At the National Press Club on 17 September 2026, Minister Tony Burke announced changes to the working holiday visa program.
What's changing
Second and third year working holiday visas (subclasses 417 and 462) are moving to a ballot. Second year: 45,000 places, against about 57,000 people who qualified last year. Third year: 5,000 places, against about 31,000 last year. The regional work requirement stays the same: 88 days of specified work for a second year, six months for a third. Completing it lets you enter the ballot, not the visa itself, and not every entrant will get a place.
The government also says it will stabilise Working Holiday Maker application processing to three months. UK applications will keep being processed at the slower pace of recent months.
Who this affects
Anyone applying for, or currently holding, a working holiday visa on subclass 417 or 462, including everyone working towards, or waiting on, a second or third year place.
What it means for your application
If you're counting regional work days or already hold a visa, nothing about the ballot changes your application today. If you're waiting on a decision, there's no date to watch for: a faster decision is the sign this has taken effect, not an announcement.
Where this stands
The ballot needs a regulation that hasn't been made. There's no start date, and nothing has changed for it today.
The processing change is different. It's a departmental decision, not a change in law, so it needs no regulation and has no start date to wait for. It takes effect whenever the Department applies it, and may already be underway. Read our explainer for the full announcement, or the government's release directly.