417 & 462 · AUSTRALIA
Farm work is one option. Construction, some solar-project roles, tourism and hospitality, and other eligible industries may also count. The official term is “specified work”: your visa, what you do, where you do it and when you work all matter. Start here before you book a bed or travel across the country.
| Your situation | A useful starting point | The practical trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| No experience | Seasonal harvest recruitment with paid training | A short harvest may finish before you have completed all your specified work. |
| Hospitality experience, no car | Live-in hotel, resort or roadhouse roles | Look for accommodation at the workplace; live-in does not necessarily mean free. |
| White Card and practical experience | Regional construction or solar-project labouring | Projects move through stages. Transport, accommodation and contract length vary. |
| Want to stay near a social town | Hospitality in an eligible town, or a farm within commuting distance | Check the actual worksite and commute rather than choosing a hostel on its own. |
Solar is not a separate specified-work category. Construction duties on a solar project may fit the listed construction activities, such as site preparation, civil engineering or installation. Check the actual role against Home Affairs’ construction definition and the workplace postcode for your subclass.
Do not assume that sales, warehouse work, routine operations or every job with a solar company qualifies. A project’s name or an “88 days” advert is not enough to establish eligibility.
Solar farm jobs: courses, employers and pay · Check the construction postcode
Construction definitions reviewed 18 October 2026: Home Affairs 417 · Home Affairs 462. Solar-project eligibility depends on how the duties fit those definitions.
You do not need specified work for a second or third 417 application lodged using a UK passport on or after 1 July 2024. You can still choose farm work, but you do not need to choose a job just to collect days. The other visa conditions still apply.
Normally, a second visa needs three months of qualifying work; a third needs six months. Check the subclass on your visa grant. A friend’s 417 experience is not a reliable answer for your 462 application.
Use this table to pick an industry, then check the workplace postcode below. “Regional Australia” and “Northern Australia” are official lists here, not casual descriptions of somewhere outside a city.
| Actual work | Subclass 417 | Subclass 462 |
|---|---|---|
| Plant & animal cultivation | Regional Australia | Regional or Northern Australia |
| Construction | Regional Australia | Regional or Northern Australia |
| Fishing & pearling | Regional Australia | Northern Australia only |
| Tree farming & felling | Regional Australia | Northern Australia only |
| Mining | Regional Australia | Not a listed industry |
| Tourism & hospitality | Northern, Remote and Very Remote Australia, plus specified additional postcodes | |
No. Picking produce and caring for livestock raised for sale can qualify. Making wine, brewing, distilling and other secondary processing are excluded from plant and animal cultivation. A tourist attraction on a farm may involve hospitality instead. Get a written description of your daily duties.
Yes, where the postcode is on the hospitality lists. For example, Cairns is included; Brisbane is not. Byron Bay’s 2481 is in the agricultural regional list, but not the ordinary hospitality list. The checker keeps those tests separate. The current expanded hospitality rules cover work from 22 June 2021; older work has different application-date conditions.
Home Affairs currently says it may accept support work, including administration and cleaning, that supports an eligible industry in an eligible postcode. This is temporary flexibility, not an automatic yes for every cleaner or office job. Keep evidence showing the industry and what your role supports.
Choose your visa and actual work, then use the workplace postcode—not your hostel or the company’s head office. This checks the ordinary industry and location rules, not your whole visa application.
Checked 16 October 2026. Ranges include both endpoints. These are designated visa areas, not a list of real street addresses.
New South Wales: 2311 to 2312, 2328 to 2411, 2420 to 2490, 2536 to 2551, 2575 to 2594, 2618 to 2739, 2787 to 2898
Victoria: 3139, 3211 to 3334, 3340 to 3424, 3430 to 3649, 3658 to 3749, 3753, 3756, 3758, 3762, 3764, 3778 to 3781, 3783, 3797, 3799, 3810 to 3909, 3921 to 3925, 3945 to 3974, 3979, 3981 to 3996
Queensland: 4124 to 4125, 4133, 4211, 4270 to 4272, 4275, 4280, 4285, 4287, 4307 to 4499, 4510, 4512, 4515 to 4519, 4522 to 4899
South Australia: All postcodes in South Australia are eligible
Tasmania: All postcodes in Tasmania are eligible
Western Australia: 6041 to 6044, 6055 to 6056, 6069, 6076, 6083 to 6084, 6111, 6121 to 6126, 6200 to 6799
Northern Territory: All postcodes in Northern Territory are eligible
Norfolk Island: All postcodes in Norfolk Island are eligible
ACT is not included in this list.
Source: Home Affairs — subclass 417 specified work. Hospitality dates and disaster-recovery exceptions are explained in the guide.
South Australia and Tasmania are entirely included in the agricultural regional list, but only selected postcodes qualify for ordinary hospitality work. Fishing in Tasmania can meet the 417 location rule; the same fishing work does not meet the 462 Northern Australia rule. Choosing your industry first prevents those mix-ups.
Save your employers, check the work postcode and record each week. See your estimated days and any shortfalls.
Open your 88-Day Work TrackerThree months means at least the equivalent of 88 calendar days of normal full-time work in that role and industry. Six months means the equivalent of 179 calendar days. It does not mean everyone needs 88 separate shifts, and it does not mean a few casual shifts over three months are enough.
Ordinary weekends or equivalent rest days can be included during a qualifying full-time employment period. Keep the roster and contract that explain the pattern.
You need a proportionately longer period. Two days a week for three months is not the same as three months of full-time work. Separate employers and periods can be combined. You cannot compress the requirement into less than three or six calendar months.
A double shift cannot become two calendar days. Unpaid weather cancellations do not count. Paid public holidays and sick days can count; unpaid ones cannot. Leave time to make up interruptions.
Generally, second-visa work is done on your first WHM visa; third-visa work on your second, on or after 1 July 2019. Extra work on your first visa does not normally carry forward for your third.
There is a specific exception where you applied for your second WHM visa before your first expired, and a bridging visa came into effect while that application was being processed. Qualifying work on that bridging visa can count towards a third WHM visa. It is not a general rule for all bridging visas.
Home Affairs counting rules and worked examples — applies to both subclasses
Keep records as you go. Trying to reconstruct three months of addresses, rosters and payments after leaving a job is a miserable way to spend your last week.
A signature or “88 days guaranteed” message does not make an ineligible job count. Compare your records with the document checklist for your application. Do not pay someone to invent days or paperwork.
Ordinary specified work must be paid in line with Australian law. A bed and meals in exchange for fruit picking are not a substitute for lawful wages. Certain eligible disaster-recovery work can be voluntary; that is a separate exception.
Bushfire recovery after 31 July 2019 and eligible natural-disaster recovery after 31 December 2021 have their own declared areas and date rules. The job must actually relate to recovery: ordinary café work does not become disaster recovery just because a flood once happened nearby. The postcode checker above does not assess these pathways.
Critical COVID-19 healthcare and medical work also has specific rules, including some historical subclass 408 arrangements. These are not a general route for any healthcare job today. Use the relevant Home Affairs section if this is the work you are relying on.
417 recovery and historical arrangements · 462 recovery and historical arrangements
Farm work: seasons, roles and finding a grower · Hospitality: roles and eligible areas · Labouring: duties, tickets and employers
Official sources checked 16 October 2026. This guide explains the rules; a postcode match alone does not establish visa eligibility.
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