WWOOF交換食宿二簽資格修例

剛收到中介公司The Jopshop的電郵通知, 有關WWOFF二簽資格的修例. 大意是 : 若要交換食宿集二簽, 不能再每天只做4-6小時的工作, 而是全職7-8小時, 約一星期35-40小時的農務工作.




What this means from a WWOOF perspective is as follows:

• Any period of specified work undertaken with WWOOF registered employers must conform to the Australian working week (35-40 hours, consisting of 7-8 hours worked each day) if a client wishes to count it towards second Working Holiday visa eligibility.
• The only way in which a working day of less than 7-8 hours will be acceptable to the Department, is where an individual employer is able to show that there is a definitive and clear cut industry work day standard less than this.
• If the question of a particular industry standard arises, it will be determined based on the type of work being performed by the employee, not whether the employer is registered with WWOOF. For example, a client undertakes 10 days of banana harvesting and packing for a WWOOF registered employer. The Department will be assessing the length of these 10 days of work based on the industry work day standard for the banana grower sector generally."

Basically the changes mean that DIAC no longer consider the WWOOFing hours of 4-6 hours per day to be the industry standard they use when assessing applications.  The industry standard will be the industry that relates to the property where the work is done, and the hours worked should fit in with the hours that would be worked in that industry. Generally the work must be full time, 7-8 hours per day, 35 – 40 per week, one week being 7 days (The work is done over 5 days & weekends are counted).
It is up to the applicant (WWOOFer) to ensure they do the work in the correct Postcode and that the work they do is the Specified work.  The Host / employer signs their form for the number of days worked and enters the start and finish dates. DIAC hav e asked the WWOOF Office not to give out any other information, but to refer everyone to their website as the information changes from time to time and their website will always be the most up to date. To this end we are no longer noting the Hosts who are happy to sign this visa in the WWOOF Book, from the July 2012 edition onwards “PP” will no longer be noted at the end of these Host entries and we apologize if this causes any inconvenience. 
WWOOFers who are looking for work to extend their visa can advertise on the WWOOF Bulletin Board, but MUST check the DIAC postcode list and ensure the Host’s postcode is eligible as the postcodes can change from time to time. To help facilitate this, we have set up a new Second Working Holiday Forum at the bottom of the Hosts Urgently looking for WWOOFers forum, specifically for Hosts and WWOOFers to advertise in for 2nd Working Holiday Visa stays.

WWOOFers should check the Specified work list carefully as from time to time DIAC add "Notes" to items on the list which clarify the work; usually this is to make it clear that the work must be of a commercial nature.  It appears that it is becoming more difficult for non commercial properties to fit the work criteria of this list, so if a WWOOFer is in doubt, please ask them to e-mail DIAC 2ndwhm.helpdesk@immi.gov.au and ask about the Host property and the work they will be doing as it is heartbreaking for a WWOOFer to work for 3 months, then find out their application is rejected because they have done the wrong type of work.

For more information please see the Visa information on our website or the&nb sp;DIAC website