1445 (Design date 11/18) - Page 1© COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA, 2018
Request permission to work with an employer
beyond 6 months on a Working Holiday or
Work and Holiday visa
Form
1445
Department of Home Affairs
THIS IS NOT AN APPLICATION FORM
About this form
Important – Please read this information carefully before you
complete form 1445 Request permission to work with an
employer beyond 6 months on a Working Holiday or Work and
Holiday visa. Once you have completed your request for an
employment extension, we strongly advise that you keep a copy
of this form for your records.
Working Holiday (subclass 417) and Work and Holiday
(subclass 462) visas allow visa holders to have an extended
holiday in Australia and to supplement their funds with short
term employment. These visas are granted with condition 8547,
which limits work with each employer to 6 months.
Condition 8547 states ‘The holder must not be employed by any
one employer for more than 6 months, without the prior
permission in writing of the Secretary’.
Extending the work condition on a Working Holiday or
Work and Holiday visa
The Department of Home Affairs (the Department) may give a
Working Holiday or Work and Holiday visa holder permission to
work for an employer beyond 6 months in limited circumstances.
No permission required
You do not need to ask the Department’s permission to work
with the same employer for up to 12 months in the following
circumstances:
• If you work in different locations and the period of work in
any one location does not exceed 6 months. Examples of
different locations are available on the Department’s website
www.homeaffairs.gov.au
• If you work in plant and animal cultivation anywhere in
Australia. Examples of plant and animal cultivation are available
on the Department’s website www.homeaffairs.gov.au
• If you work in certain additional industries in northern
Australia only:
– Aged Care and Disability Services
– Fishing and pearling
– Tree farming and felling
– Construction
– Mining
– Tourism and hospitality
Further information on the roles within these industries is
available on the Department’s website
www.homeaffairs.gov.au
For the purposes of an employment request, Northern Australia
is considered all of the Northern Territory and those areas of
Queensland and Western Australia above the Tropic of Capricorn.
Permission required
In all other circumstances, you must use this form to request
permission.
Au pairs
Where you can demonstrate that you have worked as an au pair
for one employer for 6 months, you can be given approval to
work for up to 6 additional months with the same employer (a
total of 12 months work). You should include a letter of support
from the family employing you as an au pair.
To be recognised as an au pair, your main responsibility must be
the care of children not older than 12 years (ie. primary school
age or younger).
All other cases – exceptional circumstances only
In all other instances a request for an employment extension will
only be approved in exceptional circumstances. Where
permission is granted, it will generally be for a short period of
time (days or weeks, not months).
Exceptional circumstances must relate to an Australian
permanent resident, citizen or business and must be
extraordinary and unforeseeable.
Exceptional circumstances might include remaining in your
current job for one of the following reasons:
• for a very short time (days or weeks) as you are critical to the
completion of a specialised project that has unexpectedly
gone over time;
• performing disaster recovery work following a major disaster
such as clean-up, re-building or emergency management
activities following a major flood;
• remaining in your current job while a decision is being
made on an application for a visa which would allow you to
continue full-time work with your employer without leaving
Australia, such as an application for a Temporary Skill Shortage
(subclass 482) visa or a Spouse visa.
Note: For the Department to take this information into
consideration when assessing your employment extension
request, you must have lodged your visa application and
must be recorded in the Department’s systems.
Exceptional circumstances do not include remaining in your
current job because you:
• have the required skills or because of labour shortages;
• are required to complete a project in a job that is not highly
skilled eg. retail or administration;
• have applied or intend to apply for a visa which requires you
to leave Australia at the time of grant;
• are not able to apply for another kind of visa.
Consideration will be given to whether an extension would be
contrary to the main purpose of Working Holiday and Work and
Holiday visas, which is to holiday in Australia. People whose main
intention in Australia is to work should apply for a visa designed
for that purpose. More information about visa options is available
on the Department’s website www.homeaffairs.gov.au
Working Holiday and Work and Holiday visa holders requesting
permission to work beyond 6 months with an employer must
receive written permission from the Department before
extending their employment. Requests should be submitted at
least 2 weeks
before the expiry of the 6 months. Visa holders
who work for more than 6 months with an employer without
prior written permission from the Department are in breach of
their visa condition and their visa may be subject to cancellation.
