In a significant move to strengthen ties between Australia and India, Assistant Minister for Immigration Matt Thistlethwaite on Monday announced the launch of the Working Holiday Maker Visa during his visit to New Delhi.

Speaking to ANI, Australia’s Assistant Minister for Immigration Matt Thistlethwaite MP said, “I’m here to launch a couple of new visas, new opportunities for Indians to travel to Australia. The Working Holiday Maker Visa will allow up to a thousand young Indians from the ages of 18 to 30 to come to Australia to either work or to study and to experience Australian culture for up to 12 months.”

“It’s a great symbol of the growing links and ties and partnership between Australia and India and it comes on the back of other areas where Indians have been studying in Australia under student visas, working in our industries under skilled visas. This is just another opportunity to build those stronger ties between our nations,” he added.

Matt noted that the Working Holiday Maker Program is an opportunity for young members of the Indian community to be able to either work, study or travel around Australia and experience Australian life and Australian culture.

He stated that the ties between India and Australia are going from strength to strength. He recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia in 2023.

Highlighting the ties between India and Australia, he said, “I think that the relationship is going from strength to strength. Australians were very positive and buoyed by Prime Minister Modi’s visit last year. He was given a rock star welcome in Australia and we’ve got a growing Indian diaspora in Australia.”

“When I return home, one of the first things I’ll be doing is going to a Diwali festival in Sydney and they’re getting more popular. We’re seeing more and more Australians come to visit India and more and more Indians come to either study or to work here in Australia and it’s a great symbol of our growing economic ties and our people-to-people links,” he added.

While addressing a media briefing, Matt Thistlethwaite MP said, “It’s a great honour for me to be here today. My first visit to New Delhi and India to launch this important partnership and initiative between the people of Australia and the people of India.”

He also recalled Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to India as a young university student. He noted that Albanese used his experience in his “partnership and growing friendship” with PM Modi.

Matt Thistlethwaite said, “Our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, when he was a young university student, he backpacked around India. And in those young formative years, it was a great opportunity for him to experience another culture and to learn about the most populous democracy in the world.”

“And the Prime Minister used his experience in his partnership and growing friendship with the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Modi, to ensure that we improved and increased opportunities for young members of the Indian community and Australian community to get to experience each other’s culture. That’s why I’m very proud today to launch the Working Holiday Maker Visa for young Indians to come to Australia and to experience Australian culture,” he added.

Speaking about the Working Holiday Maker Visa, he said that young Indians between the ages of 18-30 will be able to apply for the Working Holiday Maker Visa to come to Australia for up to 12 months to study and to work, but most importantly, to get to know Australia, to get to know Australians and to experience country’s beautiful environment and our wonderful culture. He stated that young Indians will get the opportunity to experience Australian culture.

The visa ballot process opened on October 1 and already 40,000 young Indians have applied to update this visa and we look forward to them coming early in the new year. He said that it is a “great symbol and a great demonstration of the growing friendship and partnership” between the people of two nations and governments.

On being asked about how will it help the Indians to have a family connect to go to Australia, or working as well, he said, “Just about every indian that comes to Australia knows someone there. Almost a million people that live in Australia and are our citizens, inclined Indian heritage and it’s one of the fastest growing diasporas in our country and this is just another opportunity for young Indians to come to our country, to experience our culture, to get to know and to grow friendships with Australians.”

He noted that it is a temporary visa, but it gives them a taste of what life in Australia is like. He further said that the people can then come back and apply for a student visa, or come back and apply for a skilled visa, or one of the other visas that he is about to launch later this week.

He added it would provide a taste of Australian culture and an opportunity for the strengthening of ties between young people in two nations..

When asked about the industry of Australia that would benefit from this scheme and what skills people who will go on a working holiday to Australia learn, he said, “The great thing about the Working Holiday Maker visa is that there are no restrictions on the jobs that you can do. You can work in any industry in Australia. What we tend to find is that people tend to work in hospitality industries, such as this great cafe here.”

“There’s opportunities for people to work in the agricultural sector, all different industries across Australia. But there’s also the opportunity to study. They can study under the Working Holiday Maker visa for a short period of time, as well. To improve your English language skills, to get experience in the vocational area, to take on a short course. Those opportunities are all available under this visa. The most important thing about it is, it’s an opportunity to come to Australia, to have a bit of fun, to learn about our culture, and to experience Australian life,” he further said.

There is a limit of 1,000 visas per year, and it’s going to be chosen through a ballot process. So, Indians will be able to apply for the ballot, and that ballot is now open. It opened on October 1 and closes on October 30 and there are already 40,000 people that have applied to go on the ballot.

He said that after the ballot is closed, a number of people will be randomly selected, and they will be given the opportunity to apply for the visa. Matt Thistlethwaite MP said that if they meet the criteria, they’ll be granted the visa, and able to travel to Australia early in the year.