I'm currently in Australia on my first year WHV. I'll soon be completing my three months farm work in order to get my second year visa, however I don't want to use it straight away. I do though want to return to Oz for 3 weeks at some point after my first year visa runs out. Is it possible to do this without activating my second year visa? I don't want to waste my second year visa on a three week trip.
Oz Visa Question
Contact the Australian Government https://www.border.gov.au/about/contact/make-enquiry/general .. they will give you the response you can trust.
Steve
As far as I understand the process: The main thing to do is not to apply for your second year WHV. That's a separate application process (same as for your current WHV), and once it's been granted, as soon as you enter Australia (after the end of your current WHV), it'll start applying.
So, leave Australia before your first WHV ends. Then for your 3-week visit, assuming this is after the end of your first WHV, apply for an eVisitor. Then only once you've left Australia again, sometime in the months before you intend to actually use your second WHV, apply for it. (Like the first WHV, it should give you a year's time to travel to Australia and start its year's validity.)
Sander - thanks! The problem though is that I am currently on my first year visa and I am 30. I'm going to have to apply for the second year visa while I'm 30 (you can be 31 when you actually use it). I'm going to apply for it outside of Australia and I will then obviously have one year to use it...I'm going to wait almost the entire year before I do renter to use it, however I do want to reebter just for three weeks before then, but I don't want my second year visa to activate then and for it to be wasted on three months. They're supposed to be changing the visa age limit to 35 which would solve my problem as I wouldn't need to apply for it yet, however as yet they haven't done this which is annoying.
Ah, annoying! But then sadly, as far as I know, and unless you want to gamble on the age change to come into effect anytime soon (personally it wouldn't surprise me if that drags on for a few more years due to negotiations on trying to make it mutual), your options are to skip the 3 week visit, or to accept that your 2nd WHV will start at that point.