Visiting Australia for a holiday or short business trip? Then you must apply for an Australia travel visa, particularly an Australian tourist visa or Australia visitor visa for business.

These visas to travel to Australia are designed for people who want to visit or extend their stay in Australia for holidaying, sightseeing, social or recreational reasons, to visit relatives, friends or for other short-term non-work purposes or for business meetings, conventions, conferences; or a short term project requiring a high level of skills.

However, if you hold a citizen passport issued by one of the countries or regions namely:

You can apply for an Australia ETA visa through a travel agent, airline, specialist service provider, or an Australian visa office outside Australia.

An ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) travel visa to Australia is an electronically stored authority that is available to passport holders from a number of countries and regions, who are outside Australia who want to travel to Australia for multiple short-term visits of up to 3 months over a 12 month (1 year) period. This means that this subclass of Australia holiday visa is issued electronically over the Internet to eligible ETA passport holders.

An ETA is equivalent to a visa, but there is no stamp or label in your passport. ETA information is accessible by airlines, travel agents and Australian border agencies. So, there is no need for you to visit a departmental office or an Australian diplomatic office to submit an application.

Your ETA is linked to the passport number you used in your application and you must use the same passport to travel to Australia.

Interested to apply for an Australia ETA holiday visa? Then let National Visas help you.

National Visas will make your ETA Australia tourist visa application simpler and hassle-free, as well as maximize your chance of a successful visa approval. With their on-target approach, easy to understand advice, full support and tailored to your visa needs and situation services, your chances of getting a successful visa grant will be maximized.

National Visas provides a Free Online Assessment to help you determine if you can apply for an Online ETA Visitor or Business Visa.
If it is determined that you are eligible to apply for an ETA Visitor Visa, you can purchase it online in just 5 minutes. However, if you are not eligible to apply, National Visas will recommend an alternative visa and service for you. The alternative service offered will depend on passport nationality and the length of stay.

Apply now! You can submit your ETA holiday visa Australia applications directly through their web site. And, in most cases, your ETA Visa will be approved within 24 hours.

When an application for an ETA is submitted through this site, all you need to do is enter the details from your passport and your credit card or Paypal information. Approved applications are electronically recorded on Australian Government systems.

When you arrive at an airport for check-in on a flight to Australia, the airline check-in staff can electronically confirm that you have authority to board the flight to Australia.

Kayaking is intensely becoming popular nowadays not just as a sport but also as a recreational pastime in discovering unspoiled natural environments that are inaccessible by land.

Australia’s scenic lakes, rivers and lagoons, labyrinth of interconnecting billabongs, mazes of calm waterways, as well as its furious rapids and gorges, have made the country a perfectly ideal setting to kayak.
Adventure and fun is what kayaking in and around Australia is all about.
Experience the excitement and adventure as one ventures through the furious rapids of the wild Franklin River or the Avon River from Northam, where the professionals tackle the challenging Multiplex Avon Descent each August.
Kayak off St Kilda Beach in Melbourne or alongside dolphins on the Mornington Peninsula or even with shipwrecks and mangroves in Port River, just 15 minutes from Adelaide’s centre.
Learn to sea kayak off Jervis Bay or from Anglesea and Apollo Bay along the Great Ocean Road or even under Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.
In the Grampians, glide through the waters of Lake Bellfield, Lake Fyans or Lake Wartook and experience the calm and serenity of the surrounding picturesque milieu.
From Cairns, paddle off from the more than 45 rapids on the Tully River or just float on your kayak down the Barron River in Barron Gorge National Park.
Do a gentle kayaking from Mission Beach to Dunk Island and other rainforest-covered islands on the Great Barrier Reef as one views the natural calming sceneries that surround the area.
Whitewater raft down the wild North Johnstone River or the Nymboida River or in the Barrington Tops National Park.
Coast through Hobart’s waters at twilight or glide from Bairnsdale along the Mitchell River to Gippsland Lakes as you enjoy the sounds and lights that pervade the area.
Glide through Murchison River, in Kalbarri National Park in the north, and get past eagles, songbirds, and wetland waders that walk on its rocky banks.
Take on a kayaking adventure from Loch Luna past birds and Aboriginal heritage sites to Chowilla’s labyrinth of interconnecting billabongs or past ancient cliffs, beaches, and sand dunes in Coffin Bay National Park.
Do a kayaking day trip through the Katherine River past paperbark and pandanus forest and through the dramatic sandstone walls of Katherine Gorge or through all of the eight interconnecting gorges on an overnight trek.
There’s nothing like kayaking around and across Australia if one wishes to see and experience the wild diversity of birds, iridescent butterflies, crocodiles and fish, as well as the rainforest-covered islands, wetlands and interconnecting billabongs and gorges.
So if one wishes to go kayaking in Australia, do get a tourist visa to Australia which is also called a visitor visa to Australia.
The tourist visas to Australia are a type of travel visas to Australia that allow people to enter Australia for a visit, a holiday, or for sightseeing and for recreational purposes. This type of Australia visitor visa allows its holders to stay in Australia for up to 3 months on each arrival within 12 months from the date the visa was granted. However, an Australia visiting visa does not allow its holder to work in any capacity.
So if you want to go kayaking Down Under, this tourist visa in Australia is the right visa for you.

Australia’s Tourism sector is in trouble as it experiences labor shortage!

As more and more of Australia’s tourism sector’s workforce take advantage of the financial opportunity brought about by the booming resource and mining industry, Australia’s Tourism industry has found itself in deep waters with its own labor shortage.
Australia’s tourism sector is now finding itself in search of overseas guest workers on special travel visas Australia in order to fill its labor shortage of more than 35,000 jobs.With a significant number of its staff recently changing jobs and moving into the booming mining sector with its offers of higher wages, according to Tourism Australia’s Managing Director Andrew McEvoy, the Australian tourism industry has suggested a move of granting special travel visas to Australia for overseas guest workers in order to fill the resulting labor shortages.
More than 35,000 job vacancies in Australia’s Tourism sector are in the entry level jobs. This is the flipside of the booming mining sector as these entry level employees are taking advantage of the higher compensation rate offered by the booming mining sector as compared to the wages they are currently having now.
Australia is famous as a world-class destination, known for its breathtaking scenic beauty, adventuresome Outback, and charming and vibrant cities. However, the once famous tourist’s destination has now taken a back seat as the multi-billion dollar Tourism industry has not taken advantage of this and has not taken initiatives to attract more tourists to Australia. Recently, Australia’s Tourism industry has been under criticism for its inferior levels of service, infrastructure and experiences as compared with other popular tourist destinations.
According to Federal Shadow Tourism Minister Bob Baldwin, the government should have made better efforts in providing longer term plans to pre-empt challenges that Australia’s growing tourism industry is and might be facing. Rather than considering initiatives that would attract inbound tourists from Russia, China and India to Australia, the Labor Government has instead cannibalized the tourism sector’s workforce and sent them to work as truck drivers in remote mining communities. Now, a year and a half later, the Government is conceding a tourism labor market problem of its own creation, with its revelation of the plans for Australia’s first guest worker scheme.
Supported by the Tourism Minister, the new policy is expected to be voted by the cabinet this year. If approved, foreign workers on special visas for Australia would then be allowed to enter Australia for a specific job or employment within a designated industry. The scheme is aimed to plug the manpower gap in Australia’s tourism industry as the high wages offered by the mining industries have lured away its workforce, making it difficult for the tourism industry, particularly those in regional areas, to fill positions.
Moreover, the buoyant Aussie dollar and high labor costs have also negatively affected the tourism sector.
The buoyant Australian dollar has lured locals to vacation overseas and has discouraged foreigners on tourist visas to Australia from visiting or spending generously while travelling. The high labor costs have resulted in the Australian tourism’s losing its competitiveness, making it more difficult to attract foreign investment into Australia which is required to build new hotels, resorts and improve existing accommodation and attractions.
According to the recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, there is a drop of 9% to 432,200 in the number of international visitors on Australia visitors visa in September while there was an increase of 8.9% to 790,600 in the number of Australians heading overseas.
The once famous tourist destination is quite simply losing its luster as the gap between the number of international visitors on tourist visa to Australia and Australians heading overseas has reached record heights.

Australia is set to attract more Indian visitors!

The Australia Government agency responsible for the international and domestic marketing of Australia as a destination for leisure and business travel, Tourism Australia, has recently launched a latest 10-year campaign to attract high spending Indian visitors to Australia.
Tourism Australia has recently launched the Australian 2020 India Strategic Plan. It is an initiative done by the government that is designed to improve the image of the nation among Indian nationals and to triple the number of visitors from India.One must have remembered that in the previous couple of years, a drastic drop in the student visa visas Australian application from Indian students as well as visitor visa to Australia applications was noted. This was attributed to the several racist assaults that were made against Indian students in Melbourne and Sydney in 2009 and 2010 and the issue which was blown out of proportion by aggressive widespread Indian media coverage and then aggravated by a rising dollar, which have made it less attractive and affordable for Indian students.
In an effort to remake the nation’s image; thus, increasing the number of Indian Australian visa tourist applicants, a 10-year campaign was formed.
According to the Managing Director of Tourism Australia, Andrew McEvoy, prior to the violent incident of Indian students attack, Indian nationals have considered Australia a very warm country. But after that incident, the country’s image got changed a lot and now all possible efforts are done in order to recover Australia’s earlier image.
Media reports revealed that about 145,000 Indian nationals are migrating to Australia. This includes holiday makers, students, and business visitors on either Australian holiday visas or working tourist visa Australia.
In fact according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas Arrivals and Departures in 2010, India was Australia’s eleventh largest inbound market for visitor arrivals. There were 138,700 visitor arrivals, an eleven per cent increase compared to 2009. Likewise, during August 2011, there were 9,300 visitors from India bringing the total for the eight months to August 2011 to 96,100, an increase of 5.6 per cent relative to the same period of the previous year.
Currently, Indian travelers under tourist visas to Australia and temporary residents to the country like students are contributing a lot in the Australian economy in the tune of AUD$800 million and AUD$820 million, respectively. By 2020, the 2020 Tourism Industry Potential estimates that India has the potential to grow to between AUD $1.854 billion and AUD$2.258 billion in total expenditure, tripling the current total expenditure.
The 2020 Tourism Industry Potential is a rallying call initiated by Tourism Australia to Australian industry and governments to focus on increased returns from the tourism industry. The Potential is focused on overnight visitor expenditure.
Moreover, McEvoy stated that at diplomatic level, the Australian government has been working for several years with India to maintain a good diplomatic relation between the two nations and now is the right time for them to take the efforts to the next level.
Mc Envoy explained that Australia has been doing a lot of restructuring efforts to recover the country’s image among Indians and now he thinks that the High Commission has done an excellent job in this regard. Now, Australia is back on its track in grabbing the opportunity to rebuild its image in the world scenario.
The 10 year Campaign of Tourism Australia is mainly focused in building a brand image of its own through digital and social media, and in providing direct access to non-stop Australia flights to its visitors. Currently, most of Australian flights are routed via Asian hubs, such as: Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
Presently, Australia’s Tourism industry is gearing up to welcome more travelers from India and hope that holiday Australia visa application will increase.

With Greece’s economy expected to shrink by more than 5 percent this year, topping earlier projections – as announced by the country’s finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos – many financially strapped Greeks are looking to Australia for financial relief.

As Greece is becoming more submerged in a deep recession, despite its austerity measures, including higher indirect taxes and cuts in public sector pay and pensions, many Greeks have found themselves looking for jobs abroad.
With the current economic crisis getting an ever-tighter grip on Greece and job opportunities drying up, Australia’s booming resource industry have attracted many Greeks in applying for visas to Australia.
Several hundred Greeks have participated in seminars organized by Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to publicize possible employment opportunities in Australia for skilled workers.
Skills Australia Needs events have been organized by DIAC for a number of years and held in different selected countries in order to help address current skill shortages in Australia by providing information to skilled workers about skilled visas for Australia options and Australian visa requirements. Australian employers and State and Territory governments have participated in the events and met people with the skills and experience needed to fill job vacancies in Australia. The event brought together workers in occupations in demand with Australian state and territory governments and employers.
The Greek economy shrank at an annual 7.3 percent clip in the second quarter, after an 8.1 percent contraction in the first three months of 2011.
Currently trapped in a deepening recession, with its government continuing to struggle in slashing a huge deficit and reducing debt, Greece unemployment rate in June stood at 16 per cent. Of this 43.3 per cent were out of work in the 15-24 age brackets as compared with 29.8 per cent from last year.
According to the director of the Australian Industrial Systems Institute, Roula Tsiolas, numerous Greeks under visitor visa to Australia have visited the institute in Melbourne in order to inquire about employment opportunities in Australia.
Trade courses, from carpentry to automotive technology, are offered in the institute to foreign students.
Though the Australian visa tourist does not allow its visa holders to work, it does allow them the opportunity to study in Australia for up to three months.
However, if you want to have the opportunity to work while holidaying across Australia, you can apply for Working Holiday visas Australian. This particular Australia visiting visa is for people from certain arrangement countries only.
Australia, together with the United States, is home to an estimated four-million Greek Diasporas world-wide.
Greece’s GDP has been declining since the fourth quarter of 2008, and is now just above 2004 levels. What is more, the initial program agreed to with the Greece’s troika – the three organizations which have the most power over Greece’s financial future: the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Central Bank (ECB) – forecasted that real GDP would not reach its pre-crisis level until the end of the decade. A greater than anticipated recession means it could take past 2020 for Greece to recover to the income level it had coming into this crisis.
With this economic gloom facing Greece, it is no wonder why Greeks are finding themselves applying for Australia visitors visa and inquiring about work opportunities in Australia.

With thousands of international students granted with student visa Australia entering the country every year, Australia has a well deserved reputation of having a well-developed educational system as well as of having some of the world’s leading educational institutions, with participation rates and secondary school completion rates among the highest in the world.

Australia has also garnered the reputation of having the third largest number of international students under student travel visa Australia in the English-speaking world behind the USA and UK. As well as in many counties, Australia is many students’ first choice for international study.

Australia’s high standard system of education and training is subject to continuous improvement and review by its federal government, industry and professional bodies in order to maintain and improve its already high standard.
The Australian Institute of Technology & Education (AITE), a registered training organization that has a strong commitment to excellence in vocational education and training and offers all nationally accredited courses, has recently launched its “English Study Tour” for international students.
AITE is offering international students the chance to study in Australia for a month. So if you want to join apply visa to Australia.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in a four week study tour in Australia and is aimed to build confidence in English language skills. This is an extraordinary chance for international students to build their confidence and skills in speaking English.
This once in a lifetime “English Study Tour” will include three (3) hours of learning structured English each day with a native speaking teacher in a high quality classroom environment and many opportunities to practice what you have learned during these exciting day trips.
Moreover, this study tour will provide international students more chances to learn English and gain a better picture of Australian life, its people and culture.
Study tours have been known to provide an opportunity for international students to experience Australian life and culture in a safe, friendly environment, and offer a “value for money” package of activities. With this “English Study Tour”, international students will have the opportunity to have hands-on learning experience as they will have the chance to apply what they have learn in the daily structured English instruction and practice their English as they will be given the opportunity to interact with Aussies and so many other nationalities in their exciting day trips.
Opportunities to enjoy Surfing Trip, Great Ocean Road Trip, Clubbing Weekend, Grampians Trip and Wilson’s Prom Trip are also available for international students who are participating in the “English Study Tour”.
“English Study Tour” will cost AUD$3520 and will run from January 9 to February 5, 2012 in Melbourne. This fee does not include the tourist visa to Australia fee. You still need to qualify and apply for tourist visa in Australia.

CHILEAN passport holders, good news!

Starting from this 20th of September 2011 — in accordance with the latest announcement made by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) — citizens of Chile as well as Turkish Special, Service and Diplomatic passport holders are now able to apply for an Australian visa online, particularly the Tourist (e676) visa.
This recent expansion of the Australia visiting visa, Tourist (e676) visa to Chilean and certain Turkish passport holders has been announced earlier this year by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

What does this expansion means?

Chilean citizens and Turkish Special, Service and Diplomatic passport holders can now:

• lodge their application for an online Australian visa, particularly the electronic Tourist visa known as Tourist (e676) visa.
• check the progress of their travel visas to Australia application electronically or online
• can also use a registered travel agent, airline service or specialist provider to lodge an online application on their behalf.
• does not need a visitor visa to Australia label in their passport
• receive a notification of the grant of their travel visas Australia via their nominated postal or email address instead of the visa label

This notification contains details of the electronic travel visa Australia and airlines are able to confirm the visa entitlements through the Advanced Passenger Processing System.
Take note to keep this notification as it describes the conditions that apply to your visa.

Tourist (E676) Visa in Detail

What is e676 Tourist Visa?

The Tourist (e676) visa is an online temporary tourist travel visas Australia that allows certain passport holders to visit Australia for the purpose of a holiday or recreation, or to visit family and friends or for other short-term non-work purposes including study for less than three months.

Who are eligible to apply for this online Tourist (e676) visa?

Australian visa requirements:

• Currently, passport holders from the countries listed in below are eligible to submit an online application for a Tourist visa (subclass 676):

Andorra
Austria
Bahrain
Belgium
Brunei
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong (SAR)
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Kuwait
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Monaco
The Netherlands
Norway
Oman
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
San Marino
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom – British Citizen
United States of America
Vatican City

Now, with the recent implementation of the expansion of Electronic Tourist Visa to Chile, Chilean citizens are now added to the list of passport holders of countries eligible to submit an online application for a Tourist visa (subclass 676).

• must have a genuine intention to visit Australia as a tourist, for recreation or to visit your family and friends
• must meet certain character and health requirements
• must have access to sufficient funds to cover all costs for the duration of your stay in Australia, including health/travel insurance if require and provide evidence of your funds like personal bank statements, pay slips, audited accounts, taxation records, credit card limit

What are the visa entitlements?

The Australian Tourist (e676) visa is designed only to allow temporary travel to Australia for tourism purposes or to visit family and friends and is for long-term stays or residence. In order to be eligible for a further Tourist visa in the future, e676 tourist visa holders must maintain extended periods of time outside of Australia
If granted, this visa will:
allow visa holders either a single or multiple entry to Australia
allow visa holders to stay in Australia for a period of up to three or six or 12 months, or a shorter period, depending on the purpose of the visit and your personal circumstances.
The period of stay and number of entries granted will depend on the purpose of the visit and your personal circumstances.

Tired of waiting for your application for Australian visa to be approved?

If you do, then apply visa to Australia online, particularly the ETA Australia Visa.
Available online 24 hours a day seven days a week, the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) is type of visas for Australia which is an electronically stored authority for travel to Australia for short-term visits or business entry.
Equivalent to a visa, with the ETA, there is no stamp or label in your passport and there is no need for you to visit an Australian diplomatic office to submit visas to Australia application.

All it needs is for ETA applicants to be:

• outside Australia when lodging the online Australian visa form
• a passport holder of an ETA eligible country ( check this link http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/976/eligibility.htm or http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/business/956-977/eligibility.htm)
• have a current valid passport
• have a valid credit card (American Express, Diners Club, JCB, MasterCard, or Visa)
• The ETA is issued electronically by a computer system operated for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) of Australia. ETA applicants can apply via:
• internet or online via the DIAC website or online Australian visa and immigration providers like National Visas
• travel agents or airlines
• visa specialist service providers around the world

The ETA Australia visa online holder is allowed to travel to Australia for tourism or to visit friends or relatives or for business purposes for up to a maximum length of 3 months as required within the validity period which is 12 months from the date of issue.
The ETA system is accessible by more than 300,000 travel agents worldwide, more than 75 airlines and through the Internet so most ETAs are issued immediately by computer links between the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, travel agents, airlines and specialist service providers around the world and thus approval is granted in most cases in less than 30 seconds. However, in a small number of cases where ETA cannot be approved immediately, some additional processing is required and there is a need to check back in 12 hours to confirm whether application has been successful.
Take note that an ETA is linked to the passport number that is used in an ETA application and the holder must use the same passport to travel to Australia.
The ETA is Australia’s world’s most electronically sophisticated immigration entry system for visitors. With this entry system, the instant approval of the visa — brought by the use of cutting edge technology — has made ETA an in demand visa for visitors to Australia.

Holidaying in Australia is quite an unforgettable experience — from fun-filled and adventuresome to just plain relaxing experience.

Panoramically endowed with a widely diverse and breathtaking panorama, Australia is truly an ideal tourist destination.

Tourists have been visiting Australia for holidays, to visit friends and family or for social and cultural events. As a matter of fact, tourists are Australia’s largest group of temporary entrants, contributing to Australia’s export earnings and employment.

In order to be able to travel to Australia, one has to apply and be granted any of the visas to travel to Australia.
If you want to visit Australia for a holiday or to just visit a friend of family or even simply for sightseeing or recreation, you can apply for an Australian tourist visa.

AUSTRALIA TOURIST VISA

Under Australia’s temporary residence program, tourists may enter Australia on a temporary basis with the granting of an Australia Tourist Visa.

An Australia Tourist Visa is a type of Australia Visitor Visa that allows people to visit Australia for a short period of time of up to a maximum of 12 months for holidays, tourism, and recreation or to visit and see family and friends.

There are a number of Australia Tourist Visa available for people to visit Australia as a tourist namely:

ETA (Visitor) (Subclass 976)

This is an electronically stored authority that allows people for short-term visits to Australia of up to 3 months. This type of travel visa to Australia is available to passport holders of an ETA eligible country like:

eVisitors (Subclass 651)

This type of Australia travel visa is also an electronically stored authority that enables people to visit Australia for tourism or business purposes for up to three months, which may include attending a conference, negotiation or exploratory business visit.

This type of visa is available to eVisitor eligible passport holders namely:

Tourist visa (Subclass 676)

This is a temporary visa that allows visitors to stay in Australia for short holidays of up to three or six or 12 months.

Sponsored Family Visitor visa (Subclass 679)

This visa is for people who want to visit family in Australia for a stay period of up to 12 months. Applicants for this visa is required to be formally sponsored by an Australian citizen or permanent resident

Australia Tourist Visa Requirements

Visa applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible to apply for any of the Australia Tourist Visas

• have adequate funds to cover the trip

• have an “incentive to return”;

• meet character and health requirements

For Further Inquiries

If you have other visa related inquiries or even migration to Australia inquiries that you could not find answers in National Visas main site, then you can ask for free advices from National Visas’ expert registered Migration agents.

Just avail of National Visas “Pay with a tweet for Free Immigration and Visa Advice for 3 days” promo by registering an account in National Visas registered client area. Then post a tweet about National Visas then you will be able to automatically activate your 3 day free access, allowing you to ask Australian visa and migration related questions for free for 3 days.

Nationalvisas.com.au is a reputable online Australian immigration services provider. They provide a fast, friendly, expert immigration advice and assistance for people seeking a visa for Australia. They offer a range of affordable online immigration services. They have Registered Migration Agents that adhere to the professional Code of Conduct (Administered by MARA) that will assist you with your visa needs.

With the intention of promoting greater mutual understanding between Japan and Australia, both governments of these two countries agreed in 1980 to start a Working-Holiday scheme in order to encourage the exchange of young people.

Under the Working Holiday Program, both countries — Australia and Japan — have reciprocal agreements that will allow young citizens of one country to enter the other primarily for a holiday over an extended period and to engage in short term or partial employment as an incidental aspect of their trip in order to supplement their travel funds. The Working Holiday Australia Visa will allow Japanese citizens to experience living in Australia, without undergoing the usual costly expenses of finding work sponsorship in advance, or going on expensive university exchange programmes.
Currently, Japan has working holiday agreements with 11 countries and territories, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Republic of Korea, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland and Denmark, and for residents of Taiwan and Hong Kong while Australia is in reciprocal agreements with 27 countries.

Basic Working Holiday Visa requirements

In order be eligible for working tourist visa Australia, Japanese applicants need to meet the following requirements:

• hold a passport issued by an eligible country or region

Working Holiday Visa (Subclass 417)
For people from Belgium, Canada, Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taiwan and United Kingdom.

Work and Holiday Visa (Subclass 462)
For people from Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey and the USA.

• be aged 18-30 (inclusive) at the time of applying

• not be accompanied by dependent children at any time during their stay in Australia

• must meet health and character

• must meet financial requirements (generally, an amount of AU$5000 may be regarded as sufficient, but the amount may vary depending on the applicant’s length of stay and the extent of your travel)

• not have previously entered Australia on a Work and Holiday (462) visa

• not have previously entered Australia on a Working Holiday (417) visa

• be outside Australia when they apply and when their visa is granted

• apply within 12 months of intended travel to Australia

Visa Entitlements
If granted, the Australian visa tourist holder can:

• enter Australia within 12 months of grant

• stay up to 12 months

• leave and re-enter Australia any number of times while the visa is valid

• work in Australia for up to six months with each employer
  study for up to four months

Recently, more and more Japanese holiday makers are using the Working Holiday Program so they can visit other countries in order to learn foreign language skills and licenses or certificates in order to help them in their future careers. In the years 2009-22010 alone, 8,089 Japanese citizens have been granted with this Australian visa tourist, the Working Holiday Visa.
In order to address the mounting interest of the Working Holiday Program, the Japan Association for Working-Holiday Makers, a non-profit organization that provides assistance for the Working-Holiday Program has held free seminars almost daily in Tokyo and Osaka.
As the scheme’s popularity escalated, the association is now holding a nationwide seminar which was are being held in Nagoya, Kumamoto and other cities in 17 prefectures until Sept. 3.