From Working Holiday to a Longer Stay
“Can I work for my employer for more than 6 months on a Working Holiday visa?”
We get asked this a lot from folks who are Working Holiday Visa (WHV) holders eying on extending the duration of their current visa. Here at Pathway to Aus, we’d like to help you see the bigger scope while providing you with certain specificities to consider when requesting for an extension.
Visas have their own durations which is why you will want to express an intention to extend your stay. For example, you have your first WHV and now, you’re moving into your second WHV or you’re moving into a Bridging visa.
Let’s review the legalities before we dive in to answering this question. There’s a provision called the Visa Condition 8547 where the Australian Home Affairs says:
“Mandatory visa condition 8547 limits you to a maximum period of 6 months’ work with any one employer. If your work does not fall within an exemption to condition 8547, you will have to seek permission to work longer than 6 months for the same employer.”
In any visa granted to an applicant, you are being given a time frame of 6 months duration until your visa expires. If your WHV falls into the occupations that are exempted from the condition, there is no need to request to extend your stay. On the other hand, if you work an occupation that doesn’t fall within the list of occupations exempted, you will have to submit a request expressing your intention of staying longer in the company, and in the country.
What are the grounds for approving requests? Let’s see these guidelines — you’ve already applied for your working holiday visa and you’re waiting for the results; and you’re doing critical work that’s essential to your employer and your employer includes a supporting letter to your request for extension.
Extensions and Exemptions
How do we know which occupations are exempted from visa condition 8547?
There’s an extensive list provided by Immigration that shows you the critical occupations that do not need to submit a request.
- Working in different locations
If the kind of work you do requires you to go to different places, for example, you work in construction in different on-site locations or you work at an office for a month, then work remotely for the next month remotely.
- Working in plant and animal cultivation
If you work in the spaces of agriculture, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling then you don’t need to submit an extension request.
- Working in natural disaster recovery
If you work within the areas of health, aged care and disability services, childcare, you are exempted from visa condition 8547.
- Working in a critical sector
If you work within the sectors of health, aged care and disability services, childcare, tourism and hospitality, construction, and mining, there’s no requirement for a request.
While there are occupations that are eligible for exemption, there are also occupations that are not:
- General garden maintenance
- Maintaining animals for tourism or recreational purposes
- Secondary processing of animal products, such as small goods processing and retail butchery.
Submitting your visa extension request
If your work isn’t part of the exempted occupations, you will need to provide a request. You can still work for the same employer until you get the result of your request.
Some things you need to know:
The request of working longer than 6 months for the same employer needs to be submitted before your WHV expires. If you find yourself in a situation where the 6-month duration has lapsed, you should stop working for your employer until you have received the results of your application.
The employer will write a letter stating how essential the employee is to the company. Following the steps on how to sponsor a worker, your employer needs to show that they can’t find a person in Australia to fill your vacancy.
We have to remember that the Immigration does have a high volume of requests, so there may be a possibility that they won’t be able to give you the individual confirmation you’re seeking. If this happens in your situation, Immigration suggests that you go to their web page to confirm whether or not you can continue to work for your employer.
The Recap
Here are some thoughts and review what we’ve talked about so far:
Check if your occupation falls under the exemption of visa condition 8547. If it’s exempted, there’s no need for a request. If it’s not exempted, you will need to submit your request for a visa extension.
Before your visa expires, make sure that you have submitted your visa extension application.
The good news is, if you send the request, immigration will most likely give you the permission provided you meet the necessary requirements.
Now that we’ve shared with you vital information about the visa extension process, we hope that you’ll be able to go through the process prepared. Want to get deeper guidance and evaluation of your visa situation? Go ahead and book a consultation with us. We’d love to help you with that!
