How to Start your Australian Work Holiday Visa

The first few steps to beginning your Working Holiday in Australia

If you are arriving into Australia's on a Work and Holiday Visa or the Working Holiday Visa, then fear not, I will guide you through getting setup once you arrive.

If you are the independent type, you should have already gotten your Australian Working Holiday Visa. If you prefer to pay companies loads of money to do the work for you, then this doesn't really apply. But just so you know, you can set yourself up with the visa and work pretty easily.

Step one: Get your Subclass 417 or Subclass 462 Working Holiday Visa. Easy.

Step two: Go to Australia.

Step Three: Go to a bank as soon as you arrive. Just get it over with. Do yourself a favor and do it on the first day. It takes but a few minutes to do. As well, you may need a few hundred to get your bank account open.

If you go to ANZ bank. Please call it "A-N-Zed". They will need to see your passport and they require a $500 AUD deposit to open an account. When you open the account, ask a lot of questions about it to make sure you are aware of what your getting. The checking accounts offer you an ATM card that will get mailed to you.

If you don't have a local address or if you are moving on to another city right away and don't know the address you'll be at, then ask to have the card sent to that bank branch. When it arrives, you can either come in and pick it up, or they can forward it to another ANZ branch that is near to where you are. Now stop worrying!

Step four: Apply online for a Tax File Number(TFN). It takes about 10 Minutes. The key here is that they also send you a TFN number over the mail and it takes about 4 weeks. If you also don't have a mailing address for this step of the process, then use a Poste Restante address. This simply sends the piece of mail to the cities mailing hub. Each city has one. They then hold onto your mail for up to one month.

If you don't file for a TFN, then when you do get paid, your employer will have to take out almost 50% of your wages for taxes. This is not cool. As well, companies can do it for you, but they do make their money somehow. If you go this route, just be aware as to what they are doing. It's your money, spend it wisely.

Next step is just getting a job. Good Luck and have fun!