The anticipated ballot for the subclass 462 – Work and Holiday visa will be able to commence from 16 September 2024 costing $25. The relevant legislative instruments for the visa pre-application process were registered over the last few weeks.

The first instrument confirms that the cost to be a registered participant is $25. If the charge is somehow not paid at the time of registration, then the person is taken to have never been registered.

The second amends how a valid 462 visa application can be made. This requires that if the visa applicant has previously been, in Australia as the holder of a 462 visa and holds a valid passport issued by a foreign country specified, they must have been a selected participant for a visa pre‑application process for this visa, they hold a valid passport issued by a relevant foreign country, and they must make an application before a specified date.

This is to stop those who are from a relevant foreign country from being able to apply for this visa application without being selected or if selected, cannot apply if the period for them to apply has lapsed.

It also excludes those who already hold this visa from needing to be selected. This is critical as otherwise they could not apply for their second or third 462 visa after having undertaken specified Subclass 462 work and met other requirements.

Of course, the initial countries are: China, India, and Vietnam.

India was also added to the list of countries eligible for a 462 visa. Potential applicants must have successful completed at least 2 years of post-secondary study to consider applying for the ballot otherwise they will not be able to meet an important criterion for grant.

Lastly, the rules for the visa pre-application process were registered. This requires:

• All registered participants must register once within a finite open registration period online, most likely through ImmiAccount,

• They must hold a valid passport and at the date of registration, they are aged at least 18 and no more than 30,

• A person’s registration is available for selection until either: the selection open period ends, they are selected to apply for a 462 visa, they withdraw their application, they turn 31 years old, or they die,

• Registrations are randomly selected by a computer program, and

• Any person who registers and is selected must be given a notice they are selected as soon as practical (likely by email) and the notice must specify a date for which a valid 462 visa application must be made.

As all these instruments commence on 16 September 2024 and there is scheduled maintenance for a number of the Department of Home Affairs’ systems over the weekend, expect that the ballot will be open for applications from this date or soon after.

While it is not surprising Immigration has implemented this for the two most populous countries and Vietnam, given that some countries’ caps are already closed or paused not more than 3 months after the new program year, it is feasible to see this expanded to other countries in the 462 visa program that experience high demand.

The concern is for young couples and friends wanting to travel together. Working holiday visas, like visitor visas, cannot make combined visa applications because there are no secondary criteria. This means for those wanting to travel to Australia with a partner or friends, coordinating applications is impossible under a ballot/lottery system. The only hope is they are all randomly selected at roughly the same time.