Round The World Tips (Working in Australia)

Round the world tips (Working in Australia)

For those of you who don’t possess ridiculous amounts of spare cash, it may be required that you work for part of the duration of your round the world journey. If the thought of this bums you out, fear not, as this little necessity can become an adventure of its own. In fact I know a few travellers who reluctantly took paid employment to supplement their travel and in doing so have never left the land down under because they loved it so much.

There are some procedures you’ll have to follow if you plan on working in Australia, these are best explored before you leave on your round the world trip. First of all and most importantly you will need to purchase yourself a working holiday visa. There are a few ways in which this can be done; independently or through a travel agent. Personally I would suggest booking your working holiday visa through the travel agent you have booked your round the world ticket with, assuming they offer this service. STA travel have clued up staff that can tell you everything you need to know and also apply for and book the visa right before your eyes. I paid £90 for my working holiday visa and Tax file number (more on TFN later) and everything was arranged so that when I arrived in the country the visa would begin from that point.

Some information about the Australian working holiday visa and Tax file number (TFN): The visa itself is valid for one year starting when you arrive in Australia and you can only work for any one employer over a 3 month period, then you have to change job unless your are sponsored to stay on the payroll. There is a separate desk at the airport that you’ll have to visit signed visitors with working holiday visas. As the paperwork will already have been arranged from home, all you have to do is answer a few simple questions about where you will stay and how you will support yourself until you find paid employment. After this a large sticker gets plastered into your passport stating that you have entitlement to work in Australia for one year. Make note though; Only apply for a working holiday visa if you actually plan to use it. This is because the Australian government will only give you one chance to use this visa in your entire lifetime. So once its in your passport you’ve got just that one year and then that’s it for life, unless the company your working for sponsors you to continue working past the 12 month cut-off point. So don’t waste it!

A Tax file number is required by all employers in Australia so that they can manage your tax paying records for the duration of your employment. If you have paid for your TFN with your visa then upon arriving in Australia all you have to do is wait for an email. Its all done automatically and this method is much faster than applying for one when you arrive. Even then, it still took around 6 weeks before my TFN email arrived so I dread to think how long it would have taken if I applied manually in the country. As soon as you have received your little piece of code you have all you need to start applying for work and at agencies.

Australia sees a large traffic of working travellers so there is no shortage of agencies offering their services. These agencies are free and work much the same as the ones in Britain. Just send in your CV with a short covering email stating what kind of employment you desire and let them contact you. In my personal experience these agencies can get you a lot of work but they aren’t the most desirable jobs in the world. For a better quality of life and much faster turnaround you are better off walking into establishments you would like to work for, even if there are not advertising for staff, and just asking if they need workers. Australia seems to have a great need for skilled workmen and women, like welders, bricklayers, plasterers and road workers. Also Nurses are in demand out there and will get employment almost instantly. However there is also plenty of bar work but some companies require that you take a short course in hospitality which will cost you around $60-$90. In late 2005 the exchange rate for the British pound was $2.5 to the pound.

When you leave Australia you can claim back all of the tax you have paid the government. This can add up to a decent figure so I strongly recommend claiming what is rightfully yours. There are twos ways to do this; the ridiculously hard and long way, or the easy and quick way. If you try and make a claim for your tax money yourself it requires filling out dozens of complicated forms that take months to exchange hands. Also you can only start applying for your money back when you have left the country, so imagine the difficultly you will experience trying to manage this amount of paperwork.

It is much, much easier to get the specialised tax return companies to retrieve your money for you. You don’t have to pay them anything up front as they take a percentage out of the money they retrieve for you. Also they sort it all out when you have left the country saving you months worth of letter sending. In the 3 months that I worked for one particular company part time, I received back 750 dollars in tax refunds after the percentage fee had been taken. Not bad!

A lot of the information in this article applies to the New Zealand Working holiday visa as well, but it is worth looking up the differences if you plan on working in NZ as well.

For recent information on booking your round the world ticket and visa, visit STA travel or any other RTW specialist company on this site.