The Australian economy is thriving more than ever, and with that, the Abbott government has expanded its WHV, or its Working Holiday Visa program, as a sign of encouragement for a bigger cultural exchange on a wider variety of partner countries. Because of this, opportunities of travel and employment have greatly increased. It has also reignited the interest of people from all over the world in migrating to the country.
For the period of 2012-2013, more than two hundred forty nine thousand working holiday visas have been given. This means there was an actual rise of successful applicants from the previous year, up by 15.8 per cent. These visas were given to people from different countries such as the UK, France, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, and a lot of others.
But Australia doesn’t just want to limit the WHV program to these countries. Right now, the government is negotiating to increase the number of their partner countries, countries like Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Greece, and the Czech Republic, among others.
Not only that, a record number of 2nd Working Holiday visas have been granted.
Second Working Holiday visas are given to those who have completed eighty eight days (or 3 months) of specified work in an Australian regional area, by being given another twelve months of stay in the country after their 1st year.
The rise in the number of granted 2nd WHV’s since its 2005 introduction is note-worthy with the growing number of more than 38,862 for the period of 2012-13, from just 2,692 back in 2005-2006.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has published new statistics indicating that for the most recent fiscal year, more than seventy five per cent of the cases for the 1st WHV were concluded within six calendar days. Meanwhile, most applicants for the 2nd WHV were processed within twenty one days, approximately. There were cases wherein extra checks needed to be done, and this will make the processing even longer. These checks were necessary to find out about health, character, etc.
Young people who would like to get the chance to visit Australia would be great to get a Working Holiday Visa, so they can experience what the country has to offer.
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