Australia Working Holiday Visa Checklist

I’d got it into my head a couple of years ago that I wanted to move to Australia, with no better time than the present. The good news is, I could, and quite easily at that with the Australian Working Holiday Visa, which offered young people from eligible countries the opportunity to come and live and work in Australia for up to two years. For anyone interested, I thought I’d share my initial experiences and checklist of things to do when preparing for a Working Holiday Visa! Please note that some of these tips may apply more specifically to WHV travellers from the UK, and are based on my experiences and suggestions.

1.      Find a job

This was the first thing I wanted to get sorted, as I didn’t want to find myself in a situation where I had my visa and was ready to go, but with nothing in particular to go to. I know some people fly over and then start searching for a job, handing out CVs and hoping for something to turn up, but having this security was important to me. I began by collating a list of industries and companies I was interested in, and then sending out cover letters and CVs to those at the top of my list. Doing this in advance was necessary, as some companies took a fair while to reply, although it was the ones who replied sooner rather than later that I ended up pursuing – so I guess preparedness from both sides counts!

2.      Get a visa

Job secured, I should probably think about getting my visa so as to make sure I’m actually around to do the job. This had the potential to be a fairly straightforward process, simply filling in a questionnaire with my details here: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/first-working-holiday-417; but became horrendously more complicated when the system didn’t really seem to understand that someone can live in a country that they are not a citizen of, as I had been doing for the past 20 years! Eventually the problem was solved, and I almost immediately got an email from the Australian government to say that my visa had been granted – aww yeah!

3.      Book flights

As if spending a lot of money to secure my visa hadn’t been fun enough, it was now time to splash out on flights. The more in advance you can do this, the better as flights can be pretty expensive – my flights ended up being more than £500, and that was just for one way! I looked around for the best deal, checking out sites like Skyscanner, Kayak and Google Flights before settling on STA. Bear in mind as well that you’ll basically be travelling for a day, and will no doubt be pretty jetlagged, so I gave myself a day leeway to rest once I’d arrived before I had anything else planned.

4.      Find accommodation

Now you know you’re going, you should probably find somewhere to stay. I was lucky enough to have relatives who were happy enough to put me up for the first few weeks, but other options for easy to find accommodation are the YHA, and www.flatmates.com.au

5.      Sort our currency
      In order to enter Australia, you are supposed to be able to show that you have AUD $5000 or more in your bank account. I did this using Revolut, a foriegn currency cashcard that allowed me to transfer GBP to AUD when the conversion rate was best, and meant that I could show customs officials my current balance in AUD on the app if needed. This also meant that I already had some money in my hand as soon as I got off the plane rather than worrying about converting currency upon landing. It's also worth bringing some cash with you as well, just in case you find yourself somewhere that doesn't accept card!

5.      Arrive!

Packing my life into 23kg wasn’t the easiest things to do, and we had to do some pretty nifty rationalisation to make sure everything fit. The good news is that you’ll be able to buy pretty much all you need once you arrive in Australia, although I have noticed that things are a bit more expensive over here, so if you can pack it, do. Unless of course it’s on the prohibited items list (particularly food) – make sure you check this before you go so you don’t get caught out at customs!

6.      Set up a bank account

I used my first day in Australia as an ‘admin day’ – get all the boring important stuff out of the way so I can then begin to enjoy my adventures. First up was setting up a bank account so I had somewhere to put my salary when it started coming through, as well as pay for things without having to use foreign exchange rates which is how I’d been paying for things up until then. We did a bit of research to find out the best bank for me, and then it was a simple case of heading into one of their branches (don’t forget your passport) and setting one up. Easy peasy.

7.      Enrol in Medicare

Being a UK resident, I was entitled to reciprocal healthcare in Australia thanks to Medicare. I didn’t need to do anything in advance, just show up to a Medicare centre (with passport, visa and proof of a reciprocal healthcare agreement from my home country - in this case a valid European Health Insurance Card), fill in a simple document, and I was good to go. A few days later, my Medicare card arrived in the post, ready for use should I ever need it.

8.      Apply for a TFIN number

The last admin thing that needed to be done was applying for a tax file number, which every WHV needs to have. This again was super simple, simply heading to https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/tax-file-number/apply-for-a-tfn/foreign-passport-holders,-permanent-migrants-and-temporary-visitors---tfn-application/, filling in a document and waiting for my number to arrive in the post. Simple!

9.      Enjoy yourself!

So here I am, officially ensconced in Australia. I think I’ve got pretty much everything sorted, at least for the next few months, so have been taking the time to enjoy myself while I’m here – be that from exploring Brisbane after my arrival (coming soon to the blog!) or doing a scuba diving course (also coming soon!) in the hopes of using it in the Great Barrier Reef at some point during my time in this lovely country. There’ll be lots more exciting activities to come, so make sure to stay tuned to the blog and my Twitter @CiarasCountry to be the first to know when I post new articles about my time in Aus on a WHV!