Working Holiday Visa age Limit – Are you eligible?

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You might be wondering why a working holiday visa has an age limit, since surely there is no age cut-off to experience life in another place? The answer is simple: it’s because of the type of visa it is.

Many people search for this search term when they’re unsure if they still qualify for a working holiday visa, or are trying to decide when to go abroad. This guide breaks it all down.

This is not a standard working visa that links to a specialised skillset or career, nor is it a visa granted to you because of your family connections. It is a youth visa.

In this article, we will walk through understanding why age limits exist for the working holiday visa, what the visa is in a little more detail and the alternative options if you are outside of the age window.

What Are Working Holidays?

I’ll summarise below, but here is a more detailed link for you to look at if need be:

• What is a working holiday?

Working Holidays are a type of work visa that allows young adults from certain countries to experience life in another nation for a specified length of time.

Primarily, they are long-term travel visas lasting on average 1 year (although some allow you to stay for 2 or 3 years!). The governments of these nations also allow temporary work permission to supplement the cost of your travels.

Since most countries limit how long people can visit on a tourist visa (usually 30 or 90 days), the working holiday visa allows them longer to explore.

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Why does a working holiday visa have an age limit?

The working holiday visa scheme has an age limit for each country, as its main purpose is to allow young adults an opportunity to experience life abroad in a cultural exchange between nations.

These reciprocal agreements between the countries stop for “older” adults as they are no longer part of the youth category. Many governments want young people to experience living in their country so they can influence mutual understanding between the different cultures.

It’s argued that it is because young people are less “set in their ways” and are easier to adapt and understand different cultures better than those who are older. This is not necessarily true, but it has been a point of discussion for many years.

It has also been rumoured that the older a person is, the more likely they are to suffer from sickness and ailments, so by inviting younger people into their countries, they are less likely to need medical treatment and be a “burden” on the health systems.

What is the Age Limit on a Working Holiday Visa?

Since there are so many different countries offering a working holiday visa, there is a bit of a difference between the age limits.

18-30 is the most common age range for a working holiday visa.

There are, however, some countries that offer the same visa type for those older than 30, although this is not available for every country to apply for.

British Nationals can apply for:

From 18 to 25 years old:

• Singapore

This is the only country that has an age limit of 25 for British Nationals. You must also be an active student or a recent university graduate to be eligible.

From 18 to 30 years old:

• Andorra
• Hong Kong
• Iceland
• India
• Japan (head to our Japan hub page). Want to apply? Apply for yours here
• Monaco
• San Marino
• South Korea (head to our South Korea hub page). Want to Apply? Apply for yours here
• Taiwan (Taiwan hub coming soon)
• Uruguay

These countries offer the standard age limit for the working holiday visa. Starting at 18 and going up to 30, you have 12 years to enjoy visiting one or more of these nations as a young adult.

Which countries offer working holiday visas to Brits until 35?

From 18 to 35 Years old

• Australia (Australia hub coming soon)
• Canada (head to our Canada Hub page)
• New Zealand (head to our New Zealand Hub Page). Want to apply? Apply for yours here

Thanks to the Commonwealth trade agreement, these three countries offer British citizens a working holiday visa up to the age of 35 – the highest age limit for this visa type, worldwide.

Other Nations Around the World Offering Working Holiday Visas

Can I apply before the Age Deadline, & enter later?

This is a very common question, and I wish it were a simple answer.

Unfortunately, (like everything else on this page), it depends on the country you are applying for and the country you are from.

For example, Japan requires you to be approved before your 30th birthday; however, you can enter the country anytime within 12 months of being approved as long as it is before your 31st birthday.

Taiwan instead requires you to be approved AND enter the country before your 30th birthday.

When you have decided on a country, you should check the government website to check all the requirements regarding visa age eligibility.

Australia allows British citizens to apply up to the day before their 36th birthday (if eligible).

Can You do More Than One Working Holiday?

The short answer is yes!

Speaking from experience, I have successfully completed working holiday visas in Australia (1 year), Canada (2 years and went back for a 3rd on a different visa), New Zealand (1 year plus 6 months due to covid when I couldn’t leave), South Korea (1 year) and Japan (1 year then moved onto a different visa type).

As long as you are within the age bracket and tick the other boxes of eligibility for each country, there is no reason why you couldn’t do multiple working holidays.

Since you have different visas available from 18, you could technically experience living and travelling in a different country each year until you are 35. If you wanted to travel for the full 17 years, you could simply start with the countries with the lowest age restriction first, then move on to the countries open to 30-year-olds. Of course, then you could theoretically finish with the commonwealth nations as long as you were under 35.

Although the majority of people just go on one working holiday for that temporary experience before settling back at home, there is no rule to say you can’t enjoy multiple countries while you are eligible!

Over the Age Limit for a Working Holiday Visa?

So, what options do you have if you are “too old” for the working holiday visas around the world, but you still want to go abroad?

If you’re happy just going abroad for 1 – 3 months, then you should be fine utilising the tourist visas available between most nations. The main restriction of this visa type is that you are not allowed to work.

If your dream is to work overseas and you’d like to be abroad for longer than standard tourist visas allow, you could consider some alternatives.

Please note: These visas have different requirements depending on the country and your nationality.

So, please research directly on the government site of your chosen nation for the latest up-to-date information.

Seasonal Worker Visas

In many parts of the world, there are agricultural jobs that need more staff. These visas have no age restrictions, but can be located in rural and specific regions of your country of choice, which are often away from major cities. This can put some people off if they’re expecting to live in a metropolitan area, or a specific destination away from farmland.

Some job examples include:

• Fruit & vegetable picking
• Dairy farming
• Planting crops
• Driving tractors
• Other farm-related tasks

Specialist or Skilled Visas

This is one of the most well-known visa types, often associated with “sponsorship”. It requires you to have specific qualifications (degrees or certifications), a certain amount of experience (apprenticeships or years of working in that field), and an employer willing to sponsor your application. The requirements differ greatly but are often associated with most white-collar jobs.

Some examples include:

• Medical field (doctors, nurses, etc)
• Engineers
• Teachers
• IT professionals & Tech (coding, backend, UX)
• and more

Student Visas

Although this isn’t primarily a work visa, it’s on the list because many student visas around the world allow you to work part-time hours alongside your studies.

This helps you support yourself a little easier, especially if you don’t have the student loans or scholarships to pay for all of your expenses. This can be a good way to experience living abroad while also gaining a new qualification or skill.

Don’t want to get a full degree or already have one? There are often language schools and short-term (1 year) courses that qualify for student visas if you plan ahead of time!

Spousal or Family Visas

Now, this isn’t something I recommend as a means for working overseas. However, those who happen to be married to or are family members of a foreign national can utilise their familial links to work overseas.

More often than not, if you are married to a foreign national, you can apply for a spousal visa that allows you to live and work with them in their home nation. There is a little more to it, providing you can prove your relationship and provide the required paperwork, but it is a method that many multinational families have used for years.

Permanent Residence or Citizenship

Now, as a citizen of two different countries myself (the UK and the Republic of Ireland), I can recommend this as another option.

If you have more than one citizenship, you might have different options regarding the age limit and visas available through each passport.

For a working holiday in Canada, participants can apply once under EACH of their citizenships. However, Japan only allows one participation per person, REGARDLESS of multiple citizenships.

My UK citizenship no longer allows me to live and work in the European Union (EU) without meeting country-specific eligibility requirements. However, my Irish citizenship makes me an EU citizen, which allows me to live and work in any of the 26 EU countries.

If you don’t have EU citizenship, your home country might still have a reciprocal agreement with another country that allows you free movement at any age (Australia and New Zealand have similar agreements). So it’s worth checking out what your citizenship allows you to do around the world.

Conclusion

If you are under the eligible age limit, go for it! Send that application. You might not get the same chance again, and if you’re over the age limit? There are still plenty of amazing ways to live abroad. Explore the links above to find your best fit.