Things you need to know before you apply for an Australian working holiday visa

What you need to know before applying for an Australian working holiday visa — (Picture: Getty)

Applying for an Australian Working Holiday visa is a choice made by thousands of Brits each year.

And while the process is relatively easy compared to other international visas, the process can take far longer than some people might expect.

Here are the things you need to know before you make an application:

It might take MUCH longer than 4 weeks

You can find the most up-to-date processing time information on the WHV website.

While between 75% to 90% of applications used to be processed within a month, the latest statistics show that it can now take around 40 days.

90% sounds like a lot – and it is – but when you consider just how many thousands of people are applying for a WHV every year, it becomes clear that the remaining 10% encompasses a large number of applicants as well.

Its safe to assume you are part of the other 10% once you are asked to give more information like a Form 80.

And sadly, theres no prediction for the waiting time in the other 10% so you could be waiting for anything between 40 days to four months.

Its not a good idea to book the flight before you apply

Its easy to assume that youll be one of the 90% of applicants who get their visa granted within 40 days, but that isnt always the case.

While it might feel safe to book flights for 3 months away, with some visas taking six months or more to be approved, youre better off waiting.

Yes, its tempting to get the cheaper flight but its better to buy a slightly pricier one when everythings confirmed rather than watching your money go down the drain.

You probably have a long wait ahead if youve visited certain countries in the past 4 years

Despite the fact I had worked in Australia for six months between 2015-2016, I was made to wait because I had been on a holiday in 2014 to one of nine countries flagged for Polio.

Naturally, a lot of care is taken to ensure diseases arent brought into the country and sometimes that can cause a lot of unexpected delays for anyone who is are pretty well-travelled.

For example, if you have spent a period of 28 days or longer in Afghanistan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria (or in any combination of these countries) since 5 May 2004 then youll need to provide a copy of your polio vaccination certificate.

You might be able to save some time by attaching all vaccination certificates and other relevant info when applying.

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Your application has to go through a longer inspection if you have a criminal record

Its to be expected that those with a criminal record will have to go through a thorough check to get their visa.

And those checks mean it will take a lot longer than the advertised time for you to get the visa approved.

Again, just ensure to provide all the details necessary and prepare to exercise some patience.

There IS a number to call if things are taking an exceptionally long time

If your application is taking far longer than it should and you arent hearing back about it, you can reach out to offices in Europe and Australia to try to see what is going on.

You should only do this after a good couple of months otherwise you will just get told to keep waiting and you could have wasted money and time for no reason.

First off, you should call the Europe Service Centre who will tell you the right thing to do/add to your application.

They can also tell you the email address you need to contact about your application.

If emails dont work, then you can try and call the 13 number (+61 131881) in Australia in order to speak to someone directly working on applications.

However, it will cost you a pretty penny and doesnt guarantee things will move any quicker.

Forums are your friend

A quick search on google will usually help you to find the right forum or thread for your particular case for delay. But the Lonely Planet threads are especially useful for getting questions answered that you cant find answers to on the website.

Reading other peoples stories about their recent application is also a great way to assess how long delays are taking as they often seem to be around the same length of time.

Little things like this can help you feel like you can plan a little bit and gives a little bit more peace of mind at a very trying time.

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