Quotas that open or pause, fees that change, requirements and procedures that move. Every news item comes from the country's official source and carries the link so you can confirm it yourself.
We review the data for all 19 programs every week, and the status of Australia's quotas every day. Latest news: 11 October 2026.
🟢 Se abre
Australia reopens Work and Holiday 462 applications for Papua New Guinea
Applies to: Papua New Guinea.
Australia has reopened applications for the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) for Papua New Guinea, which had been paused until now. The annual quota for Papua New Guinea is 100 places.
Don't put it off: Australia pauses intake again when the quota gets close to the limit, and it does so without warning. If you already had your documents ready, now is the time to apply.
With the 417 or 462 you can no longer apply for the student visa from inside Australia: you have to leave the country
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Spain and Colombia.
Today, 2 October 2026, we read the official Home Affairs pages on the changes to the Student visa (subclass 500) and the Student Guardian (subclass 590). Everything that follows is quoted word for word, with the link to each at the bottom. Quote: «From 2 October 2026, there are new rules for Student visa (subclass 500) and Student Guardian (subclass 590) visas. The rules change who can apply for and be granted a visa while in Australia, and whether family members can be included.»
The paragraph that changes someone's plan is this one: «Under the new rules, most temporary visa holders need to be outside Australia when they lodge a Student or Student Guardian visa application. Those affected temporary visa holders also need to be outside Australia when the visa is granted.»
Before going on, what did NOT change, because the source says that too: «Australia continues to welcome international students. You can still apply for a Student visa if you meet the visa requirements.» The visa is still open, with no quota per country. What changed is where you apply from.
Australia has reopened the 462 for Argentina, Ecuador and Peru: you can apply today
Applies to: Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Uruguay, Spain and Brazil.
We read Home Affairs' official quota table on 1 October at 22:16, Argentina time. Six countries went from “paused” to “open” in the same batch, and three of them are nationalities we follow closely: Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.
There was no announcement, as usual: the only thing that changes is one word in a table. That's why we check it every fifteen minutes.
Fourth day in a row: Australia reopened the 462 for Greece, Luxembourg and Slovenia
Applies to: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Spain and Uruguay.
At 11:02 on the morning of Thursday 1 October, Eastern Australia time, the Home Affairs quota table changed again: Greece, Luxembourg and Slovenia went from “paused” to “open”. With them, the citizenships with an open quota reach sixteen. On Monday it was nine.
It is the fourth working day in a row with a batch of reopenings, and there was no statement on any of the four. The only thing that changes is one cell in a table.
Australia reopens Work and Holiday 462 applications for Malaysia
Applies to: Malaysia.
Australia has reopened applications for the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) for Malaysia, which had been paused until now. The annual quota for Malaysia is 1,100 places.
Don't put it off: Australia pauses intake again when the quota gets close to the limit, and it does so without warning. If you already had your documents ready, now is the time to apply.
Australia reopens Work and Holiday 462 applications for Singapore
Applies to: Singapore.
Australia has reopened applications for the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) for Singapore, which had been paused until now. The annual quota for Singapore is 2,500 places.
Don't put it off: Australia pauses intake again when the quota gets close to the limit, and it does so without warning. If you already had your documents ready, now is the time to apply.
Australia reopens Work and Holiday 462 applications for Thailand
Applies to: Thailand.
Australia has reopened applications for the Work and Holiday (subclass 462) for Thailand, which had been paused until now. The annual quota for Thailand is 2,000 places.
Don't put it off: Australia pauses intake again when the quota gets close to the limit, and it does so without warning. If you already had your documents ready, now is the time to apply.
Australia reopened the 462 for Chile, and Spain and Uruguay remain open
Applies to: Chile, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador.
The official quota table for the Work and Holiday 462 changed today at 14:29 Australia time. Chile went from “paused” to “open”, and so did Portugal, Hungary and Switzerland. There was no statement or advance date: one cell in a table changed.
If you are Chilean and have been trying for months, the news is concrete: the application can now be started. For the rest of the region the news is different, and also useful: Chile was paused for a long time and reopened without warning. A pause is not the end of the year.
New Zealand opens 940 places for Chileans: the website says 15 October, but in Chile you need to be there on the 14th at 18:00
Applies to: Chile.
Update of 19 October 2026: the 2026 Chilean quota has now been filled. The official Immigration New Zealand page now says “This visa is closed for 2026. You can apply next year”, and the 2027 date has not been published yet (the 2026 calendar was announced on 15 January 2026).
The official Immigration New Zealand text is literal: «This visa will open at 10:00 15 October 2026 (NZDT)». New Zealand is at that moment 16 hours ahead of Chile, so that 10 in the morning on the 15th there is 18:00 on Wednesday the 14th here. If you put the 15th in your calendar, you arrive a day late, and with 940 places on a first-come basis that is enough to miss out.
The time is the same for Argentina and Uruguay, which are on UTC-3 all year: 18:00 on Wednesday the 14th. In Brazil it depends on the state, because it has several time zones: 18:00 in Brasília, São Paulo and Rio, 17:00 in Manaus and Cuiabá, and 16:00 in Rio Branco.
Chile's annual quota is 940 visas. Immigration New Zealand publishes that applications stay open until the places are filled and that, once filled, the scheme closes until 2027. The visa costs from NZD 770, an expense separate from the NZD 4,200 in funds you have to show.
Ireland opens the second Working Holiday round for Chile on 30 September: 100 places and one hour to apply for them
Applies to: Chile.
The date was confirmed by the embassy itself on its official Instagram account, @irlembchile: "On 30 September, from 9:00 to 10:00 (Chile), a new round of the Working Holiday Ireland programme opens". It does not appear on its website because the dates of each round are announced through that channel.
Ireland has a Working Holiday agreement with Chile that allows 200 young Chileans per year to spend up to twelve months in the country, working to supplement their stay. The 200 places are split into two rounds of 100, one in each half of the year.
The mechanism is not a form or a website: it is an e-mail, and it only counts if it arrives within a one-hour window.
Australia reopened the 462 for Spain and Uruguay: for the first time, the news affects us
Applies to: Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Brazil.
At 14:03 Argentina time, Czechia, Israel and Poland reopened. Nine hours later, at 23:01, Spain, Uruguay, Slovakia and Austria reopened. Seven countries in a single day, in two batches, and without a single announcement: the only thing that changes is the status in a table.
This time the news does affect us. Spain and Uruguay are two of the nationalities we follow, and anyone holding either of those two passports can apply today.
Australia reopened the 462 quota for three countries, and that says something about ours
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Spain.
Last night all three were listed as paused. This morning they are listed as open. There was no announcement, no notice and no advance date: a cell in a table changed.
For readers of this site, the news is not that it opened —it did not open for any of our seven nationalities— but how it opened. That is the part worth understanding before it's your turn.
ImmiAccount goes down three times between 29 September and 6 October
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Spain.
The Department announced that ImmiAccount will be unavailable during three time slots. They are published in Australian time, which is 13 or 14 hours ahead, so in Latin America all three fall on the previous day. They are converted below.
If you have an application in progress, during those hours you won't be able to log in to view it or upload documents.
Australia warns the Working Holiday will take about three months, and not to buy your ticket until you have it
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Spain and Colombia.
On 23 September 2026, the Department of Home Affairs updated the "Latest news" section of the Working Holiday Maker programme. Everything that follows is verbatim quotes from official pages. Where the source does not say something, we say so in those words.
Clocks change in Australia and New Zealand: what the time difference with your country becomes
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Spain.
If you are waiting for an appointment, an interview or a quota opening, this affects you: between the end of September and the start of October the clocks move on both sides of the Pacific, and the time difference with your country changes without anyone telling you.
The key point in one line: after the change, 9 in the morning in Sydney is 7 in the evening of the PREVIOUS DAY in Argentina. That is exactly the mistake that makes people lose appointments: looking at the date over there and writing it down over here.
Australia will hold a ballot for the second and third Working Holiday: what is confirmed, what is missing and what remains paused
Applies to: Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Spain.
Until now, anyone who completed the regional work was guaranteed the right to apply for the next visa: there was no cap for the second or the third. With the announcement by the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, that is no longer automatic. Doing the days will still be mandatory, but it is no longer enough: it makes you eligible to enter a ballot.
In the speech he gave that same day in Canberra, the minister put forward the numbers: up to 45,000 places per year for the second visa and up to 5,000 for the third. There is still no start date and no published regulation. As of 17 September, the first Work and Holiday (462) was still paused for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Spain; the current status is in the traffic-light tracker in the Australia guide.
Australia tightens its visas: what changes for tourists, students, trades and people left without papers
On 17 September 2026 the Australian government presented the next stage of its migration policy. The stated goal is to bring net migration down to 245,000 people this financial year and to 225,000 in 2027-28. According to the same statement, in the latest figure from the statistics office it had already fallen to 292,000, 47% below the post-Covid peak.
Here we go through the measures that change something for people travelling from Latin America or Spain: tourists, students, people with a trade and anyone whose visa has expired. We cover the Working Holiday separately, in the article about the draw.
Denmark opens the second round of this year's quota for Argentines and Chileans
Applies to: Argentina and Chile.
The Danish quota is not released all at once: there are 150 permits per year, split into two rounds. From March to August SIRI (the Danish immigration service) can grant up to 75. From 1 September until February it can keep granting until it reaches the annual total of 150.
The difference matters more than it seems: the second round is not a new quota of 75, but works against the total of 150. If fewer than 75 were used from March to August, the ones left over are not lost — they can be granted now.
Permits are granted on a first-come, first-served basis, so the only thing that sets your place in the queue is the date you apply. The fee is DKK 3,060 and you must be at least 18 and not yet 31 on the day you submit the application.
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