Working holiday visa to Australia

Question

I am a Brazilian national by birth and have recently acquired British citizenship. I have been living in the UK for the past six years. I am now planning to take a working holiday trip to Australia.

During the initial years of living in the UK, when I held a temporary visa, I applied twice for an Australian tourist visa, but both applications were denied. Now, as a British citizen, I am eligible for the Working Holiday Visa (subclass 417). I am concerned that my previous tourist visa refusals might impact my current application.

Could anyone provide guidance or share experiences on how past visa refusals could affect my application for a Working Holiday Visa? Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes, your previous refusals will definitely impact your application. Previous refusals will always impact an application. However that doesn't mean your working holiday visa will be denied.

It's really impossible to say how much the previous refusals will impact the application, especially without knowing the reasons for the refusals. If you were found to have used deception in your applications, for example, that will almost certainly exclude you.

Your acquisition of a new citizenship is certainly enough of a change of circumstance to make it worth applying. You need to do all the things that increase your chances as much as possible - have a really good financial position, a stable job, lots of ties to your new home country, good reasons why you have to return at the end of the holiday.

The main question in their minds is why you keep wanting to visit Australia rather than another country for a holiday. If all you want is a holiday, then another country where you haven't been refused would serve you just as well. New Zealand, USA and Canada all have working holiday programs. Applying to one of them rather than Australia would certainly be easier.