Second Year Visa Australia
Want to stay in Australia for another year but worried you wont get a second visa?
Fortunately you can extend your working holiday for another year and keep living the Aussie dream, but there are some requirements you must meet;
Basics
To be eligible for a second working holiday visa:
- You need to do 3 months of "specified work" in certain areas of Australia (defined by specific postcodes) and evidence.
- You also need to meet the same general requirements as your first working holiday visa. For example, you must be aged between 18 and 31 (35 for people from Canada, Ireland and France) at the time of applying; have no dependent children accompanying you; and have proof of funds.
- You'll be pleased to know as of 1 July 2019 Working Holiday Visa holders with Subclass 417 can apply for a Third Year Working Holiday Visa.
In May 2015 the government announced that voluntary work will be removed from the list options available to get a Second Year Visa. When you are looking for suitable work seek employers who provide a payslip.
WWOOFand HELPx are no longer viable options. To get paid work check out our free Backpacker Tips PDF.
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Links to information below
Specified Work
There are five types of specified work you can do to get a second working holiday visa.
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Harvesting, picking and/or packing fruit or vegetables.
- Pruning and/or trimming trees or vines. Landscaping/gardening does not count. The trees/vines must be pruned in order to help produce crops for commercial use.
- Maintenance of crops.
- Maintaining animals for sale (or sale of their bodily produce e.g. milk). Maintaining animals for tourism/recreation does not count.
- Immediate processing of animal products. For example: shearing, butchering and packing. Small goods processing of animal products and retail butchering does not count.
- The work should directly relate to catching fish or taking and/or culturing pearls or pearl shell.
- This can also include transporting trees that have been felled (the raw material) to their first stage of processing.
- Can include: coal mining; oil and gas drilling; mining for metals; mineral mining and quarrying.
- Can include: both residential and non-residential construction, as well as civil engineering construction.
Primary Role
You must have a primary role in these sectors in order to be eligible for a second working holiday visa. For example, jobs that don’t count would be: working on a farm, but as a nanny; or working in the construction sector, but as a secretary.
Post Codes
There are only certain postcodes you can work in in order to complete your specified work. Always be sure to ask your potential employer exactly what post code you will be working in. A full list of post codes can be found here (scroll to the “Regional Australia” section heading).
How to Calculate Your Specified Work
Recently, the rules regarding how you calculate your days, and hours within each working day, have become stricter. The specified work should be carried out over 3 calendar months or 88 days. Australian public holidays and sick days can be included in your calculation for specified work if you are paid for these days. But you can’t include unpaid days when you were unable to work due to severe weather.
You also need to work a minimum number of standard hours according to the industry or the role you are employed in. Generally speaking this is about 6 to 8 hours a day. However, if you work 12 to 16 hours in one day, you cannot count it as two days (essentially, you can’t aim to complete three months of specified work in a total period of less than three calendar months). The specified work does not necessarily need to be completed in one go. You can work in separate blocks for different employers, or for the same employer. 
Providing Evidence of Specified Work
When applying for a second holiday visa, you may need to provide evidence to show that you have completed the work over the specified time period.
Evidence can include: payslips; group certificates; references from your employer; an employment verification form signed by your employer; or an original bank statement covering the time period between starting and finishing the specified work.
Third-Party Contact
It has now become standard for the department of immigration to contact your employer to verify that you did work there during the specified period.
Doing Volunteering as Specified Work
ANNOUNCEMENT: In December 2015 the government announced that voluntary work will be removed from the list of options available to get a Second Year Visa. When you are looking for suitable work, seek employers who provide a payslip.
In any case, it is best to try getting a paid job, where your wages are paid into your bank account. This way, you can give an original bank statement as evidence, which will help your application go through a lot faster. Ohh there is another advantage - you get paid.
Ways to Find Specified Work
For more information on what you need to do to get a second working holiday visa and specified work requirements check out the Australian Department of Home Affairs website.