Working holiday-maker visa application fee to increase by $130

Aussie application fees will soon be more expensive than New Zealand and Canada, in a move called “disastrous” for farmers.

It will become more expensive for backpackers to work in Australia with a price hike in working holiday-maker visa application fees to come into effect on July 1.

The visa has been a crucial instrument for farmers to secure seasonal workers, particularly across horticulture, from 40 partner countries but traditionally most popular with British travellers.

The $130 increase, part of a raft of new charges announced in the recent federal budget, will bump the working holiday (subclass 417) and work and holiday (subclass 462) visas from $510 to $640.

The new setting means Australia’s backpacker visas will now compare unfavourably with similar schemes in New Zealand, Canada, Germany and Britain that currently cost no more than $382.

The situation will be compounded as the government weighs up a scathing review into the nation’s migration system that recommended working holiday-maker visa holders not be compelled to work in regional Australia to secure a second or third-year visa extension.

Backpacker Amy Sukwiset working on a farm. Picture: Sue Graham

National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said that recommendation, if introduced, would be “disastrous” for farmers reliant on backpackers as “an incredibly important source of seasonal labour”.

Mr Mahar recently demanded the federal government introduce a “purpose built” visa for agriculture to replace the current “mixture of haphazard solutions” and better address the industry’s ongoing worker shortages.

The NFF has put agriculture’s labour shortage at 172,000 workers needed across the food supply chain.

More than 166,000 WHM visas were granted until March 31 this financial year, comparing favourably to the 149,000 in 2019-20.

Only 39,000 were granted in 2020-21 and 100,000 in 2021-22 when Covid-related travel restrictions applied.

Currently, WHM visa holders can apply for visa extensions into a second and third year if they commit to three months of “specified work” in regional Australia.

A Home Affairs spokeswoman acknowledged that WHMs provided an important “cultural and economic contribution” to Australia, including “filling skills and labour gaps and job creation in associated industries”.

Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme fees will be exempt from the increase.

Farm leaders recently warned of a “mass exodus” of producers from the PALM scheme accusing the federal government of rushing through “extreme adjustments” that would render the program commercially unviable for many farmers.