Is your 462 country cap open, or do you need an alert?
See live status for every Working Holiday Maker (WHM) country, and get a free email alert the moment yours changes.Stop refreshing the status page
Get a free email alert the moment your country's cap opens, pauses, or closes.An alert only helps if you can act on it
The free alert is great for watching, but you still need to be ready to act the moment it fires, and cap reopenings can land at any hour, including while you're asleep or at work. Prepare your application with Tern instead: we hold it ready and submit it automatically the instant your cap reopens, so being asleep or at work never costs you the place.The official status page can lag by 48 hours
Home Affairs publishes cap status on its website, but by its own admission, updates may not appear straight away, sometimes for up to two days. Tern checks ImmiAccount, the actual government application system, every 2 hours, about 12 times a day. What you see below reflects what's really happening right now, not what's been published yet.Check Home Affairs for yourself
Live cap status, every country
Statuses can change without notice. There's no published schedule.Last checked Aug 19, 2026, 8:16 PM
Country
Annual cap
Status
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Ballot
Ballot
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Ballot
Paused
Paused
Paused
Open
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Paused
Ballot
How the 462 country cap works
What is the 462 country cap?
The subclass 462 (Work and Holiday) visa limits how many visas Australia grants from each country every program year. The cap counts visas actually granted, not applications received, so a country can stop accepting new applications well before it reaches its limit. That's because Home Affairs also pauses high-demand countries on purpose, to spread applications out across the year rather than process them all at once. Not every capped country fills its quota. Smaller programs often stay open the whole year. The ones people worry about are the high-demand countries, like Spain, Brazil and Portugal, where Home Affairs actively manages the flow of applications. Limits are set country by country, and they can change from one year to the next.What OPEN, PAUSED, CLOSED and BALLOT mean
There are four cap statuses, and the difference between them decides what you can do today. Open means the country is accepting applications right now. Paused doesn't usually mean the places are gone (more on that below), but new applications aren't being accepted at this moment. Closed means the year's limit has been reached, and the cap won't reopen until the new program year starts. Ballot is different again, and applies only to China, India and Vietnam. A first 462 visa from these three countries isn't first come, first served. An application can't be submitted until you've registered for a pre-application ballot and been invited, so watching the cap status doesn't apply to them at all.Why a paused cap usually isn't full
Home Affairs pauses a cap for one of two reasons. Most often, it's deliberately spacing applications out so it can process them steadily through the year instead of all at once. Less often, it's watching a country closely because it's nearing its annual limit. Either way, Home Affairs says it reopens a paused cap later in the same program year to accept new applications. A pause is usually temporary, and your country may still have places available this year. Reopenings are real, but they're ad hoc. Recent windows have ranged from a few weeks to several months, and nobody announces a date in advance, which is exactly why watching the live status beats assuming a pause will resolve on its own.The program year, and when closed caps reset
Australia's working holiday program year runs from 1 July to 30 June. A closed cap doesn't reopen until the start of the next program year, in early July (2 July for 2026-27, with 1 July set aside for departmental systems maintenance). Every country's annual limit resets on that date, so a country that closed months earlier becomes available again. Indonesia and Mongolia are flagged to open later in the year, with timing still to be confirmed. The ballot countries don't follow this pattern at all, since a first 462 visa there depends on an invitation, not a cap resetting.Why the official status page can be wrong
The Department of Home Affairs runs an official cap status page, and it says plainly that the information can be up to 48 hours out of date. That means a cap can reopen on a Monday while the page still shows it closed on Wednesday. In a high-demand country where places refill fast, two days can be the difference between getting in and waiting for the next program year. Tern checks ImmiAccount, the actual government application system, every 2 hours, about 12 times a day, so the table above reflects what's really happening right now, not what's been published yet.Common questions
What does PAUSED mean for the 462 cap?
A paused cap usually doesn't mean your country has run out of places. Home Affairs pauses a cap either to deliberately space applications out and process them steadily through the year, or to watch a country closely as it nears its annual limit. Either way, it says paused caps reopen later in the same program year. Keep watching: a paused cap can change to open at any time, without notice.
When do closed 462 caps reset?
Closed caps reopen at the start of the new program year, in early July (2 July for 2026-27, with 1 July set aside for departmental systems maintenance). The program year runs 1 July to 30 June, and every country's annual limit resets on that date. Indonesia and Mongolia are flagged to open later in the year, with timing still to be confirmed.
How often does Tern check 462 cap status, and against what?
Every 2 hours, about 12 times a day. Tern checks ImmiAccount directly, the actual government application system, rather than relying on the Department's published status page. Around the early-July reopening, when timing matters most, we check even more often.
Why is the official 462 cap status page out of date?
The Department of Home Affairs says its own status page can lag reality by up to 48 hours. A cap can reopen while the page still shows it closed, so refreshing that page isn't a reliable way to catch a reopening.
Which 462 countries are capped, and which need a ballot?
Most 462 countries have an annual cap you can watch, including Spain, Brazil, Indonesia and Portugal. China, India and Vietnam work differently: a first 462 visa from these three runs through a pre-application ballot instead of a cap, so entry depends on being invited, not on cap status. Cap alerts don't apply to these three countries.
Do refused or withdrawn applications free up a place?
No official 'one out, one in' system exists. The cap counts visas granted, and a reopening is an administrative decision Home Affairs makes when it chooses to release more places, in tranches, not an automatic swap triggered by someone else's refusal or withdrawal.
Does a paused cap always reopen?
Usually, but it isn't guaranteed. In 2024-25, Malaysia's paused cap turned into a closure without reopening first. Treat 'paused caps reopen' as the usual pattern, not a promise, which is exactly why a live alert beats assuming a pause will resolve in your favour.
Is the 462 cap alert free?
Yes. Add your country and email, and we'll let you know the moment your country's cap status changes. There's no charge and no application required to sign up.