An extended working holiday in Australia for young adults from eligible countries — work to fund your stay
The First Working Holiday visa is the starting point of the 417 program. It's a one-year visa for travellers from eligible countries who want to take an extended trip in Australia and work to help pay for it.
Applicants have to be 18 to 30 (or up to 35 if their country qualifies for the higher age limit), hold a passport from one of the 19 eligible countries or jurisdictions, apply from outside Australia, and have enough money to support themselves at the start of the stay and to leave at the end.
Holders can work for any employer (usually capped at 6 months per employer), study for up to 4 months (17 weeks total), and travel in and out of Australia freely during the 12 months.
The first 417 is a one-time chance per person. Anyone who has previously been in Australia on a 417 or 462 can't apply for a first 417 again.
These are the published requirements for the 417. Check each one applies to your situation.
The rule is that you can usually work for the same employer for no more than 6 months on a 417. The point is to keep the visa as a working holiday rather than a back-door long-term work permit.
There are exceptions worth knowing. You can work past 6 months for the same employer with written permission from IMMI, or if the work is in particular industries (plant and animal cultivation, fishing, forestry, mining, construction in some regional areas, healthcare in disaster recovery zones).
Different physical locations of the same employer may count separately.
Breaching the 6-month cap is a visa condition breach (8547) and can trigger cancellation or refusal of a future visa.
417 holders can study or train for up to 4 months total (17 weeks) during the 12-month visa.
This is often misunderstood. It's a hard total cap, not 4 months per course. You can split the study across the year, but the combined time has to stay under 17 weeks.
There is no restriction on the type of course or institution. Long-haul study (more than 17 weeks) needs a Student visa, not a 417.
The 3 months of specified work needed for a second 417 (and 6 months for a third) isn't just 'any job in regional Australia'. The job has to be in an approved industry and, for some industries, in an approved postcode.
The approved list includes plant and animal cultivation (farm work, picking, packing), fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining, construction in eligible regional areas, and from 2025, bushfire and natural-disaster recovery work in certain postcodes.
Always check the IMMI specified-work page before accepting a role expecting it to count.
417 holders can leave Australia and come back as many times as they like during the visa.
The catch is the 12-month stay clock starts on the date of first entry and runs continuously.
Spending 3 months in Thailand mid-visa doesn't give back those 3 months at the end.
People who want a longer total trip in Australia tend to time the first entry, do the visa run-in, then save overseas travel for the gap between first and second 417.
