Have you ever heard about the Working Holiday Visa? If you haven’t, from now on it will be the only thing you can think about.

This Visa is the main reason behind all the gap years taken. But… what is it?

A Working Holiday Visa (WHV) is a visa that allows you to work and travel in a foreign country.

And, trust me, there’s no better way of getting to know a country than doing both.

Since European citizens are allowed to work and travel freely all around Europe, sometimes we forget the value of having the right to do it. But, what about the people from other continents? What happens when we are the ones that want to go to another continent? Well, here is where lies the true essence of the WHV.

Not all countries have a WHV available and all the requirements differ depending on which WHV you want.

In which countries can you get a Working Holiday Visa?

European countries such as:

• Germany;
• Andorra;
• Portugal;
• Spain;
• Denmark;
• France;
• Austria;
• Ireland;
• Hungary;
• Norway;
• Poland;
• Sweden;
• The Netherlands.

As a European, travelling and working in these countries is not a problem and you won’t need a WHV visa. Being a European makes it easier to travel and work in other European countries.

Countries from different continents with Working Holiday Visa

• New Zealand;
• Canada;
• Australia;
• Japan;
• South Korea;
• Mexico.

Some (general) facts that you should know about the HWV

1. They allow you to work and travel for up to 12 months.
2. While your visa is valid, you can enter and exit the country as many times as you want.
3. It depends on the country but generally, the people who can apply must be between 18 and 30–35 years.
4. Some of the countries (under a few requirements) will allow you to extend your visa for a couple of months (NZ) or even for a year (Australia).
5. You can only apply for it once in your life for each country. If you reject it, you won’t be able to apply again.
6. Each county has limited quotas for WHV every year. For example, there are only 200 visas for NZ for Spanish people.
7. You can only apply under the nationality of your passport. It doesn’t matter if you are a Portuguese living in Italy, the only thing that matters is your passport.

The Working Holiday Visa agreements are entirely different for each country.

What does it mean? For example, Spanish people are only allowed to get a for New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Canada; and will be able to apply for South Korea very soon.

Working Holiday Visa changes depending o your country of origin.

For example, while Spanish people living in NZ can only work for up to 6 months, Mexicans, Germans and Italians can work up to 12 months.

Have you thought about doing a gap year and taking a WHV?

And remember: if you need accommodation, your next home is waiting for you on Uniplaces.