British backpackers can extend stay in Australia with volunteer work in fire-ravaged communities

1/59
Bonnie Christian18 February 2020

Tens of thousands of UK backpackers hoping to extend their stay in Australia will be able to count volunteer work rebuilding fire-ravaged communities towards their visa.

The Australian government this week revealed the changes to working holiday visas to help with the recovery effort following this season’s devastating bushfires that destroyed thousands of homes and buildings.

Under the current system, to be eligible for a second-year 417 visa, backpackers must do 88 days of regional work or “farm work”.

For a third-year visa, they must show an extra six months of work during their second year in Australia.

Australian wildfires turn sky red

1/12

Volunteer work is not counted and employers can only take on the same backpacker for six months.

Under the new plans, volunteer work in regions affected by the bushfires for periods of up to a year will now count towards a second and third year visa.

The changes are designed to encourage travellers to live and work in the 45 declared disaster zones across Australia.

More than 200,000 working holiday visas were issued last year to people aged between 18 and 30 years. Around 40,000 of those went to British travellers, making them the largest group ahead of those from France, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation regional organisations were “crying out” for volunteers.

The president of volunteer-based organisation BlazeAid, Kevin Butler, told broadcaster he was "ecstatic" and the arrangement went together like "peaches and cream".

"It's the most wonderful thing, it's a win-win-win for backpackers and for farmers," he added.

"We're going to have many, many young people from all over the world who have their hearts and minds set on helping Australia."

He later told The Australian newspaper: "We need young people with ... muscles to do the hard yards. The bushfires hit hardest in some very rugged areas and these backpackers have the energy to do it.

"A lot of the backpackers are going up and down the coast and being turned away from jobs because of the drought and bushfires. This is an opportunity for them."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in