WHV in Australia — How to work more than 6 months for the same employer

Your Australia Working Holiday Visa (WHV) comes with a few strings attached, including a six-month work limitation. Basically, the conditions of your visa limit you to a maximum period of six months’ work with any one employer. However, there are several (legal!) ways around it.

Over the past few years, new rules have been implemented and some allow you to work longer than six months with one employer.

What is visa condition 8547?

Mandatory visa condition 8547 limits you to a maximum period of six months’ work with the same employer. The six-month work limitation applies to all types of contracts—full time, part time, occasional and even volunteer work.

“Same employer” or “one employer” means the business or organisation you are working directly for. For instance, if you use a recruitment agency to find contracts, the agency isn’t your direct employer, so you can use the same agency for more than six months.

However, if one recruitment agency offers you a six-month office-based contract for one employer and another agency offers you an additional four-month contract for that same employer at the same office, you can’t accept the second contract. Otherwise, you will be in breach of your visa conditions by working for ten months with the same employer at the same location.

The information in this article applies to both Working Holiday Visa Subclass 462 and Subclass 417 holders.

Exception #1 — Work in different locations for the same employer

As of January 1, 2024, you can work for the same employer if you do not exceed more than six months at the same location.

For example, you can work for the same company if you spend six months based in the office and then six months working from home, as these are considered two different locations. You can work for the same hotel chain by spending six months at a Sydney-based branch of the hotel chain and six months at a Brisbane-based branch. You can work for a parent company and then a subsidiary, and so on, as long as you do not stay at the same location for more than six months.

Exception #2 — Work in certain industries in northern Australia only

Northern Australia is actively looking for workers in certain industries. WHV holders are welcome to work more than six months for the same employer in the following industries:

• fishing and pearling
• tree farming and felling
• construction
• mining

Read the complete description of eligible industries and occupations for the WHV subclass 462 and the WHV subclass 417.

Northern Australia includes all of the Northern Territory, as well as Western Australia’s and Queensland’s areas north of the Tropic of Capricorn. Eligible areas are in green on the map below.

Exception #3 – Critical sectors anywhere in Australia

You can work longer than six months with the same company anywhere in Australia if your work is considered a contribution to one of Australia’s critical sectors. These sectors are defined as: agriculture, food processing, health, aged and disability care and childcare, tourism and hospitality.

For more info about what types of jobs count towards the critical sectors, check the WHV subclass 462 and the WHV subclass 417 rules.

Exception #4 — Natural disaster recovery work anywhere in Australia

If your work relates to natural disaster recovery work anywhere in Australia, you do not have to follow the six-month limitation.

The Government of Australia defines natural disaster recovery work as including:

• construction, farming, or any other work in association with recovery or restitution of land, property, farm animals or wildlife
• providing support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas
• clean-up, construction or any other work in association with restitution or restoration of services, land, waterways, property or infrastructure
• coordination support, including services for insurance companies and local, state and federal government organisations and community and evacuation centres

Exception #5 – Plant and animal cultivation work anywhere in Australia

WHV holders can also work for the same employer for the whole 12 months of their WHV if they work in the plant and animal cultivation industry.

Eligible jobs are listed as:

• harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
• pruning and trimming vines and trees (this must be your primary employment task)
• maintaining crops
• cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts
• processing of plant products
• maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase
• processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning
• manufacturing dairy produce from raw material

Note that jobs such as general garden maintenance and working with animals for tourism purposes do not count as plant and animal cultivation work.

What do I have to do to extend my employment period?

For the above five exceptions, you don’t need to ask the Department of Home Affairs permission to work with the same employer for up to 12 months.

You may be trying to remove the six-month limitation for another reason, such as:

• you have applied for a visa allowing ongoing full time work and are awaiting the outcome of your application (e.g. a skilled visa, a partner visa, a bridging visa, etc.)
• you believe you are undertaking work that is critical to your employer, and have attached a supporting letter from your employer (e.g. if you are working on a long-term project that cannot be completed without you)

In these cases, you must apply for permission to work longer than six months with one employer. Note that it is not guaranteed you will be granted permission, as it is up to the Australian authorities to decide if your continued employment with the same company is essential or not.

You can apply for permission by:

• filling in the online permission request form
• supplementing your request with a letter of support from your employer

Note that if you have already submitted a request before your six-month time period is up, you can continue working until you receive a written outcome of your request. However, if you submit your request after the six months have already lapsed, you must stop working until you receive the outcome of your request.

For more info, read How to request permission to work longer than 6 mon​​ths.