They're flocking from all over the universe for a working holiday Down Under

picking fruits with a passion A dilemma developed.  Who to pick all these fruits?  New Australian immigrants, mainly from Asia, weren't flocking to the farmlands for fruit-picking.  They were going to Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, or Melbourne.  Australia shared no land borders with vastly poorer nations.  A brilliant idea hit:  expand the working holiday visa-holder program.  Let these nearly broke holidaymakers pick the fruit without collecting benefits.   They'd soon grow bored and move on, but who cared?  A new crew of holidaymakers would always be arriving to take over where the previous crews left off. For someone to be eligible to come to Australia on a working holiday visa, Australia and that person's country must have signed reciprocal working holiday visa agreements.  Australia already had plenty of Canadians and British flooding the country, and a large number of Australians always go to work in Canada and Britain.  You might say all these countries made valid "swaps."  Nowadays, it's irrelevant whether the swap is equal.  Citizens of Estonia, Taiwan, Sweden, and South Korea are eligible to come to Australia for a working holiday.  Do you honestly believe Australians flock in droves to those countries in return?   If an Australian goes to Taiwan or South Korea, he'd probably be going to teach English and wouldn't need a working holiday visa to begin with.  Australia's primary concern is that citizens from other countries, as many countries as Australia can ink deals with, come to Australia and work and spend.  Australia doesn't care if its own citizens go to those countries or even know where they are on a map.  If Australia could ink deals with the governments on Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, and even outlying solar systems, so alien bodies could be beamed to Australia to pick fruits, it would. Doug's Republic has sound reason for believing the motivation behind the Australian Working Holiday visa program is governed this way.  For one, the list of countries keeps expanding.  Indonesians, Malaysians, Thais, Chileans, and Americans have been added on a rather new 'Work And Holiday' visa program, which except for the "and" is virtually identical to the Working Holiday program.  And two, working holiday visa-holders (not work-and-holiday ones) are able to obtain a second working holiday in Australia provided they can prove they've done at least 3 months of regional farm work on their first working holiday.  You don't get the option to apply for a second visa if you've worked in IT, acting, or stripping.  The Australian government is providing a clear incentive to pick fruits or plow local fields.  There are other great benefits for Australia with the program.  Working holiday makers are transients.  They won't get paid benefits.  Most aren't highly educated with readily definable, in-high-demand skills.   If they were, they could come to Australia under a different visa.  The jobs working holiday makers obtain are enough for them to travel as a group around Australia.  Virtually any money made in Australia stays in Australia.   On the other hand, poor José from Mexico doing agricultural work in Texas is likely to remit a good chunk of his earnings right back to his homeland. The Nitty Gritty About A Working Holiday   The Working Holiday and Work And Holiday programs are only available for people from eligible countries aged 18 to 30, the ideal ages for picking fruits.  Strictly speaking, you could be 31 when you started using your visa, just as long as you were no older than 30 when you applied.  You do not have to apply in your country of origin.   An applicant can only apply for one Work And Holiday visa in Australia in his lifetime.  Of course, if he dies and is reincarnated in a body in a country which has a reciprocal working holiday scheme with Australia, he can apply again from within his new body.  Working Holiday visa applicants can apply for a second visa if they've slaved on a farm for at least 3 months.   Doug's Republic has been told that it's easy to fake this requirement as long as you've done some work in a rural area.   You cannot have any accompanying children when you apply or when you show up in Australia with the visa.  If you're a male who's knocked up his girlfriend recently, you'd want to keep that news to yourself when applying for your visa.  If you're a pregnant woman applying for the visa, you could lie to the Australian authorities and see if they'll believe you've been on a donut-eating binge.   You can do any work you can secure employment for, but you can't work for the same employer for more than 6 months.  The Australian government's intent is that you don't get too comfortable in your job or get too good a job.  There are ways around this, too, if your Australian employer trades under more than one business name.  You could work for one "company," then work for the "other."    Obtaining some kind of work is not difficult as long as you're not too particular what.  Those nearer to 30 coming to Australia to advance their careers with a working holiday are probably on the wrong type of visa.  Career-advancement jobs aren't the kinds you'd have to quit after 6 months to satisfy some working holiday visa requirement.   Before applying for a working holiday-type visa, ask yourself if you're coming to Australia for the right reasons.  Working holidaymakers' primary concerns are boozing up and picking up -- the holiday part of the working holiday.  The working part is only done to earn enough money to pursue the holiday part.  If you're coming to work, not par-tay, then perhaps you should look into business sponsorship visas instead.  The Working Holiday (and Work And Holiday) programs can be viewed as Australian sampler platters.  Back when I was about to graduate college, I considered going to Australia to check it out and see if liked it.  The internet did not exist at the time and neither did the Work And Holiday program for Americans. I was told by the Australian Embassy that I had to fill out an application and submit a non-refundable fee of USD 150 so the Australian government could add up the number of points I was 'worth.' I didn't get enough points and was rejected.  The Australian government had ripped me off. They had put me through the same queue as someone seeking to immigrate to Australia, despite me making it quite clear from the very beginning that I had no desire to do so.  I should have just applied for a one-year tourist visa, though I can't even tell you if that visa existed at the time.  This is why the Working Holiday and Work And Holiday programs are beneficial. You can check out the Australian employment market and the country for a year to see if you like it. Even if you have super in-demand skills Australia lusts for, why submit yourself to Australia's crappy points system up front? Instead, go to Australia on one of these guaranteed visas and, with enough determination, land yourself a good job. If the employer likes you enough, they'll circumvent the working holiday restrictions by making you leave the country temporarily while they get the paperwork together to bring you over on a real visa. The working holiday program can be your back door to stay in Australia permanently if that's really what you desire. If you can find some way to rip off the Australian government USD 235 (the equivalent today of the USD 150 I flushed down the Australian Embassy's toilet years ago), I'd appreciate it and post an honorary thanks to you here at Doug's Republic.