I noticed when you do a search for "working holiday visa" on this site that nothing really comes up. I don't know why, perhaps not many people know about it or apply for it. Anyway I thought since i'm bored today I would put my experiences with the process up.

"Working Holiday Visa" is a visa that according to wikipedia is only available to Australian and New Zealand citizens.

On the website it says "the eligible applicants will be issued a multiple entry non immigrant visa type B-A valid for 1 year".

Now on the .pdf info you download from the canberra embassy site it says "the immigration office of thailand, upon receiving the applications, will make a decision on the issuance of the visa within 2 weeks". However the recently updated sydney website says "upon recieving the application, the immigration office of thailand, will consider the issuance of the visa within 8 weeks (at least 6 weeks will be required)"

If your from Victoria (i think the rest of Australia except NSW for that matter) like me you have to apply with the canberra consulate via registered post.

Theres a list of requirements listed like chest x-rays and proof of insurance while in Thailand. Yet, when I spoke to the lady at canberra embassy she said don't worry about the insurance proof.

Anyway I was under the impression it was going to take 2 weeks to be approved so I got rid of my belongings, ended my lease and quit my job.

I applied for it on the 28th of October 2011 and it's now the 11th of January. I have rang them every 2 weeks or so to kindly ask how it's going but all they really say is they are waiting for thailand to approve it. It's frustrating as if I knew it was going to take so long I could have kept working and saving instead of couch surfin and spending my holiday money. I also worry that maybe thailands forgotten about it or something.

So I just sort of wanted to write this as a warning to others and am also wondering if maybe anybody else has got one and how long it took them.

I will update this anyway when it all finally gets moving a bit more.

Interesting, I suspect there's so little information on Thaivisa because nobody has ever heard of this visa class which does actually appear to exist for Oz and NZ citizens.

I also suspect that you've not heard back yet because the people who are supposed to be handling your application in Thailand have also not heard of the visa class and filed you under 'too hard'

Working Holiday visas are something that really only took off in Aus, NZ and Canada, have a look at this chart http://www.anyworkan...m/whvchart.html

I wonder if a Work Permit is required for a holder of this class of visa.

Details are on the Thai Consulate - Sydney web page. http://www.thaiconsulatesydney.org/english/visa#country/a/australia

Maybe they should let the Imm Dept here know about it.

yeh it wouldnt surprise me if they didn't know much about it in thailand. worse yet since the decision is ultimately made when you go through immigration at thailand they might just look at me and say i dont think so buddy. nice try. i was thinking of wearing a suit for the occasion haha.

as for the work permits, you do still need one

As Bangkok Immigration was a bit concerned with flooding for most of that period of time suspect the dislocation of people and offices may have had something to do with the extended time period.

I wnder what 'admitted to' stamp will be issued once the visa is used

I wnder what 'admitted to' stamp will be issued once the visa is used

From the Sydney Thai consulate website:

"The period of stay will be given at the immigration checkpoint in Thailand."

The working holiday visa is simply not often used, as there is only an agreement with two countries (NZ and Oz) and you have to meet certain requirements regarding your education.

It is always interesting to learn more about it. I understood that the visa works as a preapproved work permit also. But that point is a bit unclear.

Believe it gives an entry for 1 year to travel and work, but you cannot work longer than 6 (?) months for the same employer.

2 weeks to make a decision is not the same as 2 weeks to be approved.

Better keep on working.

Remember when this came out at an ASEAN meeting, think it was more aimed at Thai Uni students coming to OZ than the other way around. A bit like the ASEAN driving license agreement, governments sign up to things, looks good on the day in front of the cameras. Then the tready is left sitting in a draw. Jim

I sure as helll would not have quit my job, sold my belongings and ended my lease when dealing with ANYTHING with the word "Thailand" in it.

The working holiday visa is simply not often used, as there is only an agreement with two countries (NZ and Oz) and you have to meet certain requirements regarding your education.

It is always interesting to learn more about it. I understood that the visa works as a preapproved work permit also. But that point is a bit unclear.

Believe it gives an entry for 1 year to travel and work, but you cannot work longer than 6 (?) months for the same employer.

yeh it sucks cause you still need to get a work permit organised and it only allows you to work with the same employer for 3 months. do business and spousal visas take this long to be approved as well?

do business and spousal visas take this long to be approved as well?

Nope, these don't have to go to Thailand for approval, strictly a local job. Usually next day service provided you have all the necessary documentation.

does anyone have any ideas/advice on what i should do about this? i have a friend booking a plane ticket to party with me at songkran and stuff but im not even sure i'll have this visa by april and that would really stuff her around. is there any way i could possibly speed things up a bit? everytime i call them they just say it's waiting for approval from thailand. would i be pushing it if i asked them if they could perhaps call thailand to check on it? im getting a very negative feeling about the whole thing and am thinking they probably want me to just throw the towel in and cancel it. as somebody else mentioned it is probably only set up to suit them so thai's can come here. its been 12 weeks now and it says on the sydney consular website it should only take 8 weeks and the lady from the embassy told me herself that they take about a month.

I was working for a Student Placement Agency at the time this agreement came in.

We were working with a number of universities in both Thailand and Australia and had a number of enquiries from both sides about working in the other country.

The Thais were amazed at the minimum working conditions and salaries in Australia, much better than full-time work in Thailand.

We received far more applications at our agency than the Australian Embassy was willing to process for the whole of Thailand!

The Australians were appalled at the minimum working conditions and salaries in Thailand.

Even the better jobs (giving more than minimum conditions and pay) failed to impress; so much so that not one of them continued with their applications.

You do know what to expect if you do get the Working Visa, don't you?

i received a call this morning from canberra to let me know the visa has been approved. i called them yesterday to ask about it and she said it odd it was taking so long so she sent a urgent message to thailand and the next day it was approved.

I was working for a Student Placement Agency at the time this agreement came in.

We were working with a number of universities in both Thailand and Australia and had a number of enquiries from both sides about working in the other country.

The Thais were amazed at the minimum working conditions and salaries in Australia, much better than full-time work in Thailand.

We received far more applications at our agency than the Australian Embassy was willing to process for the whole of Thailand!

The Australians were appalled at the minimum working conditions and salaries in Thailand.

Even the better jobs (giving more than minimum conditions and pay) failed to impress; so much so that not one of them continued with their applications.

You do know what to expect if you do get the Working Visa, don't you?

I don't think anyone realistically expects that you are going to be able to save loads (or even any) money on this. You aren't going to be able to go and pour beers in Clapham or work in a call centre in Barking and use your wages to fund your weekends to Paris or Dublin.

My guess it purely opens an opportunity for someone to go pour drinks on Samui or Phi Phi, or if they want, go work on some sort of charity based NGO for a few months as an adjunct to the big OS so many Aussies and Kiwi's do. An opportunity to spend a bit more time - legally - in a place where lots of people would perhaps like to stop a bit longer.

sorry to keep dragging out this old boring thread but i may as well point out it all worked out well. got through passprt control in thailand easy. although the lady clearly had no idea about this kind of visa.

before leaving for thailand i read that with bussiness visas you have to do a border run every 90 days. so i asked her if i had to do this. she had no idea and called her boss over. they clucked about in thai for a bit and then stamped it with a exit date of 1 year from then. so im assuming i dont have to do the border runs but am still not sure.

im wondering if i wanted to follow this visa up with a study visa if i would have to go back to australia or not to apply? its probably to good to be true but i did read somewhere that if you stay here 3 years you can apply for permanent residency which would be nice and if im gonna aim for that then now is the time i think.

also to the people above who are saying how appalling the pay is in thailand etc. i am aware of this and upon coming here i wasnt seeking to make any money whatsoever. merely just to enjoy some time out, see my girlfriend, travel around a bit and do some short term chef work overseas to keep myself afloat.

If they've stamped an exit date of 1 year, great you don't have to leave

You DO however have to report your address to immigration every 90 days

For an ED-visa yu will have to apply in a neighbouring country.

Permanent resiency is hard to get, besides a minimum number of years living in Thailand there are other requirements, like working in Thailand.

If they've stamped an exit date of 1 year, great you don't have to leave

You DO however have to report your address to immigration every 90 days

what if i dont? i mean throughout the whole process nobody has told me that. there that casual about everything. if i didnt have a internet connection or go on this forum there would be no way in the world i would know that.

im a bit worried if i do report in i will have some problem anyway. i mean the address i always fill in on the forms is that of a hotel that i've been coming to for a few years but i dont really even come here that much anymore.

do they have a phone number maybe i should call them?

It is a requirement. If you don't do it you will be fined.

Immigration hotline: 1178.

Sikishrory do you mind if I ask what your tertiary education is? I'm a spark by trade but I somehow don't think that I will qualify for the visa as its on the banned occupations list.

Your own job doesn't matter. You simply can not do any jobs on the restricted list, that is different as being trained as one.

yeh what mario said... also just found out yesterday this visa can be extended easily for an extra year.... sick visa lol

Yeah I did a bit of research into this visa before I came to Thailand. I was going to apply for it, but on NZ Thai Embassy website it said it would take 2 months for approval, I didn't want to lose my passport for that amount of time, and I wanted to leave sooner than 2 months (Also I couldn't be bothered with the xray + insurance etc)

The NZ Thai embassy didn't tell me anything about reporting, likewise didn't mention the restricted occupations, but then I didn't ask about them either. So try to find out some information on both, from Thai immigration, before you go working as a chef or before your first 90 day report is due.

knod, you'd be fine so long as you're under 30 and have a bachelor's degree. That's all that they care about (According to the website + NZ Thai Embassy), as the point of the visa is to travel after you finish university.

sikishrory-

I have just received this visa and will be heading over soon.

Can you let me know any further info you have found about extending it for an extra year?

Cheers mate!

perhaps things are different with the nz and aussie versions as here you definately dont need a bachelors degree. my guess is there is no difference but theres probably a bit of confusion on the thai side of things. they dont seem to fussed about anything and dont seem to know to much about it either.

as for the chef work it is allowed. there is (or was) a downloadable link of the prohibited occupations on the sydney website here http://www.thaiconsu...try/a/australia (you have to navigate to working holiday visa). theres a link there "annex1" this was the list of banned occupations however the link is broken. all i remember is looking at it thinking why the hell would i want to do any of those things anyway. it is all things like rubber tapping, silk weaving and basket weaving and buddhist type things. in other words very traditional things.

the reporting does have to be done every 90 days. the officer i spoke to at immigration was certain of this. he said all visas must report every 90 days no matter what.

as for the 1 year extensions dr180 theres not much else to say. if you leave the country and return either by land or air (theres no difference in what it gives you) they will give you another year. i had planned on perhaps visiting some neighboring countries early on in my stay but now i probably wont as im worried that when i come back they would just stamp it with the 2nd year and i would lose quite a few months of time here.

i should prob mention it was some british looking immigration volunteer at the patong office that told me about the one year extension. im not saying he was wrong or anything but i worry that maybe depending on who you happen to be dealing with they might have different ideas about what you get... the volunteer in patong said he had never seen this visa before and wondered if maybe they had put the wrong stamp on it at the airport but i told him that the manager was called over etc to sort that out.

Edited March 3, 201214 yr by sikishrory

If I was you I'd check if the one year extensions was for real from the

This side, rather than relying on a Brit pretend-a-cop who has never seen the visa.

From the Australian side there certainly is the option of a 12 month extension for certain nationalities, so long as the WHV holder goes to do agricultural work for 3 months. But that's for people going to work in Oz.

Cheers for that sikishrory its good to know

I still thought i had to do visa runs every 3 months, glad ive only got to report.

Theres not much info around for this visa