applying for a work holiday visa while in australia

sponge_bob

a niece of mine (28yrold) is currently working in Glasgow as a civil engineer, she would like to travel to australia. she has approached the company she is working for who have a sister company operating in WA and they are considering her application for a 457 visa.
she would like to stay for 2-3yrs but is unsure about whether or not she wants to stay with the company while in australia.
i have told her she should probably take the companies visa offer if she gets it, the old bird in the hand and all that. she is however afraid that if she takes their offer and then decides to leave them after 3-4mths that she will not get a good reference. they have been her sole employers since leaving college, so if she can't secure a satisfactory reference from them she basically has no experience since leaving college to show on her cv. she is worried about this as she seems to think it will be hard to get new sponsored employment within the 4week timeframe of a 457 visa.

so i was thinking that if she cannot get new sponsored employment within the time frame would she be able to apply for a work holiday visa while in australia? or if she had to could she apply for it from new zealand.

if she cut ties with the company now and not bother with a 457 and just go on a work holiday would she be mad to pass up the oppurtunity? (personally i think she would, but would like to hear other peoples views on this)

is there not another visa that the company can apply for for her an 85something? pros and cons from the companies point of view on these visas and why companies don't offer them more often?

hussey

No, you need to be outside of Aus to get a WHV.
The only other visa (apart from 457) they can offer is ENS (resident).

Also that's not true about her CV, of course she has experience and of course she can add it to her CV, a lot of big companies do not give out references, only a letter of employment. (e.g. Sponge bob worked for ABC mining from 1st July 2001 - 1 July 2010 etc.)

AngryHippie

I'm pretty sure there is a law against giving a bad reference, the employer can decline to give one, and just give the dates she was employed, or must give a fair and honest reference, anything else leaves them open to defamation. If she gets the offer, take it. for the experience alone, even if its not exactly what she expects it to be....most people would walk on hot coals for the opportunity. Once she gets a few months under her belt she can reassess, and she can switch sponsors/employers on a 457 anyway so she's not tied to them unless she signs a fixed term contract...

sponge_bob

hussey wrote: »

No, you need to be outside of Aus to get a WHV.
The only other visa (apart from 457) they can offer is ENS (resident).

Also that's not true about her CV, of course she has experience and of course she can add it to her CV, a lot of big companies do not give out references, only a letter of employment. (e.g. Sponge bob worked for ABC mining from 1st July 2001 - 1 July 2010 etc.)

could she apply from new zealand if she had too?

iam applying for a subclass 176 ATM where my brother is sponsoring me as a relative, so i presume that ENS is similar in that she is just getting sponsored by an employer?
would it be a similar process to mine?,take as long? and be as expensive?

thats good to know about the cv/refernce as she is a bit unsure as she hasn't worked for anyone other than this employer so is a bit niave in these matters. and iam no help to her in this regard as i have been pretty much self employed all my life so never needed a references and things when changing employment, but felt it may have been a bit of scare mongering coming from the company.

sponge_bob

AngryHippie wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there is a law against giving a bad reference, the employer can decline to give one, and just give the dates she was employed, or must give a fair and honest reference, anything else leaves them open to defamation. If she gets the offer, take it. for the experience alone, even if its not exactly what she expects it to be....most people would walk on hot coals for the opportunity. Once she gets a few months under her belt she can reassess, and she can switch sponsors/employers on a 457 anyway so she's not tied to them unless she signs a fixed term contract...

yeah i think she would be mad to pass up the oppurtunity of a 457 sponsorship, especially as she seems intent on staying at least 2yrs and maybe more.

hussey

hussey wrote:

you need to be outside of Aus to get a WHV.

sponge_bob wrote: »

could she apply from new zealand if she had too?

New zealand is outside Aus, so yeah she can.