This page covers subclass 462 only. If your passport is not in the list below, you are almost certainly a subclass 417 applicant instead. See the 417 eligibility page, or run the quick checker to confirm.
Who this visa is for
The subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa is available to around 30 passports, including the United States, China, India, Brazil, and most of Central Europe and Latin America. It carries requirements the 417 does not: an education or English test that varies by passport, a letter of support for a subset of countries, and a pre-application ballot for three of them.
| Subclass 462 eligible passports | |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Papua New Guinea |
| Austria | Peru |
| Brazil | Poland |
| Chile | Portugal |
| China, People's Republic of | San Marino |
| Czech Republic | Singapore |
| Ecuador | Slovak Republic |
| Greece | Slovenia |
| Hungary | Spain |
| India | Switzerland |
| Indonesia | Thailand |
| Israel | Türkiye |
| Luxembourg | Uruguay |
| Malaysia | United States of America |
| Mongolia | Vietnam |
30 passports, direct from the official Home Affairs country list.
The age test
You must be 18 to 30 years old inclusive on the date you lodge. Unlike the 417, no 462 passport currently carries an age-35 exception. Age is assessed at lodgement, not at grant, so applying at 30 and turning 31 before a decision is made does not disqualify you provided every other requirement is met. Avoid lodging on your actual birthday if you can help it, to remove any ambiguity about which age applies.
The education and English requirement
Every 462 passport carries some form of education requirement, though the bar differs by country. There is no 462 passport with zero education requirement.
- Most 462 passports (including Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Argentina, Austria, China, Ecuador, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, Uruguay, Vietnam): a tertiary qualification, or evidence of 2 years of undergraduate study
- Brazil and India: at least 2 years of post-secondary study
- Chile: a tertiary qualification, or an approved or completed third year of undergraduate study
- Israel: a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education, plus completed or exempt military service
- Malaysia: a tertiary qualification or 2 years of undergraduate study, on a slightly different accepted-qualifications list
- Thailand: a tertiary qualification specifically, not just 2 years of study
- Switzerland: 2 years of study following compulsory schooling
- United States: a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education or equivalent, which is a lower bar than the tertiary requirement most other 462 passports face, plus evidence of functional English
Certificates I to IV and a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education generally do not count as tertiary qualifications for the main group. The United States sits in a genuinely different, lower-bar category, so do not assume US applicants face the same test as the rest of the list.
The education test is the main thing that separates a 462 application from a 417 one.
Letter of support
These 11 passports must obtain a letter of support from a designated government agency before lodging. Everyone else on the 462 list does not need one.
| Letter of support required | Letter of support not required |
|---|---|
| Ecuador, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Peru, Poland, San Marino, Slovenia, Thailand, Türkiye | Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Israel, Luxembourg, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam |
Processing these letters can take anywhere from two weeks to three months depending on the country, so it is usually the first thing to start, well before you touch the rest of the application.
The ballot, China, India and Vietnam
Passport holders from China, India and Vietnam cannot lodge a first 462 application directly. They must first enter a pre-application ballot and be randomly selected before applying is even possible. Build the ballot window into your timeline early, since it adds a waiting period before the visa process itself begins.
Country caps
Every 462 country except the United States has an annual limit on first-time grants, reset at the start of each program year on 1 July. Once a country's cap is reached, that cap closes until the next program year. A closed cap is not necessarily permanent within the year, since Home Affairs can and does reopen paused caps, so check current status rather than assuming a closed cap stays closed.
What actually causes refusals. In our experience the two most common issues are incomplete evidence of the education requirement (a scanned certificate without a transcript) and financial evidence that does not clearly show the applicant's own name and a recent balance. Neither is a hard eligibility problem, both are avoidable with the right document pack from the start.
What still applies to everyone
- Not accompanied by dependent children at any point during the stay
- Applying alone, family members cannot be included on the same application
- Meeting the health and character requirements
- Roughly A$5,000 in shown funds, plus an onward fare
- No previous entry to Australia on a first working holiday visa of either subclass, for a first application