One of the greatest working holiday visa myths in Australia is the need to do 88 days of farm work to get your second and third year visa. It’s simply not true and there are plenty of job options to tally up your 88 Days. The 88 days scheme is designed to get WHV people to work in areas and industries where they are critically needed. Farming is just one of those industries.
This is a copy and paste (Dated August 16, 2022) of job types that qualify for your 88 Days from the official immigration website.
Approved industries and areas for specified work
The following industries and areas are approved for specified work:
- tourism and hospitality in northern or remote and very remote Australia
- plant and animal cultivation in northern Australia and other specified areas of regional Australia
- fishing and pearling in northern Australia only
- tree farming and felling in northern Australia only
- construction in northern Australia and other specified areas of regional Australia
- bushfire recovery work in declared bushfire affected areas only, after 31 July 2019
- flood recovery work in declared flood recovery areas only, undertaken on or after 1 January 2022, for applications lodged on or after 1 July 2022
- critical COVID-19 work in the healthcare and medical sectors anywhere in Australia, after 31 January 2020
You might want to click that link because things change all the time. You can also cross reference your job location with a list of eligible postcodes to make sure your job actually qualifies.
If there is a chronic worker shortage in a specific location, postcodes can be added. As emergencies ease, other types of jobs can get taken off the list. Don’t be shocked if critical covid work gets removed soon.
There’s also talk about UK citizens not having to do 88 Days of specific work to get a second or third year. This is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The proposed rule change was negotiated by the previous Australian government. The worker shortage in 88 Day roles has not diminished, and there would be a huge backlash from businesses and farmers if UK citizens filling these jobs suddenly disappeared from the labour market.
Other links you might want to read include.