Great news, young people! Thanks to a partnership between Australia and the UK, more young Australians can go to work and live in the UK for up to three years instead of the previous two years.

A revamp to the UK Youth Mobility Visa started on January 31, 2024 raised the visa age limit from 30 to 35, which garnered a huge sigh of relief for elder millennial journalists reporting.

New details of the Youth Mobility Visa also include the following:

• Australians currently on the visa can now also extend their visa.
• The two-year visa can be extended for an extra year, making it three years.
• You can apply for your visa before you turn 18 and you can be over 35 when it starts.
• You can only get the visa once.
• The earliest you can apply for a visa is six months before travel.
• Aussies can enter the UK at any time while the visa is valid, and leave and return at any time.

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While it may seem like a golden ticket for us young people, there are additional caveats for eligibility, including proof that you’ve got the funds to support yourself – you must have had £2530 or approximately $4900AUD in your bank account for at least 28 days before applying for your Youth Mobility Visa, as well as apply for a biometric residence permit (BRP).

A BRP involves having a photo and fingerprints taken at a visa application centre, which are located in all Australian capital cities, with the exception of Darwin.

The trade agreement was signed in 2021 by ukulele enthusiast Scott Morrison and conditioner advert, Boris Johnson, and came into effect in 2023. The revamped agreement applies only to working holiday visas under the Youth Mobility classification.

Processing times at present are around three weeks, and the process starts from $575, plus an annual UK health surcharge, raising the fee to $2396, plus approximated $1500 for additional years spent in the UK.

For full details, check out the official UK government website here; gov.uk

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