Several conditions are necessary to obtain the second year visa. As for the first visa, you must be less than 30 years old (35 if your are Canadian or Irish). You must also have completed three months (or 88 days) of specified work in regional Australia while on your first Working Holiday visa. Most people choose to find farm work and do fruit picking but it’s not the only option. Find out more below :

Eligible areas to do your 88 days for the second year visa

All areas in Tasmania, South Australia and Northern Territory are eligible for the 2nd year visa. For the other states and territories only certain postcodes are eligible.
Here is the list of all eligible postcodes

Eligible jobs you can do to get the second year visa

A lot of jobs are eligible jobs and althought fruit picking and fruit packing are the most popular, there is a wide variety of job that you can do.

Find below the list of industries and jobs you can work in which qualify as specified work to get your second year visa:

Plant and animal cultivation

  • Cultivating or propagating plants
  • General maintenance crop work
  • Harvesting and/or packing fruit and vegetable crops
  • Immediate processing of animal products including shearing, butchery in an abattoir, packing and tanning
  • Immediate processing of plant products
  • Maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase
  • Manufacturing dairy produce from raw material
  • Pruning and trimming vines and trees.

Felling trees in a plantation or forest

  • Planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest
  • 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.

Fishing and Pearling

second year visa
  • Catching fish and other aquatic species
  • Culturing pearls or pearl shell.
  • Tree farming and felling

Mining

farm job mining second year visa
  • Coal mining
  • Construction material engineering
  • Exploration
  • Metal ore mining
  • Mining support services
  • Oil and gas extraction
  • Other non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying.

Construction

Construction job second year visa australia
  • Building completion services, installation services, structure services
  • Heavy and civil engineering construction
  • Land development and site preparation services
  • Non-residential building construction
  • Residential building construction
  • Other construction services

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How to calculate the 88 days (3 months)?

Calculating the hours and days

Rules are set up by the government regarding the calculation of the 88 days but are not really easy to understand:

  • Three months means three calendar months.
  • One full day of work is defined as six to eight hours of work per day.
  • On average, an australian working week is 30 to 40 hours.
  • Working an extra long day, like a 12 hours day sadly does not count as 2 days of work.

If you are a full time worker in a farmyou can include weekends in calculating the number of days. For exemple, if you work 5 days, have the week-end off, and work the next week again, then you can add the 2 days off.  If you have worked less than 6h per days, then you must work more days to reach the 30 hours worked per week.

Examples

  • You have cumulated only 10 days if you have worked 5 hours per day for 5 days during 2 weeks in a row
  • If you work 6 hours per day for 5 days during 2 week in a row, you’ll cumulate 12 days.
  • If you have worked 6 hours per days for 5 days during 2 week (not in a row), you only have cumulated 10 days.
  • In the case you are paid by piece rate, the government can check how much money you’ve made to know if you claimed a coherent amount of days

Full time workers can count sick days only during periods where they are in paid employment and entitled to sick leave.

Free 88 days calculation tool

We know calculating the days is a real pain so if you want to know exactly how many days you have cumulated, use our free calculation tool. A simple and efficace way to know how many days you have cumulated.

You’re welcome 🙂

Free 88 days calculation tool

Free 88 days Calculation Tool

How to apply for a second year visa?

Apply for the second year visa Australia

Application process

You can apply from in or out Australia :

  • If you apply from Australia, you must be in Australia when the visa is granted.
  • If applying from outside Australia, you must be outside Australia when the visa is granted.

Evidence of specified work to provide

Even if the Australian government does not check all the records, you need to be able to provide these documents in case of verification:

  • Copies of your payslips
  • Your bank statement covering the period of declared specified work

Other evidence may include :

  • Tax returns
  • Employer references

When to apply for a second year visa?

When to apply for the second year visa in Australia

You may apply either while you still hold a first Working Holiday visa or at a later date.
If you want to extend your visa straight after the first one, you should apply before your first working holiday visa expires.
If you wish to come back later, you should apply before your 31th birthday. You will have one year after approval to re-enter Australia.

If you want to apply for the 2nd year visa, you’ll have to log in into your immi account. The same place where you apply to obtain your first visa : Apply for the 2nd year visa now

Know that, if you apply while in Australia when your first visa is about to expire, you will be automaticly granted a “bridging visa” which allow you to stay. So, do not leave the country before you get the answer for your 2nd year visa.

Visa fees

A working holiday visa paid directly on the Australian Government’s website costs AUD$450, the same Price as the first one (January 2019).

Processing time

Processing time can vary from an application to another. Some applications are granted within a few hours others are investigated and can take up to 2 months.

When lodging your application for a second year visa, you should upload all your supporting evidence at the same time to avoid delay in processing your application.

Providing a false or misleading declaration or fraudulent evidence for any visa application can result in the application being refused or cancelled. If the applicant’s visa is cancelled they may be prevented from lodging further applications and be excluded from Australia for a period of three years.

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Soon you will be able to stay in Australia for a third year! Learn more about the third year visa!

Information extracted from the Australian Immigration Website.