Australian Working Holiday Visas
An Australian Working Holiday Visa now now allows you to stay in Australia for up to 12 months and to work in any one job for six months. You may be able to extend the visa for an additional year if you undertake 'specified' work, including seasonal and volunteer work.
Visas are available to persons from Belgium, Canada, Chile, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The Working Holiday Visa allows you to supplement the cost of your holiday through short-term employment. However, if your primary reason for travelling to Australia is to participate in the work force, you should consider a visa designed for that purpose.
Job opportunities in Australia are incredibly diverse and working holiday makers should be able to find a variety of job vacancies to suit their skills.
Thanks to a strong economy and many years of record low unemployment levels the employment prospects in Australia are very optimistic.
According to Forbes magazine, the industries expecting the most growth are:
Health care services,
Retailing, construction,
Hospitality
Hairdressing.
Accounting
Engineering Jobs
Allied Health and Medical
Computing
Other areas of high demand include:
Fruit picking, farm work and seasonal work
Architecture, planning and construction Jobs
Hospitality and food service jobs
Retail jobs
Temporary administration and secretarial jobs
Backpackers who come to Australia to live and work for a year (or two) are welcomed with open arms!
Travellers at Work is Australia's most established and largest job search facility for WHV travellers with an average of 1000 young travellers coming through their doors each week.
They are not just a website; They are a hands-on Job Search Centre with recruitment consultants that assist their members with finding work in Australia.
AUSTRALIAN FRUIT PICKING SEASONS
New South Wales
Seasonal work, from November to April is the busiest period, with the main harvest reaching a peak in February. Fruit picking work can be found around the central eastern district around Bathurst. Main produce includes orchard fruits, cotton, onions and asparagus.
All year round, around northern coastal areas of NSW, near Coffs Harbour bananas are grown all year.
Victoria
Seasonal work, from November to April peaking in February is the main season for fruit picking jobs in Victoria. Work is to found in central northern areas of Victoria around Shepparton, also a good area to look for work is along the Murray River, places such as Mildura and Swan Hill often required seasonal workers. Main harvests include orchard fruits, tomatoes, tobacco, grapes and soft fruits.
Queensland
Seasonal work, from December to March. Work is usually available around Warwick. Harvest includes stone and orchard fruits, grapes. May to December, on the Central Coast of Queensland near Bowen, lots of different fruit and vegetables grown, especially mangoes at the end of the year. May to November, the northern coast around Ayr and Ingham, usually work available picking sugar cane, bananas and tobacco. All year round, work is available on the southern central coast around Bundaberg and Childers, most types of fruit and vegetables are harvested.
Tasmania
Seasonal work, from December to March. Orchard and Soft fruits, grapes.
South Australia
Seasonal work, February to April work is usually available around The Barossa Valley picking grapes.
All year round, Around the Riverland area, picking citrus and soft fruits.
Western Australia
Seasonal work, October to June the southwest work available harvesting grapes and orchard fruits. March to November fishing and processing work available for crayfish, prawns and scallops available on the west coast between Fremantle and Carnarvon. May to October fruit and vegetable picking and packing jobs available in the northeast, around Kununurra.
