The biggest change to working holiday visas in decades came into effect at the end of last year
As of November 27, 2008, the Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) has replaced the working holidaymaker visa for foreigners coming to the UK. The YMS sits within Tier 5 of the UK's new immigration system.
[Tier 2 visas, which replace work permits, also came into effect on November 27.]
Only citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan are eligible for the YMS.
South Africa has not applied to join the YMS. This means South Africans are no longer able to come to the UK for a working holiday.
See below for more information about South Africans being ineligible.
YMS visa — details
YMS visas allow you to spend two years in the UK.
You can work in the UK for the full two years’ duration of the visa. You can work in any job, except you must not: play or coach professional sport; or work as a doctor in training. You can set up a business, however there are rules on doing so, including that you are the sole employee of the business.
YMS holders have to leave the UK at the end of the two years. If you want to apply for a highly-skilled visa or work permit (Tier 1 and 2 visas, respectively) you can only do so from back home.
Applicants need an amount equivalent to £1600 in their bank account when they apply.
Ensure that you have more than the bare minimum equivalent of £1600 in your bank when applying. Currency fluctuations could mean your bank balance will be worth more than £1600 one day, but less than this the next.
To prove funds you must provide a bank statement, or a letter from the bank stating you have £1600 in the account.
According to the Home Office, the statement or letter “must be original, on the official letter-headed paper or stationery of the organisation and bearing the official stamp of that organisation. It must have been issued by an authorised official of that organisation. All evidence must be dated no more than one month before the application is submitted.”
You need to be 18 and over or under 31 on the day you make an application for the YMS. It doesn’t matter if you are over 31 when you enter the UK.
When you apply you have to give a date when you intend to travel to the UK. This has to be within three months. Your visa will be valid from this date, and expire two years later.
You can only be granted a YMS visa once. You are ineligible for a YMS if have previously held a working holidaymaker visa.
You will be asked if you have any children aged under 18 living with you or for whom you are paying maintenance. If you do, you will be ineligible for the visa.
Before leaving for the UK you will have to visit a UK visa office in your home country to have your biometric details taken (a digital photo of your face and a scan of your fingerprints).
You are not allowed to bring in dependents (children/spouse) on your YMS visa. In other words, you can come to the UK on the YMS with a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend, but they must have their own YMS visa (or some other means of entering the UK, such as a UK passport or ancestry visa).
Already on a working holidaymaker visa?
If you already have a working holidaymaker visa, but have yet to
activate it by entering the UK, you can cancel that visa and make an
application for the YMS instead.
If you have already entered the UK on a working holidaymaker visa you are bound by
the original conditions of that visa (ie you can only work for 12
months).
You cannot get a YMS visa if you are currently on, or have previously had, a working holidaymaker visa.
South Africans ineligible
South Africans are not eligible for the new Youth Mobility Scheme Visa.
It is possible that South Africa could join the Youth Mobility Scheme in the future, however this would appear to be very unlikely.
A Home Office spokesperson has told TNT that any country was open to apply to join the YMS. A country being admitted would depend upon:
• The country agreeing to sponsor its citizens (Australians and New Zealanders are exempt from this);
• The country posing an acceptably low level of immigration risk (ie its citizens are not deemed to be at risk of overstaying their visa or abusing UK immigration rules);
• The country not subjecting British people to a mandatory visa scheme (ie British people can visit the country without necessarily getting a visa).
• The country allowing in young British citizens to do a working holiday; and
• Satisfactory arrangements being in place to ensure the Youth Mobility Scheme visa applicant returned home at the end of their visa. How this might work in practice is still to be announced.
The Home Office spokeswoman said that some countries might not seek to be assessed in order to join the Youth Mobility Scheme. If a country met the criteria there was no reason they should not be allowed to join the YMS, the spokesperson said.
However, South Africa does not have a working holiday scheme for young Britons. Also, the South African government would be unlikely to sponsor its citizens to leave the country, in a bid to prevent a brain drain of skilled young people to Britain.
YMS quotas
There will be an annual limit on the number of YMS visas issued.
“The number of New Zealanders and Australians allowed into the UK on
the YMS will be based on the number of British people going to each
country on the equivalent schemes rounded to the nearest 500,” the Home
Office has told TNT.
New Zealand lets in a maximum of 9000 British working holidaymakers
a year, while Australia (which has no quota) lets in about 30,000.
This is far more than the approximately 5000 New Zealanders and
15,000 to 20,000 Australians who come to the UK each year for a working
holiday. Therefore it is unlikely the annual limit on YMS visas will
have an impact on Aussies or Kiwis.