It is easy to get lost in all of the Australian Working Holiday Visa packages on offer. Often times, the visa and three working essentials are seen as the top priorities to organise for many people moving abroad. While other ‘add-on’ visa perks are tempting, sometimes they are more hassle than they’re worth.
The ‘add-on’ perks:
It’s easy to get enticed by travel perks, but most of these ‘add-on’s’ are either very hard to use, have hidden terms and conditions or they are free, to begin with.
Example ‘add-on’ perks:
- Support finding a job: They just introduce you to a recruitment agency or online job board. Something you can do yourself by simply sending in your CV or calling recruitment agencies yourself.
Tip: Never pay for a recruitment agency. A company should be paying to find you, not the other way around.
- Discount on trips: If you do a little research you can always find a better discount online and a lot of the trips that are added as ‘free perks’ you can 90 percent of the time do yourself for free.
- Free hostel accommodation: This usually means you can’t choose where you want to stay and you are not sure if you will end up in undesirable accommodation because of ‘availability’. Also if you called and haggled yourself, you would get a discount price for booking longer periods of time anyway.
Tip: If you offered to pay cash you get a better discount too.
- Support person: Providing a person to talk to and ask questions. These people are often not former travellers. They help you set up your work essentials but if you ask for recommendations or advice they are not very helpful.
- Free phone sim card – Usually provided sims are not a great network or data plan and you can get a sim free anyway when you buy a prepaid top-up sim only plan.
Tip: You don’t need a phone number till you get there so do your research and get a good phone plan and free sim card the day you land. Most airports have Vodafone and Optus.
- Mailing address: This is tricky because you need an address to apply for the following three work essential perks, medical help and getting a sim card. In my Work Essential step-by-step guides, I teach you how to use your accommodation and a forwarding address to cover yourself.
Tip: A visa company will apply for everything using their address and update you. Make sure you keep track of this and know how to update your address yourself if you need to.
Three Working Essential Perks:
Other than the visa itself, the following three perks are the most important things to know and understand before you leave. Without them, you can’t work in Australia.
- Australian bank account – Employers won’t pay into a foreign account and you can earn interest when transferring large sums of money into a savings account.
- Tax file number (TFN) – Without a TFN you will be on an emergency tax number and taxed double.
- Superannuation (your pension) – All Australian companies have to legally contribute to your pension while you work. So it’s important to set up a pension with a good company.
You can set up all three perks yourself by following my Work Essentials step-by-step guides but if you want to use a company to apply for your visa you can save some time and get them to set up your work essentials for you too. Make sure you read my steps about these services and how to apply for your own visa, so you know you’re paying the right fees and applying for the right things.
They are worth a read just to understand why you need each service and what to avoid.
Tip: If you end up applying for the visa yourself, it is still possible to approach a company to help you set-up the essential work perks (usually at a pretty small price). Just make sure you ask what bank they use and research their super account.
Now Apply!
Now that you know more about the visa, you have checked your passport and understand why or how to use a visa company, it is time to complete your first big leap and follow the four easy steps to apply for an Australian Working Holiday Visa Right. This includes a checklist of information you should prepare before applying.
Even if you are using a company, I advise you to read my next step because it will mean you understand the process better and you can ask the right questions. Above all, you know you’re getting the best deal for your money.
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