Working Holiday Maker Changes in Australia: Ballot Rules, Fewer Places and the Impact on Harvest Labour

News · 2026-09-25 · 4 min read

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced major changes to the Working Holiday Maker visa program this week, and Australian growers are now preparing for a difficult Christmas harvest. Farms rely on short-term workers who can move around to pick everything from mangoes to berries, so the timing is poor. Whether you hope to hold one of these visas or you employ people who do, it is important to know exactly what is changing and the reasons behind it. This briefing sets out the key points in order.

Second and third years: from earned to drawn

Under the old approach, a backpacker who finished 88 days of regional or remote work could expect to qualify for a second-year extension. That is ending. The new framework works like this:

Second-year visas will be given out by ballot, and the number of places falls from 57,000 to 45,000.
Third-year visas are cut much harder, from 31,000 places to only 5,000.

Many farm operators plan their harvests around a steady flow of returning workers. Moving from "earn it" to "enter the draw" makes that flow uncertain, and industry groups warn it could send backpackers to countries where their visa position is more secure.

Processing delays were already a problem

These policy changes arrive on top of an existing slowdown. Before the announcement, applications from 24 of 29 eligible countries had already been put on hold, and processing has gone from a few days to about three months. In some regions the citrus and berry harvest windows open within weeks, so the delay by itself could leave growers short of staff, whatever the ballot produces.

Small family farms carry the most risk

The effect will not be the same everywhere. Dr Kaya Barry, a Griffith University researcher who studies seasonal migration in Queensland agriculture, explains that large farms usually source workers through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, which is a separate and more structured pathway. It is the smaller, family-owned farms, without work to offer all year, that have traditionally used backpackers to cover seasonal shortfalls.

Why PALM cannot simply replace backpackers

Anyone giving advice on workforce planning should note this difference. PALM workers generally take on longer, more organised placements. Working holiday makers have always been valued for flexibility: they will follow the harvest from one region to another over only a few weeks. One model does not directly substitute for the other.

Positive news: agriculture added to the skilled visa list

One part of the announcement has been received with some optimism: agriculture joins the skilled visa list, as the sector is being placed on Australia's skilled worker visa list. Industry bodies support the decision but want the government to confirm the details, especially:

whether horticulture roles will be covered;
what qualification thresholds may apply.

Until those answers arrive, employers cannot build reliable plans around the change.

Action list for workers and growers

For working holiday makers: do not assume a second or third-year visa is close to certain any more. In a ballot system, completing regional work early and keeping clear records of it will count for more than before.

For agricultural employers: broadening recruitment is now an immediate need, not a future option. That means looking at PALM scheme partnerships, following the skilled visa details as they are released and allowing more time for visa processing.

If you are a worker exploring jobs in Australia for Pakistanis, keep an English CV ready and watch how the agriculture listing develops, since the skilled visa pathway is still being finalised. Anyone with an interest in Australia's regional workforce should follow this closely over the coming months.

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