Visa Rules Changes Needed To Help Grow Labour Market: Lobbyists

The Federal Government is currently reviewing Australia’s migration system in light of current labour shortages, with an interim report due next month.

As industries, including tourism and events, grapple with worker shortages as they struggle to recruit staff back following the pandemic, the Tourism and Transport Forum Australia (TTFA) has been leading calls to expand working holiday visas.

Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has now indicated the government is considering ways to streamline some visa application processes to ensure the right mix.

Changes to Working Holiday Maker visas

The Working Holiday Maker visa program was established in 1975 to allow young adults to have an extended holiday and support themselves by working in temporary jobs. The program is reciprocal in nature, with similar arrangements for Australian citizens wishing to work and holiday abroad in partner countries.

Last year, in a bid to improve Working Holiday Maker visa wait times (for subclasses 417 and 462), the Department of Immigration added 400 administration staff to process the backlog of one million visa applications. As a result, visa approvals increased by 19 per cent with more than 120,000 applications approved just in time for the holiday season.

Applicants outside Australia also saw their visa applications processed in less than a day.

“This is a direct result of a government that understands how important immigration is to ensuring certainty for individuals, families and businesses,” said Federal Immigration Minister Andrew Giles.

In another move to address the shortage of casual workers, visa workers were also permitted to remain with a single employer for 12 months, instead of the previous six- month maximum. The provision was to cease on 31 December 2022 however has now been extended to June 2023.

Calls to increase the age limit

TTFA boss, Margy Osmond says lifting age eligibility requirements is another way to help grow the labour pool for Australian industry.

Currently, Working Holiday Maker visas are only available to applicants from eligible countries who are aged between the ages of 18 and 30. For a small number of countries, including Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and the UK, the age limit is up to 35.

“One solution to help address the skills shortage in tourism is to increase the age limit for working holidaymakers to 50,” said Ms Osmond.

“This would open up a whole new market of workers from overseas with a wider range of skills and experience that could benefit our industry.”

“Raising the age limit for working holiday visas might [also] give us access to a more skilled group of visa holders to fill more senior positions,” she said.

With visa holders typically taking up work in seasonal industries, such as hospitality and agriculture, the scheme has worked really well in Australia, according to Associate Professor Pierre Benckendorff, a tourism expert from the University of Queensland.

“It combines the right to do certain types of work with the right to be on a holiday,” said Professor Benckendorff.

“But the visa timelines are quite generous... so generally, people are able to get a longer period of time in Australia than what they would if they were just on a tourist visa.”

In 2021–22, 95,901 visa applications were lodged for the Working Holiday Maker program. By December 2022, nearly 129,300 working holiday makers had arrived in Australia since borders reopened.

Ms Osmond said any worthy recommendations which could increase the tourism workforce, “must be acted on swiftly to help our sector”.

Visa rules should extend to other sectors

Ms Osmond also told ABC Radio that rules requiring backpackers to work in the agriculture sector for three months, in order to extend the length of their visa, should be expanded to other industries.

“Not everybody wants to work in the agricultural sector, important as it is, but we would like to see a few more options and a recognition of how difficult times are,” she said.

“We certainly wouldn’t want to make life any more difficult for the agricultural sector, we’re simply raising it as a thought process... [for] other sectors that similarly had skills shortages who could be included in this structure.”

HRIA CEO, James Oxenham said changes to visa rules could bring significant advantage to sectors like the Event Hire industry, which struggles to attract and retain seasonal workers at times of peak demand.