Work and Holiday visa a hit on Chinese social media
- Written by Media Release
Canberra 6 July 2015. The Work and Holiday visa programme has received an overwhelming reception in China following the announcement of 5000 visa places for young Chinese nationals coming to Australia.
On Wednesday in Beijing, the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash participated in a one hour online live chat discussion with Chinese young people about the Work and Holiday visa arrangement with China.
“This level of interest and enthusiasm is a great start to what we envisage will be the beginning of a long and successful programme for Chinese youth visiting and working in Australia,” Minister Cash said.
Hosted on the People’s Daily (PD) Weibo site, Minister Cash responded to 50 questions about the Australian Work and Holiday visa programme. To date, there have been more than 550,000 visitors to the website.
“It was great to have the opportunity to be given a platform to connect with people who are interested in visiting and working in Australia,” Minister Cash said.
“I encourage the Chinese community to follow the Australian Embassy Beijing’s PD Weibo page or search for ‘AustralianAmbassador’ on WeChat to find out more information about the programme.”
The announcement of the Work and Holiday arrangement was negotiated alongside the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement signed last month and the programme provides for up to 5000 visa places for Chinese young people in Australia’s largest capped Work and Holiday programme.
The arrangement will be implemented later in 2015. The date that visa applications will be accepted by Australia will be announced on the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) website at http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/462 and the Australian Embassy Beijing website at http://www.china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/Visas_and_Migration.html
Further information will be provided on these websites as it becomes available.
Tess Sanders Lazarus
