Do I need a visa to do volunteering?

If you have a Working Holiday Visa

The WHV is an open work permit so you can work for any employer as long as it’s not a permanent post. Volunteering won’t be a problem either.

Otherwise

If you don’t have a work visa or residence permit for your destination country, make sure to check whether you are allowed to volunteer as a visitor. Even if it is not paid, not all countries allow tourists to volunteer! Check the rules for your country.

At a glance:

• Canada: Four conditions must be met to volunteer without a work permit. It gets a bit tricky, so make sure to read the fine print.
• Australia: Travellers entering Australia on a tourist visa can volunteer as long as the main purpose of their trip is tourism and the work wouldn’t be done by an Australian resident for pay. Remember that you cannot get paid for volunteer work.
• New Zealand: Technically, backpackers do volunteer work on a tourist visa while in New Zealand, but “provided you receive no gain or reward”—and New Zealand includes accommodation and food as rewards, so you would be breaking the law. If you’re eligible, apply for a Working Holiday Visa. Otherwise, don’t volunteer on a tourist visa.
• USA: visitors may not perform any work, even unpaid.

Note that WWOOF, HelpX and Workaway don’t provide any visa information and won’t help volunteers deal with legal matters. These platforms connect hosts and helpers, that’s it. It’s your responsibility to make sure you can legally volunteer in your chosen country.

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