Amendments to Australian Working Holiday Visa

Recent amendments to the Migration Regulations Act (1994) have been made to encourage working holiday visa applicants to spend some time working in regional areas of Australia. The amendment is that the term ‘seasonal work’ has been changed to ‘specific work’.
This amendment will effect those migrants who are on working holiday visas and wish to continue their stay by applying for a second working holiday visa. As of July 1st, 2008 migrants will have to of carried out ‘specific work’ in regional Australia for at least 3 months in order to be allowed to extend their working holiday visa.
The actual jobs and industries to be included in the definition of "specified work" are as follows:

(a) plant and animal cultivation
(i) the harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
(ii) pruning and trimming vines and trees
(iii) general maintenance crop work
(iv) cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts
(v) immediate processing of plant products
(vi) maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily
produce, including natural increase
(vii) immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery,
packing and tanning
(viii) manufacturing dairy produce from raw material

(b) fishing and pearling
(i) conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish and other
aquatic species
(ii) conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or
pearl shell

(c) tree farming and felling
(i) planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be
felled
(ii) felling trees in a plantation or forest
(iii) transporting trees or parts of trees that were felled in a plantation or
forest to the place where they are first to be milled or processed or from
which they are to be transported to the place where they are to be milled or
processed

(d) mining
(i) coal mining
(ii) oil and gas extraction
(iii) metal ore mining
(iv) construction material mining
(v) other non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying
(vi) exploration
(vii) mining support services

(e) construction
(i) residential building construction
(ii) non-residential building construction
(iii) heavy and civil engineering construction
(iv) land development and site preparation services
(v) building structure services
(vi) building installation services
(vii) building completion services
(viii) other construction services

For further information into the legislation amendment click here