The Education Requirement for Work and Holiday Visas

If you want to apply for a Work and Holiday visa, a typical requirement is that you have a degree or have completed at least two years of university study.

So, what exactly is required, and do other types of tertiary qualifications count?

Which Work and Holiday visas have an education requirement for Australian citizens?

Australian citizens applying for a Work and Holiday visa in the following countries would need to meet the tertiary education requirement:

Argentina
Austria
Chile
Ecuador
Greece
Indonesia
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Singapore
Slovakia
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Uruguay
Vietnam

The USA Summer Work Travel Pilot Program also has an education requirement, in that it requires applicants to be current students or recently graduated. But that’s an unrelated requirement that only applies for that particular type of visa.

What kinds of qualifications are eligible?

The countries listed above all say that you need to have at least a university bachelor degree, or have completed at least two years of full-time undergraduate study at a university. But many countries have not provided detailed information about whether other types of tertiary qualifications are eligible.

All of the Work and Holiday visa agreements between Australia and the above nations are reciprocal. In other words, the other country requires the same of Australian citizens applying for this visa as Australia requires of citizens of those countries. So, it is perhaps helpful to consider the level of education that Australia requires of those countries’ citizens applying for the same visa in reverse.

Helpfully, the Australian government has a detailed list of acceptable education qualifications for Australian Work and Holiday (subclass 462) visa applicants from other countries. It would be fair to assume that other countries’ standards would be either the same or similar.

That said, in practice, each country can choose to approve visas (or not) based on their own criteria. So, even if you don’t meet the Australian requirements, it can’t hurt to ask the embassy or consulate of the country whose visa you’re applying for whether your qualification meets their Work and Holiday visa education requirement.

Qualifications accepted by Australia

With this in mind, these are the educational attainments that Australia generally accepts from Work and Holiday visa applicants:

At least 2 years of undergraduate university study
Degrees
Diplomas
Graduate certificates

Australia does not generally consider the following to meet the education requirement:

Completion of high school
Certificates I to IV level qualifications

If in doubt, contact the embassy or consulate of the country where you’re applying for a visa.