WHM visas: Work limitation exemption extended to 30 June 2023; Visa processing backlog reduced
/On Boxing Day, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs announced that working holiday makers (WHMs) will be able to for work for any employer for more than the standard limit of six months until at least 30 June 2023, according to the Department of Home Affairs’ website. This extends the policy setting created on 19 January 2022 and brings the end date in line with student visa work limitation exemptions.
Visa condition 8547, which is a mandatory condition for subclass 417 – Working Holiday visas and subclass 462 – Work and Holiday visas, restricts these holders to work for any one employer for more than 6 months unless written permission has been provided. This is an interesting condition as it applies to the visa held and resets if another visa with the same condition has been granted, such as a second or third 417 visa or 462 visa or if a bridging visa comes into effect.
According to procedural instructions and prior to the blanket exemption in force, there are three situations when written permission is not required. These are when a visa holder is:
Working in certain high-demand industries in Northern Australia only,
Working in different locations, where work in any one location does not exceed six months, and
Planting and animal cultivation work anywhere in Australia.
These not just recognise enduring skill shortages in regional areas but are necessary to easily facilitate specified work, required work to be granted a second and third working holiday visa, which requires no less than 3 and 6 months of specified work, respectively.
What is interesting is that the guidance provided on Home Affairs’ website states that the time accruing towards the work limitation time will resume on 1 July 2023, meaning that any work for one employer done prior to then will not count towards the limitation. This is a very beneficial interpretation.
Furthermore, processing times for WHM visa applications where the applicant is outside Australia are processed in less than one day. To be fair, this does not deviate much from previous years. First WHM visa applications are relatively simple applications. Second and third WHM visa applications would require more time as specified work must be assessed.
The Minister also announced that the visa backlog for all subclasses is reducing, down from 1 million outstanding application in June 2022 to 600,000 by the end of the year. This is good progress. Those shuffled back in processing priorities due to recent changes may not feel this effect on their application.