Visa condition 8547 applies to anyone in Australia who holds any kind of WHM visa, regardless of when they arrive. It also applies to anyone who holds a Bridging visa with condition 8547 imposed. It applies if you engage in any type of work (full time, part time, casual, shift or voluntary) unless you fall within one of the exemptions below.
See Exemptions to condition 8547, Requesting permission and Bridging visa holders below.
Exemptions to condition 8547
From 1 January 2024, you can work for the same employer in Australia for more than 6 months without asking permission if you work in any of the following:
- different locations for the same employer, as long as work in any one location does not exceed 6 months
- plant and animal cultivation anywhere in Australia
- natural disaster recovery work anywhere in Australia
- critical sectors, including agriculture, food processing, health, aged and disability care and childcare, tourism and hospitality, anywhere in Australia
- certain industries, including, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, construction and mining, in Northern Australia only (see
Work in certain industries in Northern Australia only below).
This applies until the Government makes further decisions.
Work in different locations
You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in different locations, including working from home. Work in any one location must not exceed six months.
For example, you can work for:
- two hotels in the same chain at different premises
- independently-owned franchises in different workplaces
- State and Territory schools and health care facilities at different addresses
- the same business with the one ABN (Australian Business Number) at two different orchards
- a subsidiary company (owned by the same parent company) but the ABN on your payslip is different
- different businesses (separate legal entities with different ABNs) owned by the same employer
- yourself (self-employed) and provide services to the same business for more than six months as long as that business is not the only business you provide services to during that time
- independently-owned franchises, even though they operate under the same business name
- a business from home or work remotely. A change to or from working remotely or at home counts as a change in location.
Work in plant and animal cultivation
You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in plant and animal cultivation anywhere in Australia.
For example:
- harvesting and/or packing of fruit and vegetable crops
- pruning and trimming vines and trees. This must be your primary employment task and directly associated with the cultivation and commercial sale of plant produce, such as fruit and nut crops (commercial horticultural activities)
- maintaining crops
- cultivating or propagating plants, fungi or their products or parts
- processing of plant products
- maintaining animals for the purpose of selling them or their bodily produce, including natural increase
- processing of animal products including shearing, butchery, packing and tanning
- manufacturing dairy produce from raw material.
The following work is not eligible:
- general garden maintenance
- maintaining animals for tourism or recreational purposes
- secondary processing of animal products, such as small goods processing and retail butchery.
Work in natural disaster recovery
You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if your work relates to natural disaster recovery work anywhere in Australia.
This includes:
- construction, farming, or any other work in association with recovery or restitution of land, property, farm animals or wildlife
- providing support services or assistance to people living, working or volunteering in the affected areas
- clean-up, construction or any other work in association with restitution or restoration of services, land, waterways, property or infrastructure
- coordination support, including services for insurance companies and local, state and federal government organisations and community and evacuation centres
Work in a critical sector
You do not need to ask our permission to work with the same employer for more than 6 months if you work in one of the five critical sectors below anywhere in Australia:
Agriculture
This includes:
- all activities involved in farming
- food processing, which involves processing of plant and animal products for human or animal consumption.
Health
This includes:
- all work carried out in hospitals and any duties or occupations related to providing or supporting health services, such as
- doctors
- nurses
- medical support staff (including administrative roles)
- medical imaging
- mental health
- radiology services
- installation and maintenance of complex medical machinery and
- cleaning services.
Aged care and disability services
This includes:
- disabilities services
- aged care services
- aged or disabled carers.
Childcare
This includes:
- nursery/crèche worker/aide/attendants
- family day care workers
- nanny/au pair
- out of school hours/vacation care workers.
- child protective/welfare specialists/workers
Tourism and Hospitality
Tourism and hospitality work includes a range of services in three main areas anywhere in Australia.
Accommodation, including working in:
- hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and backpacker hostels
- caravan parks and camping grounds
- commercial housekeeping services
- boarding houses, guesthouses and reception centres
The food and beverage sector, including working in:
- cafes and restaurants
- takeaway food services/businesses
- catering services
- pubs, taverns and bars
- hospitality clubs
All work carried out in the tourism and hospitality industry that directly provides a service to tourists. It also includes any duties or occupations related to providing or supporting such services, including:
- tourist guides and operators
- outdoor adventure or activity instructors, such as dive instructors
- tourist transport service workers, such as tour bus drivers
- gallery or museum managers, curators or guides
- travel agency and tourist information workers
- event and entertainment venue workers.
Work in certain industries in Northern Australia only
You do not need to ask our permission to work longer than 6 months with one employer in Northern Australia if you work in any of the following four industries:
- fishing and pearling
- tree farming and felling
- construction
- mining.
Fishing and pearling
- conducting operations relating directly to taking or catching fish and other aquatic species
- conducting operations relating directly to taking or culturing pearls or pearl shell.
Tree farming and felling
- planting or tending trees in a plantation or forest that are intended to be felled
- felling trees in a plantation or forest
- transporting trees or parts of trees that were felled in a plantation or forest to the place where they are first to be milled or processed or from which they are to be transported to the place where they are to be milled or processed.
Construction
- residential building construction
- non-residential building construction
- heavy and civil engineering construction
- land development and site preparation services
- building structure services
- building installation services
- building completion services
- other construction services.
Mining
- coal mining
- oil and gas extraction
- metal ore mining
- construction material mining
- non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying exploration
- mining support services.
For the purposes of the 6 months work limitation, Northern Australia is defined in the following table.
Eligible areas of Northern Australia
| State/Territory | Postcodes |
|---|
Queensland | 4472, 4478, 4481, 4482, 4680, 4694, 4695, 4697, 4699 to 4707, 4709 to 4714, 4717, 4720 to 4728, 4730 to 4733, 4735 to 4746, 4750, 4751, 4753, 4754, 4756, 4757, 4798 to 4812, 4814 to 4825, 4828 to 4830, 4849, 4850, 4852, 4854 to 4856, 4858 to 4861, 4865, 4868 to 4888, 4890 to 4892, 4895 |
Western Australia | 0872, 6537, 6642, 6646, 6701, 6705, 6707, 6710 to 6714, 6716, 6718, 6720 to 6722, 6725, 6726, 6728, 6740, 6743, 6751, 6753, 6754, 6758, 6760, 6762, 6765, 6770 |
Northern Territory | All postcodes in Northern Territory are eligible |
If your work does not fall within one of the exemptions above, you can only work for the same employer for a maximum of 6 months while holding your WHM visa.
In some limited circumstances, you may be able to obtain permission to work longer than 6 months for the same employer. For more information, see
Requesting permission below.
Requesting permission
Grounds for approving requests
If you submit a request for permission to work longer than 6 months for the same employer, we may give you permission if you:
- have applied for a visa allowing ongoing full time work and are awaiting the outcome of your application, or
- undertake work that is critical to your employer, and have attached a supporting letter from your employer to your request.
How to seek permission
If you meet one of the grounds outlined above, you can seek our approval by submitting the online form
Permission to work longer than 6 months.
Period covered by the exemption or permission to work longer than 6 months
The permission will cover the remaining period of stay on your WHM visa if:
- you are exempt from this condition or
- we give you permission to work for more than 6 months with the same employer.
The 6 months starts again with the grant of a new WHM visa, or when a Bridging visa with condition 8547 attached to it comes into effect.
If you have already submitted a request for permission to work longer than 6 months
If you have already submitted a request for permission to work for longer than 6 months for the same employer, you can continue working for the same employer until you receive a written outcome of your request. Due to the high volume of requests, the department is not able to provide individual confirmation that we have received your request.
If you are still waiting to receive a written outcome for your request, and your employer has queries, you can refer them to this webpage for confirmation that you can continue working for them until we make a decision.
If you submit your request for permission to work longer than six months with the same employer after the six months have already elapsed, you will need to stop work and await the outcome of your request.
Meaning of ‘one employer’
The 'employer' is the business or organisation for which you are directly working for.
If any agency or labour supplier refers you to a business, you can work for six months for that business. The same agency or labour supplier can refer you to another business where you can work for another six months. You cannot stay in the same position in the same location with one employer for more than six months by using different:
- employment agencies
- business affiliates or
- sub-contracting arrangements.
We consider workplace-based training as work. You are able to undertake workplace-based training with the same employer for up to six months.
Self-employment
If you are self-employed, your employer for the purposes of condition 8547 is the end user. You must not provide services to the same end user (considered your sole employer) for longer than 6 months. This applies unless your work falls within one of the exemptions, or you have obtained written approval from us.
If the end user is not your sole employer, you may provide services to the end user and others for longer than 6 months without breaching condition 8547. For example, a provider of in-home services with multiple clients, or a grower supplying more than one retailer.
Calculating the 6 months
The 6 months starts from the day you start work. It includes full-time, part-time, casual, shift and voluntary work. It is based on the number of months that have passed since you started working, not how many hours or days you have worked.
The condition applies separately to each visa, including bridging visas. This means that the 6 months start again when we grant you a new WHM visa, and/or when your bridging visa comes into effect while you are waiting for a visa application to be finalised.
Bridging visa holders
If you hold a Bridging visa with condition 8547 attached to it and you wish to work longer than 6 months for the same employer while your Bridging visa is in effect, you will need to apply for a new Bridging visa A to remove the condition.
We may remove condition 8547 from your new Bridging visa A if we are satisfied that you have a compelling need to work.
