Employing working holiday makers: the six-month rule, tax, super and the 88 days

Who they are and what they can do

The subclass 417 (Working Holiday) and 462 (Work and Holiday) visas admit people aged 18 to 30, or 35 for several countries including the UK, Ireland, Canada, France, Italy and Denmark, for twelve months of travel and work. Visa holders can do any work for any employer, full time or casual, with one condition: condition 8547 limits work with any one employer to six months unless the work is exempt or the Department grants permission. They can study for up to four months and can leave and re-enter freely. A VEVO check shows the visa, its expiry and the 8547 condition; do it before the first shift and note the start date, because the six months run from it.

The six-month rule and who is exempt from it

Work with the same employer beyond six months is allowed without permission when the work is:

• plant and animal cultivation anywhere in Australia (farming, horticulture, livestock);
• aged care and disability services anywhere in Australia;
• natural disaster recovery work;
• in northern Australia, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, construction, mining, and tourism and hospitality.

For everything else, the worker can ask the Department for permission to stay beyond six months, which is routinely granted where they have applied for a visa that would let them keep working for you (a 482 nomination, for example); the request must go in before the six months run out, because once they lapse the worker has to stop until it is decided. The six months reset when a new working holiday visa is granted. Check the Department’s current exemption list before relying on it, as the sector and regional definitions have changed several times. Labour-hire arrangements do not reset the clock: the test is the business the work is performed for.

Tax, super and pay

• Register with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers before the first pay run. Registered employers withhold 15 per cent from the first dollar up to A$45,000 a year; an unregistered employer must withhold at the foreign-resident rate and the worker is overtaxed until their return. Registration is a one-off online form.
• No tax-free threshold; the worker ticks the working holiday maker box on the tax file number declaration.
• Super at 12 per cent, exactly as for an Australian; the worker claims it back as a departing Australia superannuation payment, taxed heavily, when they leave. Not paying it is the most common breach found in backpacker-heavy industries.
• Award rates apply in full, including casual loading, penalties and the piecework minimum hourly guarantee in horticulture. The Fair Work Ombudsman targets working-holiday employers precisely because the workers rarely complain.

The 88 days: why regional employers get the applicants

A first-year 417 or 462 holder earns a second year by completing three months (88 days) of specified work, and a third year with six months more. Specified work means defined industries in defined regional postcodes: plant and animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining and construction in regional Australia, bushfire and flood recovery, and tourism and hospitality in northern Australia and remote areas. A regional farm, packhouse, mine-site contractor or outback pub that can honestly sign the employment verification is advertising something city employers cannot. UK citizens have not needed the specified work since 1 July 2024 and can take up to three years of 417 visas without it, so the pitch to British applicants is pay and roster, not the second year.

Do not sign off days that were not worked. The Department prosecutes false certification and the business loses more than the worker.

Where to find them

Backpacker job boards and hostel noticeboards still work for harvest and hospitality, as do Facebook groups by region; Workforce Australia’s Harvest Trail Services place working holiday makers in horticulture free of charge. SEEK and Indeed reach them for skilled roles. SponsorTalent lists working holiday makers who want more than a season: candidates in trades, hospitality management, health, engineering and IT who are looking for the employer that will sponsor them when the visa ends, with the visa and its expiry on the profile. Search free; unlock a contact for A$30.

Keeping the good one: from working holiday to sponsorship

The six-month clock is the trigger. If a working holiday maker is in a listed occupation and you want to keep them, start the 482 nomination inside the first four months so a bridging visa or a permission request covers the gap. UK citizens are exempt from labour market testing and the English test, which makes a British tradesperson, nurse or chef on a 417 the simplest sponsorship on the site. The steps: sponsoring an existing employee; the UK specifics: hiring from the UK; the worker’s side of the same path: working holiday to sponsorship.

Frequently asked questions

Can I employ a working holiday maker for more than six months? Yes if the work is exempt from condition 8547 (agriculture anywhere, aged care and disability anywhere, disaster recovery, and several industries in northern Australia), or if the worker gets the Department’s permission before the six months end, usually because a sponsorship or other visa application is under way.

Do I need to register to employ working holiday makers? Yes, with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers, before the first pay. Registered employers withhold 15 per cent on the first A$45,000; unregistered employers must withhold at the higher foreign-resident rate.

Do working holiday makers get super? Yes, at the same 12 per cent as any employee. They claim it as a departing Australia superannuation payment after they leave.

What counts as the 88 days of specified work? Work in defined industries in regional postcodes: plant and animal cultivation, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining, construction, and disaster recovery, plus tourism and hospitality in northern Australia and remote areas. UK citizens have been exempt from the requirement since 1 July 2024.

Can I sponsor a working holiday maker? Yes, on a 482 if their occupation is on the Core Skills list and the salary meets the A$79,423 floor or market rate. Lodge before the six months run out so a permission request or bridging visa covers the gap. UK citizens need no labour market testing.