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On 17 September the Australian government announced that the second and third years will be allocated by ballot, with a cap on places, and that regional work remains a requirement. The first visa does not change, but the receipt of applications is still on hold for our seven nationalities.
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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.
On 17 September 2026 the office of the Minister for Home Affairs published the statement «Migration reform to end rorts and bring in the skills Australia needs for a strong economy». It is a package of measures to reduce net migration, and two of them directly affect those who have or want a Working Holiday:
The same statement includes other measures worth knowing about if you are planning to travel: a «No Further Stay» condition on all tourist visas, so they are not used as a bridge to stay by applying for another visa from inside the country; limits on accompanying family members on most student visas and a stop to chaining study visas; and processing priority in skilled migration for health, construction, education, agriculture, fishing and other sectors. We explain it measure by measure in this other article.
The caps are not in the written statement: Burke gave them in his speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, that same Thursday. According to the official transcript of the speech, published on the Minister for Home Affairs' website, the second visa will have a ceiling of 45,000 places per year and the third, 5,000. He also made clear that to enter those ballots you will have to have completed the regional work.
To put it in perspective with official data we used Home Affairs' BP0017 database, which publishes visas granted by subclass and by type (first, second and third). In 2025-26, closed on 30 June 2026, 79,588 second visas were granted (62,218 of subclass 417 and 17,370 of 462) and 48,347 third visas (36,671 and 11,676). From those we removed Britons, who since July 2024 have not needed regional work because of the UK free trade agreement (we assume they are not in the ballot either, but we have not confirmed it): that is 22,552 second and 16,813 third visas. That leaves 57,036 second and 31,534 third. The calculation that follows is ours, not Home Affairs': 45,000 places out of 57,036 is 78.9%, almost 8 out of 10; and 5,000 out of 31,534 is 15.9%, 1 in 6. The big cut is in the third visa, not the second. Two warnings: the database counts visas GRANTED, not applications received, so it is the best public reference but not the exact demand; and the caps are still those of a speech, not of a regulation.
The speech has an official transcript on the minister's website (link in the sources); the regulation has not been published yet: when it comes out, we will check each number and update this article.
As of 17 September, neither the statement nor the Home Affairs pages answer these questions:
As a reference, the only ballot Home Affairs already runs in this program is the one for the first 462 for China, India and Vietnam. It works like this: you register in ImmiAccount by paying a non-refundable AUD 25, selection is random with no criteria at all, those selected receive an email giving them 28 days to lodge the visa, and those not selected are not notified. We don't know whether the new ballot will copy that model: we mention it so you have an idea of how the department works today, not as a rule of the new system.
The most urgent point for most of our readers has not changed: receipt of applications for the first Work and Holiday (462) is still paused for the seven nationalities we cover. We confirmed it on Home Affairs' official quota page on 17 September 2026:
In total, 23 of the 29 countries are paused. Only San Marino and Türkiye are receiving applications, and China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam go by ballot. Home Affairs notes that a status change can take up to 48 hours to appear on its page, and that a pause can be lifted during the same program year. The site checks that page every day: see the status country by country.
We check the official quota page every day and follow Home Affairs' publications. As soon as the pause is lifted for your nationality, or the date and rules of the ballot are published, we will send you an email. Leave your email address below, or in the footer form to get all the news.
Verified on 17 September 2026. If any of this changes, we will update the article and let you know by email.
The news closest in time, each with its official source.
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