Where can you work on a working holiday visa?
NOT ready to return home after graduation? We’ve done the legwork for you and compiled a list of countries you could work in on a working holiday visa.Gabriella Ariffin has the details.
It’s the time of the year when graduating students begin weighing up their options. Whether to remain in Australia, return home, or perhaps, to look for work in another part of the world?
For those not prepared to return home just yet, or looking for a change of environment, a working holiday visa may be an option worth considering. The upsides are that it’ll allow you to expand your horizons, explore new cultures and gain work experience at the same time.
As is the case for most countries, you’ll need to be between 18 to 30 years old (35 for Canada) to be eligible for a working holiday visa.
Sadly however, not every country has bilateral working holiday visa programmes, so students from some countries will have more options than others. It all depends on the relationships and agreements between governments.
As a starting point, we’ve compiled our findings in the table below, but we are inviting you to help us expand this list via our open Google spreadsheet, which can also be viewed at the end of this article. While this is a starting point, Meld recommends students to refer to the relevant host countries’ authorities for detailed information regarding working holiday visa rights and details.
| If you’re from… | You can apply for a work holiday visa in… |
| Argentina | Australia, France |
| Brazil | New Zealand |
| Hong Kong | Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Singapore |
| India | No information |
| Indonesia | Australia |
| Malaysia | Australia, New Zealand, France (90 days without Visa) |
| Mexico | New Zealand |
| Philippines | New Zealand |
| Singapore | New Zealand – applies to Singaporean students/graduates of Singapore polytechnics and universities |
| South Korea | Australia, Canada, France, Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Sweden |
| Taiwan | Australia, New Zealand, UK, South Korea, Canada, France, Germany, Japan |
| Thailand | Australia, New Zealand |
| Vietnam | New Zealand |
Here’s also a quick list for information on applying for a working holiday visa with the following countries:
From what we’ve found so far, citizens of South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan seem to have the most options. Your options are much more limited if you’re from Indonesia or Singapore. No information is available for students from India.
Where in the world can I work?
Click on this link to help us add to this list