectors in northern or regional Australia.