Working Holiday changes: year two and three ballot, age 35 for Korea

What changed

• Ballot for second and third visas: changes announced in September 2026 introduce a ballot for second and third visas that keeps a regional work requirement, and aim to stabilise processing times at three months. Our rulebook has no start date for the ballot.
• Limits: in a speech on 17 September 2026 the Home Affairs Minister said the second-year ballot will be limited to 45,000 places, compared with 57,000 people who qualified the previous year, and the third-year ballot to 5,000 places, against 31,000 people in that group the previous year.
• Age 35: from 1 July 2026, passport holders from Cyprus, Finland, Germany and the Republic of Korea can apply for a Working Holiday (417) visa if they are 18 to 35 inclusive, and can lodge until 11:59 pm AEST on the day before their 36th birthday.
• Other age limits: a younger maximum age of 30 applies to 417 passports from Belgium, Estonia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Taiwan. For the Work and Holiday (462) visa the 2026 arrangements set a maximum age of 30 for every listed country.
• Uruguay: from 1 July 2026, up to 1,500 first 462 visas are available each program year to eligible Uruguay passport holders.
• Indonesia: under an Australia-Indonesia agreement, first 462 visas for Indonesian passport holders will be allocated by ballot, with registrations expected to open later in 2026. An Indonesian Letter of Support does not give priority or reserve a place.
• China, India and Vietnam: registrations for the 462 ballot for program year 2026-2027 closed on 25 June 2026.
• Luxembourg: from 3 June 2026, passport holders no longer need to provide a Letter of Support with a 462 application.
• Philippines: the arrangement has not launched. The memorandum of understanding was signed on 8 September 2023 for up to 200 places a year, no start date is published, and Filipino passport holders cannot yet use it.
• Processing: Home Affairs expects the average processing time for most Working Holiday Maker applications to be around three months, because the number of working holiday makers is at a record level.

Current rules for comparison

• A second 417 or 462 visa needs at least 3 months of specified work on the first visa. A third needs at least 6 months, all while holding the second visa and on or after 1 July 2019.
• First 462 visas have annual country caps: Argentina, Chile and Spain 3,400 each; China and Indonesia 5,000 each; Israel and Singapore 2,500 each; Thailand 2,000; Peru, Poland, Uruguay and Vietnam 1,500 each; Malaysia 1,100; India and Slovakia 1,000 each; and smaller caps of 100 to 500 for the other capped partners. There are no caps for second or third 462 visas. Applications for capped countries open each program year on 2 July.
• A country cap can be open, paused or closed. A paused cap may reopen within the same program year, while a closed cap is not reopened until the next program year.
• Charges: the 417 costs AUD 840 for a first-time applicant and AUD 1,000 for any other applicant. From 1 July 2026 a flat AUD 330 was added to the charge for second and third 417 and 462 applications.

Who it affects

Working Holiday and Work and Holiday applicants and holders, including Korean passport holders.

What to check

• The Home Affairs Working Holiday Maker news page for your passport country’s age limit and cap.
• Whether the cap for your country is open, paused or closed on the Home Affairs country caps page. For your own case, ask a registered migration agent (MARA) or an Australian legal practitioner.