Patrick O’Donovan, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs has announced yesterday that the age limit for joining in the Australian working holiday programme has been extended to the 35 years from 30 years.
The reciprocal agreement that additionally enables Australians to enter to work in Ireland, enables candidates to work overseas for up to 2 years.
Mr. O'Donovan reported the age extension amid an official visit to Australia. Talking about the accession, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney and Tánaiste has revealed the motivation behind the program was to advance "strengthen people-to-people links and cultural exchange" by providing more chances for youngsters to travel.
“This age eligibility extension will not only permit a number of more people to avail but it facilitates to strengthen that connection between our two countries even more.” Donovan also stated that age expanding underscores the “wide-reaching success” of the event.
“Since 1975, nearly 275,000 young Irish candidates have stayed up to 2 years in Australia under this event. In 2017, 8653 visas were given to Irish country citizens through the Working Holiday Programme.”
The percentage of people migrating from Irish to Australia has decreased in recent years. In the 12 months to April 2017, only 5300 candidates traveled to Australia from Ireland, as per the Central Statistics Office in 2012, when people peaked at 17,400.
