Adam Ogle, Author at Welcome to Travel

Australia Opens Borders To Working Holiday Visas

Adam Ogle — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 02:49:20 +0000

Today is the day we, and you, have been waiting for. Today’s the day the Australian Federal Government announced Australia will open its borders to working holiday visas from 1 December 2021!

So What Was Said?

At 11.30am on 22 November 2022, Prime Minister Scott Morrison fronted the media to give an update on Australia’s next steps on it’s border policy.

With Australia now at an average of 85% double vaccinated, with NSW and Victoria heading for 95% it has now been deemed safe for Australia to welcome the next group of people into the country WITHOUT a travel exemption from December 1st 2021.

This group includes people on a:

Working Holiday Visa (417)
Work and Holiday Visa (462)
Student Visa (500)

You can see the full list on the Australian Immigration website.

What are the other requirement?

Vaccinations

You will need to be fully vaccinated and your vaccine be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Applying For A Visa

You can apply now for either a Working Holiday visa (417) or Work and Holiday visa (462).

The countries that are eligible are:

417 Visa Working Holiday

Passport holders from these countries

Belgium
Canada
Republic of Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (including British National Overseas passport holders)
Republic of Ireland
Italy
Japan
Republic of Korea
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Taiwan (other than an official or diplomatic passport)
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

462 Work and Holiday Visa

Passport holders from these countries

Argentina
Austria
Chile
China, People’s Republic of
Czech Republic
Ecuador
Greece
Hungary
Indonesia
Israel
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Peru
Poland
Portugal
San Marino
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Uruguay
United States of America
Vietnam

How Long Will It Take?

Due to the backlog of visas throughout COVID, the visa processing time is longer than normal. Immigration’s indicator of times are as follows

Working Holiday visa (417)

75% of applications in 85 days
90% of applications in 4 months

Work and Holiday visa (462)

75% of applications in 90 days
90% of applications in 4 months

Other Requirements

Undertake a pre-departure COVID-19 test.
Obtain your foreign vaccination certificate.
Travellers to Australia should complete an Australia Travel Declaration (ATD) at least 72 hours before departure.

When Are Welcome Tours Running?

Our first Welcome to Melbourne tour is running February 27th and our first Welcome to Sydney tour March 20th.

This gives you enough time for your visa to be processed and for you to be able to organise everything before coming over here.

For all of you lovely people that have been wanting to come to Australia for so long, that have waited for this announcement for so long, it couldn’t have come at a better time for you.

Save Money

On Friday 26 November 2021 our Black Friday sale starts, giving you the perfect opportunity to save some money whilst being safe in the knowledge that Australia is welcoming travellers back into the country. The doubt has gone, it’s just excitement now!

Instead of a normal Black Friday sale, we’re giving you a choice on, how do you want to save?

You can either get:

A free Road Trip Add On (Melbourne=Great Ocean Road and Sydney=Blue Mountains) valued at $265, when you book a Welcome Tour

10% off any Welcome Tour or Mini Pack

The promo codes will go live at 12.01am Friday 26th November and there will be a limited amount. If you want to get ahead of the queue, sign up here and receive the codes in your email 12 hours before everyone else.

You can still choose to book open dated if you don’t want to pick a date but want the discount.

What To Do Now?

If you want to come within the next year, apply for your visa immediately. You have a year to start the visa so you should get your application in now.
Sign up for a Black Friday promo code now.
On Friday 26th November, place a deposit for your Welcome to Travel tour. You can still choose to book open dated if you don’t want to pick a date, but you still want the discount. Win win!
Once your visa has been granted, you can book your flights.

Around the same time as organising those flights, organise your travel insurance. We recommend World Nomads.

Tourist Visa Makers

Although this is great for people coming on a working holiday, we know that some of you might be wanting to come on a tourist visa.

Australia announced it is extending the country it is allowing tourists by adding in Korea and Japan from the 1 December 2021.

If you want to know when your country will be listed then sign up to our Australia Travel Update Newsletter.

If you have any questions at all, then please get in touch with us here, we can’t wait to hear from you.

We’re so excited for 2022 and beyond, you travelling to Australia is so close you can nearly touch it.

The post Australia Opens Borders To Working Holiday Visas appeared first on Welcome to Travel.

Work On A Farm In Australia – Now $25.41 An Hour

Adam Ogle — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 06:33:45 +0000

There have long been discussions on how to improve the criteria of specified work that needs to be completed in order to get a second (and third) working holiday visa in Australia, and now there’s finally some good news for all future working holidaymakers that need/want to work on a farm in Australia.

You might know this specified work aspect under another name, maybe your 88 days, farm work, rural work, fruit picking or your 3 months.

In 2020, the government launched an inquiry into the working holiday visa and how it can be improved. With borders closed, I had some time on my hands and this felt like a perfect opportunity to be able to have my say on something I’m knowledgeable and passionate about, working holiday makers having the best possible time in Australia.

As part of my role as Vice President at Adventure Tourism Victoria, I, along with others, put together a submission highlighting things that can be improved within the visa. This process also involved representing the submission by speaking in parliament.

The ultimate goal? To have a positive effect on future working holiday makers.

One of the main things we focused on was improving the way wages are paid on farms.

Nearly one year on, we’re pleased to say that we’ve seen an incredible result, something so positive that it resulted in Australia’s Worker’s Union National Secretary Daniel Walton described the ruling as ‘one of the most significant industrial decisions of modern times’.

While hourly pay is still found across the industries involved in specified work a lot of this work, especially when picking fruit, has been paid on something called a piece rate. A piece rate, basically explained, is where you’re paid for how much work you do. IE, you’re paid per the amount of pieces you produce/pick/pack.

This could be the amount of cherries you pick, trees you plant or vines you prune. This can increase productivity and also prove to be financially rewarding. It absolutely can be a positive when employers enforce it correctly.

I worked on a farm in Australia back in 2011

To give you an example, when Darryl (the other co-founder of Welcome to Travel) and I personally completed our specified work, our employer was excellent. When we were in younger, less populated trees, we were paid an hourly rate because there simply wasn’t many fruit to pick so a piece rate would have left us underpaid.

When we moved into the older trees, packed full of avocados, we were moved on to a piece rate and that’s when we earned more. We were extremely motivated and earned more money, our piece rate experience here was positive.

However some employers have spoiled that system for others by using it as a way to underpay, and take advantage of workers. They paid low piece rates and/or had too high expectations. EG Instead of paying Darryl and I hourly in the younger trees, they would have continued to pay us a piece rate. This would have left us demotivated, underpaid and frustrated with the system that created this.

This is why this week’s announcement is extremely positive and a huge win for travellers coming to Australia, who want / need to work on a farm.

On Friday November 5th 2021 “the Australian Fair Work Commission ruled that farm workers picking fruit on a piece rate must be guaranteed a minimum hourly rate of $25.41.

While the Commission’s draft determination does not outlaw piecework, it guarantees a minimum hourly rate regardless of productivity.”

This new wage of $25.41ph is the minimum wage for a casual worker in Australia. To put that in perspective in your home currency, that is:

£13.88
$23.43 (CAD)
$18.83(US)
€16.23
161.31 SEK
120.75 DKK

Remember, this is the minimum wage you will earn, whilst you work on a farm in Australia!

This means 38 hours at this wage would pocket you a nice $965.58. Nearly a whole 8 day Welcome to Melbourne or Welcome to Sydney trip paid off in 1 week’s work, how amazing is that?!

In recent months, there have been several other changes to the visa. We’ve listed them below:

From 22 June 2021, work undertaken in the tourism and hospitality sectors in northern, remote or very remote Australia can also be counted as specified work towards eligibility for a second or third WHM visa. This option will be available for WHM applications lodged from March 2022.
From 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2022, holders and former holders of a COVID-19 affected WHM visa will be able to make a nil VAC WHM application online.
WHMs who are offshore and who were unable to come to Australia or had to leave early because of COVID-19 will be able to apply for a replacement visa with nil VAC.For more information about nil VAC WHM applications, see Offshore nil Visa Application Charge (VAC) WHM applications.

There is also the recently announced UK and Australia Free Trade agreement. While several terms were agreed earlier in the year, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the deal will probably come into force from 1 July 2022.

If that’s the case, that’s when the working holiday visa age limit will rise from 30 to 35, giving Britons a total of three years to live and work in Australia. The exact details of how that will work are yet to be confirmed and once we know, you will too.

That's all fine and well but when can you travel?

In regards to Australia and it’s border openings…well there’s a question we don’t have an answer to, however there’s some positive news, with Scott Morrison this week commenting

“By the end of the year I fully anticipate that we’ll be able to achieve seeing international visitors, including backpackers, who are double-vaccinated being able to come back to Australia.”

This is big news and we are so excited to welcome travellers here again.

To stay up to date of when the borders are opening, pop in your email below.

With all of the positive news, it is time you started thinking about travelling to Australia.

The post Work On A Farm In Australia – Now $25.41 An Hour appeared first on Welcome to Travel.

Why Do A Welcome Week In Australia?

Adam Ogle — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 22:43:21 +0000

‘I’m going to Australia, but how do I actually start my adventure?’

This is the conundrum for many travellers. The flights are booked, the visa secured, but what does that first week look like?

Travelling Australia is different to many places as it’s a place of so much opportunity. This is because there are visas that allow you to work and study here. Also it’s so bloody big, you’ll never run out of places to go and things to see.

These are a couple of the many reasons why Welcome Weeks are an EXTREMELY popular way to start your trip.

Have Someone Waiting For You

You could have flown 24 hours to get to Australia, maybe even more. Think about that for a second, that’s an actual full proper day including the night, the equivalent time of 3 full working days on a bus with wings. Wow, that’s a long time going a long way isn’t it?

When you land you really don’t want to be herded in to immigration before being catapulted in to arrivals, a blurry field of colour disrupted by groans of taxis and signs with strangers names. What you do want is a smiling face, a personal touch and someone to take your comatose sleep-induced self straight to your accommodation, note straight, not after 16 other drop offs.

Welcome weeks traditionally include an airport shuttle and after a long ol’ journey this isn’t EXACTLY what you want, it’s what you NEED!

Get Organised

There are a few things that you need to sort out when you move somewhere and in Australia that would be the sim card, bank account and Tax File Number.

Why do we say for real? Because some things you mean to do, want to do but things just get in the way. Just like things back home, life admin will always be put off because it isn’t fun!

Not only is it not fun, sometimes questions can arise, things come up and not all the t’s are crossed and i’s dotted and it can end up taking a lot longer than you envisaged. With that in mind, why not just leave it to people that know what they’re doing?

Companies that do Welcome Weeks not only sort your admin out immediately but they’re there to answer any questions that may be individual to your situation. Plus, they’re not just there at the start, the best packages offer support for the duration of your stay in Australia.

Meet People…For Real

Well of course you go with the intentions of meeting people but nowadays it’s actually easier than ever to talk to anyone while not talking to anyone. What am I going on about? Phones and WiFi!

When I started travelling (only 2010!) smart phones weren’t a thing and free WiFi in hostels was definitely not a thing. This means we couldn’t look around a room, see no-one familiar and fall back on to the safety net ‘grab the phone out of the pocket’.

It’s ironic, we’ve found that in recent times homesickness and loneliness while travelling has been more prevalent than ever as people leave home physically, but not mentally and technologically. The ties are not fully cut when leaving home meaning that constant connection (WhatsApp groups, FB and Insta Feed) makes people feel homesick. Also, to compound things always being on the phone makes it harder to actually speak to people and meet people. It’s hard to make eye contact and spark up a conversation if your head is buried in your phone.

Welcome Weeks force the issue, not in an uncomfortable way, but in a way that throws a group of likeminded people in the same situation together. It’s a readymade group of people with the same short-term goals but also with the same nervousness and excitement as you. We regularly hear people tell us they did a welcome week because it ‘ensured they met people and made friends’. And that’s exactly what it does.

Experience Things…For Real

Ok ok, honestly this is the final time I’ll use the ‘for real’ thing, but trust me it’s needed! This one and the last one are very much linked.

Much like meeting people, before you leave home you’re keen to experience new and amazing things and that’s the whole reason why you’ve left home to go travelling in the first place.

Sometimes though, these things are about throwing yourself out of your comfort zone. After that 24 hour flight and perhaps not knowing many people, it’s totally natural to retreat within your shell a little and that means some experiences can fall by the wayside. You might want to spend your first week surfing, experiencing Melbourne’s food and drink scene or getting up close to Aussie wildlife, all of which is better to do with people.

When you do a Welcome Week, not only do you have your new friends to do these cool things with, you have so many experiences and activities already organised. The people organising these trips do this for a living, making sure you have the best experience possible is their life goal! When you arrive and know you want to go surfing, it could take you days picking the best beach, how to get there and some people to do a lesson with you. When you do a welcome week, all you need to know is to bring a towel and swim suit, easy. That leads me on to my next point.

Learn From The Experts

As I mentioned, Welcome Weeks are run by experts, people that are highly involved in the adventure travel industry, people with experience of the backpacking but the most important thing of all, people with passion for travel and making your adventure perfect.

There’s a part of us that shouts ‘be independent, do it yourself!’ when travelling, and that’s fine. Everyone’s ‘do it yourself’ is different and that often depends on your level of travel experience. Sometimes we should give ourselves a pat on the back to remember how well we’ve done to do this much ourselves to just get here and also remember that this is the start of the trip.

We can give ourselves a helping hand at the start then do the rest with whatever level of independence that suits you, which is also important. We are all different.

I always like to look at the positives and negatives of situations and there are literally no negatives to having that helping hand where you can learn from experts at the start of your trip.

These experts should be able to answer everything, from a quick question on your bank account to advice on how to set up for your 12 months in Australia. Where to hire a campervan from to the best dive spot in Australia to the best bar in Perth, they have all the answers and save you from not only doing all the research but getting it wrong too.

Leave With Confidence

This one basically brings all of the above together. You may have been nervous about getting everything right on the admin side. It’s natural to be nervous about meeting new people day after day and it’s definitely (there I go again) natural to be apprehensive about surfing (or any experience!) for the first time.

A welcome week makes that blow a lot softer. On top of that you can leave with confidence that you’ve asked your guide every question you’ve got and had it answered, and if you’ve forgotten anything you can always come back to them and ask them again and again and again.

You landed worried about whether you’d enjoy your first week, you leave it with a new group of friends, countless great insta posts and a vision for your time in Australia.

The Cost Is Cheaper Than What Most People Think

People are always surprised by this one but Welcome Weeks are certainly cheaper than people think. We’ve taken the example of our Welcome Week to break down the costs. We’ve compared what we know is a standard normal first week in Melbourne compared to Welcome to Travel: Melbourne.

Airport Shuttle: $25
7 nights in a hostel: $250
City Walking Tour: $25
A 2 day or 2×1 day tour: $300
Bar Crawl $25
Food and Drink (to what we include) $165

That totals $790AUD

Welcome to Travel: Melbourne is $999AUD so just $209AUD extra for:

Dedicated Guides
Surf Lesson
Admin Set up (TFN/PHONE/BANK)
Food and Drink Tour
Wildlife Park Entry
Wine Tasting
Beach Day Including Paddle Boarding
Employment Help and access to employer database
Travel Help
Lifetime membership

I don’t even need to say any more, that is incredible value!

In summary, welcome weeks take you out of your comfort zone but give you your new Australian comfort zone pretty quickly. They ensure you feel organised, meet people, experience the things you wanted to over here and offer you an ongoing support network for your entire time in Australia. Not only that, they’re extremely affordable and just a whole lot of bloody fun.

It’s no coincidence that this year’s awards (Adventure Tourism Awards for Australia and NZ) for Best Tour Operator in Victoria and Best Tour in NSW both went to Welcome Packages right?

Check out the Best Tour in Victoria here. The truly best way to see how good something is is to see what the reviews say. Check those out here.

Thanks for reading my take on ‘Why do a Welcome Week’

The post Why Do A Welcome Week In Australia? appeared first on Welcome to Travel.