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 Makers Visa. WWOOFing can also be done on a tourist visa, please see the conditions for this set out below. Tourist Visa WWOOFing can be done on a Tourist visa under the following conditions: an applicant's main purpose in visiting Australia is tourism, and that any voluntary work remains incidental to this (ie the voluntary work is not a way of circumventing the prohibition on work). the work involved would not otherwise be undertaken in return for wages by an Australian resident (board and lodging may be excepted). the work activities are genuinely voluntary Check out DIMIA's website for more information 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:
Canada the Republic of Cypress Denmark 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 United Kingdom
Australia is in the process of negotiating working holiday maker arrangements with a number of additional countries. With a WH 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. The information below is quoted directly from DIMIA's FAQ page 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 DIMIA's 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. Second Working Holiday visa 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 for a PRIMARY PRODUCER 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 Maker programme. The length of time that the second working holiday visa is valid will depend on where the application is lodged and whether you are the holder of a first working holiday visa when you apply. WWOOFing is accepted by DIMIA as a suitable activity to qualify for this visa, you must ensure that the Hosts you work for are Primary producers and are located within the areas set out by DIMIA. DIMIA's website for more information Specified work in regional Australia For the purposes of meeting the requirements for a second Working Holiday visa, 'Specified work' and 'regional Australia' are defined as: Specified work is defined as any type of work that is undertaken as the employee of a primary producer: picking fruit, nuts and other crops, pruning and trimming vines and trees, general maintenance crop work and other work associated with packing or processing the harvest. Regional Australia: anywhere in Australia except Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, the NSW Central Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne or the ACT. Any area identified on the Australian JobSearch website as requiring harvest workers will come within the definition of 'regional Australia'. Check the Postcode list on DIMIA' 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 seasonal work if your WWOOF Host is a Primary Producer. You will still need to provide evidence that you have done a minimum of three months of seasonal 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 DIMIA'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 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