WWOOF Australia

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Overseas information about WWOOFing in Australia WWOOFing in Australia is NOT Paid Employment
	Contrary to some stories you may have heard - WWOOFing is NOT a source of paid employment! WWOOFing is VOLUNTARY work done during holiday times, in exchange for learning something about Organic Growing and about the country you are visiting. To learn about your host's growing techniques, or about their lifestyle, members are expected to do a little work to help cover their bed & board. Often this will be simple farm work, but it can also include environmental work such as tree planting for de-salination, erosion control or wildlife habitat creation. Indeed it may include any conservation work which your host is involved with and for which Government funding is not usually available.
Visas to visit Australia Please note that WWOOF Australia cannot help you to get a Visa, as we have neither the time, the staff, nor the recognition as an institution to do this. The Australian Immigration Website has information regarding visa types, there are a number of visas that allow working holidays, the most common being the Working Holiday Visa. WWOOFing can also be done on a tourist visa, please see the conditions for this on the The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) website. Working Holiday Visa A Working Holiday Visa (WHV) enables visitors to earn wages with some restrictions, and MUST be issued BEFORE arriving in Australia. The WHV visa allows a stay of up to 12 months from the date of first entry into Australia. People can apply for a WHV visa if they are between the ages of 18 and 30 and hold a passport of a country with reciprocal arrangements with Australia including:
Belgium Canada the Republic of Cyprus Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China the Republic of Ireland Italy Japan the Republic of Korea Malta the Netherlands Norway Sweden Taiwan United Kingdom	Note: If you are from Chile, Thailand, Turkey or USA, you may be eligible to apply for a Work and Holiday visa (subclass 462), which provides similar opportunities for tertiary educated people aged 18 to 30. Exemption: Applicants from the USA are exempt from the tertiary education requirement.
With a Working Holiday Visa, you may only work for the same employer for a period of 6 months. All costs in obtaining a visa, as well as in travelling to and from Australia, have to be met by you. First Working Holiday Visa A Working Holiday visa gives you 12 months to travel to Australia from the date the visa is granted, and allows you to stay in Australia for 12 months from the date you first enter Australia. See DIAC website for more information You can leave and re-enter Australia within the 12 months from the date of initial entry to Australia. However, if you depart Australia during your 12 month stay, you are not able to recover in any way the period of time spent outside Australia. Click here to go to application form # 1150 Second Working Holiday Visa Click here to go to application form # 1263 To be eligible for a second Working Holiday visa, you must meet a number of general requirements:- have completed three months of Specified work in regional Australia while on your first Working Holiday visa be aged between 18 and 30 years (inclusive) at the time of applying if applying from outside Australia, be applying no more than 12 months before you intend to travel to Australia not have any dependant children hold a passport for a country or region participating in the Working Holiday program. WWOOFing is accepted by DIAC as a suitable activity to qualify for this visa, you must ensure that the Hosts you work for are located within the areas set out by DIAC. DIAC website for more information For the purposes of meeting the requirements for a second Working Holiday visa, see the DIAC definitions for 'Specified work' and 'Regional Australia' Regional Australia: anywhere in Australia except Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, the NSW Central Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne or the ACT. Check the Postcode list on DIAC's website for details of places that qualify, work MUST be done within these postcode areas in order to be included in your application. Three months is considered to be three calendar months. Time worked is taken from start date to end date e.g., if a person works for one employer for two weeks, weekends will not be deducted. Work must be full time. Full time work is taken to be the norm for that employer, that region and that industry, as WWOOFing is 4-6 hours per day, this is considered the norm for WWOOF. The work need not be paid work e.g., work undertaken as a volunteer or through the WWOOFing scheme (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) may be counted toward the three months of specified work if your WWOOF Host is a Primary Producer, is in regional Australia & has an ABN. You will still need to provide evidence that you have done a minimum of three months of specified work." Three months work can be spread over a number of WWOOF Hosts, each Host must be located in one of the postcodes listed on DIAC's Postcode list, and must sign your form stating the number of days you have worked with them, so make sure you ask them prior to staying with them if they are Primary Producers, have an ABN (Australian Business Number) and if they are happy to sign your form. Hosts will only sign these forms if WWOOFers have actually done the required amount of work each day as agreed with the hosts when arranging to stay. Who is a primary producer? A primary producer is basically someone who is making money from growing animals, fibre or food on their farm. A primary producer is an individual, partnership, trust or company carrying on a primary production business. You are a primary producer if you carry on a business of plant and animal cultivation, including:- cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts (including seeds, spores, bulbs and similar things) in any physical environment maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase manufacturing dairy produce from raw material that you produced Fishing and pearling conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish, turtles, dugong, bêche-de-mer, crustaceans or aquatic molluscs conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell Tree farming and felling planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled felling trees in a plantation or forest, or transporting trees or parts of trees that you felled in a plantation or forest to the place: where they are first to be milled or processed, or from which they are to be transported to the place where they are first to be milled or processed.

WWOOFing in Australia is NOT Paid Employment