UK - Working Holidaymaker Changes

20 June 2003

The Working Holidaymaker Scheme has been very successful with over 40,000 working holidaymakers from Commonwealth Countries arriving each year. Until now the scheme did not in most cases allow you to pursue a career in the UK. Working holidaymakers from 20 June 2003 who are currently in professional level jobs such as in IT, accountancy, etc are no longer working in breach of their Working Holidaymaker status.

Immediate changes from 20 June 2003:

If you are currently in the UK you can now take up any type of work in the UK as a Working Holidaymaker.

The following changes will take place from 25 August 2003:

If you make a new application from this date there will be no restrictions on the type of work you can take up in the UK. In practice it seems unlikely that there will be any restrictions from 20 June 2003. However, technically when you make the application for entry as a working holidaymaker you will be restricted in the type of work you can take up in the UK.
The Upper age limit will be increased to 30. The current system allows entry of people between the ages of 17 to 27 years old.
You will be able to change status after twelve months to a full work permit assuming that you and the employer meets the requirements of the work permit scheme. It should be noted that most work permits are only issued for high level jobs where the employer can show a shortage of people to fill the vacancy. Also, in many cases Work Permits UK already allow people to switch status to work permit holder.

These changes will be welcome to many working holidaymakers who can now take up any type of employment. The changes will benefit new applicants under the Working Holidaymaker Scheme and people currently under this scheme in the UK. You will find the current requirements for the Working Holidaymaker scheme on our web-site.

If you are a Working Holidaymaker looking for work why not register on our Employment Center.