Prices start at $20 USD per year.
Index
● Looking for jobs? Go to The LA Job List.
● Want information about teaching in Peru? Go to A Country Guide to TEFLing in Peru.
Updated 20 June 2009
This article has also been featured in the ELT Times.
How to get a Working Holiday Visa
Working Holiday Visas are a chance to spend a short time working legally in another country. While you might not earn a lot, it's a great experience to live in another country and be exposed to another culture and language. Some countries have tax exemptions for working holiday visa holders. If you're interested in the EU, try looking at Europe for non-EU passport holders.
You can often work between 3 and 24 months, depending on the visa. Depending on what country you are from, your age, civil status and whether you are a student all come into play when applying for a working holiday visa. Most programmes require you to apply in your home country as well as prove that you have money to support yourself nd all of them have application fees. Most places have a cut off age of 30 or 35. You might also have to be a student or recently graduated. Some of them only allow you to participate in a programme once, others let you participate again, but you might have to go home for a certain amount of time, usually a year.
If you're married, you can probably also get a working holiday visa for yourself, but getting a visa for your spouse (if they don't fulfill the requirements) is probably impossible. Basically, working holiday visas don't entitle you to take any independents (spouse or kids) with you. So if you're from the US, 21 and married, you could get a BUNAC work visa to go to the UK, however, if your husband is from China and only has Chinese citizenship, it's unlikely that he will get a spousal visa to go with you. If however, your husband is also 21 and from the US, he should be able to get a working holiday visa and go with you.
One more thing has to be said about Working Holiday Visas, they have an application fee, usually between 500 usd and 1,500 usd depending on the country and how long you want to spend there. These visas are meant for people who can't get easily get permission to work in a country. For example, an American can get a working holiday visa to the UK. DON'T use working holiday visas for countries that are easy to get work visas for. For example, China or Thailand. If you're interested in countries like these, it's pretty easy to get a job teaching English. You won't have to pay the application fee and you'll probably get a higher salary and more benefits. Find links for jobs in the Job Sites article.
Recommended Websites / Programmes
You might also try going to specific country’s embassy’s websites for info about working holiday visas. Expect to earn about 700 to 1000 usd in Europe and about 1000 to 2500 in Asia.
● Any Work Anywhere has information about working holiday visas and what choices are available to you.
● BUNAC helps get work visas for those who qualify. You usually can work between 6-24 months. Americans can work in Britain, France, and Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Australians can work in Britain, the USA, Canada, and South Africa. Canadians should try looking at SWAP and Youth.Gc.Ca. A far as working holidays, Canadians get the best deal, they have 12 countries that they can work in (Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, South Africa, China, Japan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.) New Zealanders can work in Ireland, France, USA, Britain, and Canada. South Africans can work in the UK and the USA.
● For Canadians, try looking at SWAP and Youth.Gc.Ca. As far as working holidays, Canadians get the best deal, they have 12 countries that they can work in (Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, as well as South Africa, China, Japan, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.). The Embassy of Norway in Canada also has exchanges for Canadians aged 18 to 35.
● Finland offers Americans the chance to teach English or do an internship if you're over 21 and either a college junior, senior, or have graduated in the past two years.
● France offers assistant teaching positions for Americans aged 20 to 29. Here's the info from the French embassy in Washington.
●Japan has working holiday exchanges for people with passports from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Korea, Germany, the UK, Ireland and Denmark who are between 18 and 30 and currently residing in their country of citizenship.
● Korea has a programme for those from Australia, New Zealand, Canada or Japan who are 20 to 25.
● Spain has teaching assistant programmes for Americans and Canadians who have a college degree. Applications start in November and run until April.
●TEFL Temp has links and tips on finding short term teaching jobs.
● Working Abroad has programmes for those who want to teach English, au pair, or work in the US, but the placement fees are pretty high. For the teaching English jobs, you have to pay a high fee and you could probably find a higher paying job, minus the placement fee if you go to TEFL.com or ESL Cafe.
Types of Jobs
If you’re looking to work short-term in a country, there are many opportunites, such as picking fruit, au pairing, being a tour guide, camp jobs, waiting staff, sports instructor, just to name a few.
Teaching English short-term is also a possibility, especially during school breaks as lots of schools offer intensive summer camp positions. See this Summer and Winter Camps for more info. Material, organisation, pay and benefits vary, so be sure to ask questions before you sign a contract. Some things you should ask about are: salary after taxes, the accommodations, books and syllabus, air conditioning (lots of places don’t have it), number of children per class, days off, and airfare. Many places will offer you airfare and a bit of spending money in exchange for a month or so of teaching. Find out more about benefits of different countries in What's the Best Country to Teach In?
Good au pairs are always needed. AIFS, IAPA, Transitions Abroad Au Pair, Transitions Abroad Au Pair in Europe are good places to start research.
Always ask for a written reference when you leave a job, no matter if it's paid or a volunteer position. Have your employer write when you work, job title, levels worked with, and what your responsibilities were. It should be printed on school letterhead and carry your employer's stamp (if they have one), their signature, their name, job title, school address, phone, and email. Try to get two copies of this. This is the basic info which gives you proof of employment. Even if you leave on bad terms, you should still ask for proof of employment. If you're leaving on good terms and if your employer is willing, they could also say what a great teacher you were. It's better to get this BEFORE you leave your job, because if you ask for a reference in the future, your eomployer might forget all the wonderful things you did and also might be less inclined to write a reference. Whereas if you ask while you're still working for them, you can remind your employer daily until they give you the reference/proof of employment. Then scan this and send it in an email when you apply for your next job.
Jobs / Placement Agencies
Places like CIEE, World Teach, Gap Year , Gap-Year, Find A Gap, AIESEC, and I-to-I all offer help with visas and a job for a fee. Yingwen offers placements for China. If you decide to go with a placement agency, be sure to balance the placement fee against the money that you'll make. If you're just looking for visa help, try BUNAC. Fees are reasonable and they give you a bit of job help. WWOOF and Season Workers are other places to look at. WWOOF is willing workers on organic farms and you have to pay a small fee. Season Workers has lists of available job openings.
More information
There are also plenty of discussion forums, such as those at The Student Room, Gap Year, Boots N All websites and Expatica. Although you won’t get rich doing so, if you’re energetic and ready to work hard, working abroad for a bit can be a very rewarding experience.
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