WHV holder

I am in Australia on a working holiday visa. I've just had a look at the DIMA website for the first time since before I got my visa.

I was looking for information on the 3 month work limit after seeing an earlier post, and found the following...

"Can I use the Services of an Employment or Recruitment Agency?
Yes, you can. However, for the purposes of the WHM program, the employer is the organisation or company where the work is actually done (that is, it is the "end user" who is the employer). Even if arrangements for remuneration and payment of taxation etc. are made through an agency, it is considered that the agency is simply acting on behalf of the employing organisation which is the source of the remuneration through the fees paid to the agency.

You are not permitted to extend your employment beyond 3 months with any one employer through the use of business affiliates and/or sub-contracting arrangements or by using different employment agencies (to remain in the same job). In practical terms, this means that you cannot work for longer than 3 months in the same position, in the same location, doing the same work."

I got a temporary position in a state government department, which I was initially told would be for 1 month, I was asked to stay on for longer, and ended up working there for 4 months.

For the first 3 months I went through Agency A, and for the following month through Agency B.

I was told by someone on the same visa as me that this would be acceptable (ok, ok, this was silly and I should have checked through the right channels)

So my questions are:

1.What is the likelyhood that my mistake will be noticed by the authorities?

2.May I use Agency A again for a different position?

Please help if you can, as I genuinely did not want to do anything wrong.

Thanks

George Lombard

Dear WHV,

We have had a couple of requests from companies wanting to extend WHV holders
legally; on one occasion the manager of a major immigration department office just
told us to take a "risk management" approach and not to pursue the matter as we would
only be sending signals to the compliance people about where to look.

I think therefore that one month overtime will not come to anyone's attention; if
you want to stay there, and if you are an IT person (or have some other MODL
occupation such as nursing), you will need to approach an IT recruiter etc about
being sponsored by them.

Cheers

George Lombard

www.austimmigration.com.au

WHV holder wrote in message ...
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