Starting July 1, overseas backpackers in Australia will be required to pay an additional €130 for a Working Holiday Maker visa to Australia. So far, the cost was €510. However, as soon as the new rules become effective, those applying got a Working Holiday Maker visa will have to pay €640. Apart from the fee for this type of visa being increased soon, the visa could also be restricted to one year; this would make it one of the world’s most expensive visa’s.
Australian authorities have stated that such a fee increase is necessary to avoid exploitation, but fruit and vegetable growers have raised concerns, saying that overseas workers will no longer want to come to Australia. 80 percent of the harvesting labor force is made up of 112,000 individuals holding Australia’s Working Holiday Maker visa. Nonetheless, they are still only a fraction of the 1.8 million foreigners who are in Australia on a temporary working visa.
Opposition immigration spokesperson Dan Tehan has said that backpackers started being targeted as soon as permanent as well as long-term immigration levels started to increase. He called this ‘unbelievable and unfair’, as backpackers support the country’s farming and tourism.
The National Farmers’ Federation is warning that changes to Australia’s migration settings coming into effect this Saturday could push food prices higher as farmers struggle to access workers to harvest produce.
NFF President Fiona Simson said the Government needed to urgently reverse a deteriorating workforce environment for farmers. “This Saturday, the starting gun fires on a swag of harmful changes coming to Australia’s migration system.”
Source: visaguide.world
