‘I want a visa, so I have to do farm work’: how new visa rules will hit regional Australia

pixdeluxe/Getty Images Farmers and other industry groups have warned a new crackdown on backpacker visas will make it harder to fill jobs in regional Australia, from fruit picking to aged care .

Over the past four years, we have spoken to more than 600 backpackers working across Australia, as well as more than 60 employers, industry groups and community members.

What we’ve heard suggests regional employers have good reason to be worried.

Working backpackers have often told us things such as: “I want a second year visa, so I’m working in a papaya farm” “I don’t like the farm work, but it’s all for the extra visa time,” and “I want a second visa […] so I have to do farm work.” The Working Holiday Maker backpacker visa has been around since 1975.

Our research has shown how those tourists have become essential workers for Australian farmers over the past five decades.

Backpackers are doing 1 in 7 farm jobs About one in seven farming jobs are done by backpackers, particularly at peak periods such as harvests.

Over the financial year to June 30, more than 323,000 backpackers from more than 40 countries were granted a Working Holiday Maker visa.

That’s well up on pre-COVID levels, when it was between 210,000-250,000 a year from 2011 to 2019.

Those backpackers are then encouraged to work for months in regional Australia in exchange for visa extensions.

Backpackers can stay for an extra year if they work three months or more in regional, remote or specified industries , including agriculture, tourism and hospitality, construction, healthcare, and disaster recovery efforts.

What’s set to change Late last week Immigration Minister Tony Burke announced significant changes , including a ballot system for backpackers who want to stay longer than a year.

Few details have been provided yet.

This has created uncertainty as to whether months spent working in the bush would actually count.

Second year working backpacker visas will be cut from 57,000 to 45,000.