Managing Working Holiday Visa Expiries where employee has period of absence

NOTE: This article does not constitute migration law advice on calculating the 6 month rule on Working Holiday visas, just a response to a regular question we are asked.

We are regularly asked how to manage employees on Work Holiday visas where the employee/contractor takes a leave of absence (goes away on holidays) after a period of employment (less than the 6 month) and come back to see out their 6 month work entitlement.

vSure calculates the visa expiry associated with the "6 month rule" based on the Employee/Contractor Start Date. 

Should you decide that the 6 month rule expiry, as a result of a leave of absence, is more than just the Start Date plus 6 months, then the easy solution for managing the employers work entitlement expiry is to simply Modify the employee Start Date.

Say the employee/contractor starts work on January 1 and works for 4 months, leaves for 3 months then comes back to work for 2 month months, simply set the start data as:

• The Original Start Date + The Leave Of Absence Period = new Start Date

In the example above January 1 + 3 month leave of absence = April 1. So simply modify the Employee/Contractor start date to April 1st, which means a (April 1 + 6 months) October 1 expiry will be flagged in vSure.

To Edit the employee/contractor simply:

1. Go to the Employee/Contractor Tab

2. Locate the Employee/Contractor (you can use the search or filter functions)

3. Click on the employee

4. Select Edit

5. Change the Start Date and hit save