Australian Working Holiday Myths

So, you’re thinking about a working holiday visa in Australia?! That is an excellent start but don’t be put off by the many Australian working holiday myths!

You might have heard from a friend of a friend whose cousin moved to Australia in 1998 that certain aspects of the visa are true. Don’t trust the word on the grapevine (the grapevine lies!) everything you need to know about the working holiday visa can be found on our site or by asking one of us!

There are certain myths that surround the working holiday visa and we at Ultimate Travel have decided to debunk them left, right and centre!

The Government Are About to Update the Visa So It’s Two Years Automatically

This is the dream but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon.

By completing your farm work, you can stay for a second year visa, but the government has no plans to update the visa regulations so the 417 visa is an automatic two year visa.

The Government continues to update the countries that can apply for a working holiday visa (Poland and Uruguay, welcome to the club!) and the visa may change in the future but it isn’t on the immediate horizon.

Keep your eyes peeled on the Department of Immigration website though, all changes will be announced there.

I Can Get More Than One Visa

ONLY if you do the farm work!

If you don’t want to do the farm work, then you’re limited to just one where working holiday visas are concerned.

With 3 months of regional work completed, you are eligible to apply for the same visa again to be used straight off the back of your first one or any time before you turn 31.

Government proposals hope to change this by allowing backpackers to take one working holiday visa before they turn 25 and another after but this is still in early stages though so isn’t on the cards for the near future.

If I Claim My Superannuation, I Can’t Come Back To Australia

If you don’t know what superannuation is, it is basically a pension that your employer has to pay into on your behalf so you lose 12% of your wages into an account that you can’t access. It is a great idea if you plan on retiring in Australia but if you are just here for a working holiday, it can be annoying.

Don’t worry though, once your visa expires and you leave the country, you can apply to get your superannuation back! A lot of people seem to think that once you’ve closed your Super account, you can’t come back to Australia and this isn’t the case.

Any employer is legally bound to pay into your Super account and if you come back to Australia on a different visa, you are fine to open up a new one and start working again. Of course, it has to be a visa that allows you to work but you’re all good to start earning once again!

I’m only a Backpacker, I won’t pay tax

This isn’t true. You’ll pay tax if you are working in Australia but you’ll be able to claim it back at the end of the tax year.

When you arrive in Australia with UltimateOz, we’ll sort out the basic things you need before you start working – namely a bank account and help with your application for a tax file number. If you are from the UK a tax file number is then same thing as your National Insurance number, from the States it is the same as your social security number.

A tax file number gives you the right to work in Australia, and more importantly, puts you on a lower tax bracket. You can work for one month without a tax file number but you’ll be taxed about 50% of your wages. Nobody wants that!

Once you’ve got your tax file number, your tax rate drops to around 29% (depending on earnings) and as mentioned earlier, you’ll be able to claim some, if not all, of your tax back at the end of the tax year in July (again, depending on how much you earn).

Got any more questions? Get in touch with us and we’ll do our best to help you out!