Basic Requirements and Conditions

Requirements for Working Holidaymaker Visa category

• You have to be a Commonwealth Citizen or British Dependent Territories Citizen or British Overseas Citizen between the ages of 17 and 30 years of age.
• You can come to the UK for an extended holiday for up to two years and can take up work for one year incidental to your holiday.
• You can pursue your career in the UK as long as this is a purely incidental part of your holiday.
• You will not be allowed to do business in the UK unless it is a very small business probably only employing yourself. If the business will involve commitments such as investment in premises or in expensive equipment, or require you to employ staff this is not permitted under the working holidaymaker scheme.
• You are not allowed to work as a professional sports person.
• You can only work for a maximum period of twelve months in the UK over the two year period.
• You should have planned your employment so that it is an integral part of your working holiday. For example, you may have decided that you wish to spend some time in London and so also wish to find work in London.
• You should be single, or are married to someone who also qualifies as a working holidaymaker and wish to both be working holidaymakers.
• You do not have any dependent children who are aged five years or over, or who will be five before the end of the two years as working holidaymaker.
• You should have enough funds to support yourself until you find work without requiring public funds. You should probably have enough money to support yourself for the first month.
• You are able to pay for a return ticket or have at least enough money to go onto another destination.
• You intend to leave the UK at the end of your working holidaymaker status. This is a bit of a strange requirement as you can stay longer under certain circumstances. If you wish to work longer under the working holidaymaker scheme this will only be possible under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme or Work Permit categories if the occupation is on the designated shortage occupations list kept by Work Permits (UK). There may be alternatives to this depending on your circumstances.

If you are an employer looking to hire working holidaymakers or if you are a working holidaymaker looking for work why not try the workpermit.com Employment Center.

Two Years in the UK