At a glance
- No Working Holiday visa approvals for au pair applicants since 1 July, IAPA member agencies report — a pattern confirmed across most countries.
- The Government has paused the capped subclass 462 stream for 23 of its 29 partner countries, but agencies also report delays in the separate, uncapped subclass 417 stream, which has no official pause notice.
- No proper information or notice was given by the Department of Home Affairs
- Au pairs risk missing return dates tied to study or work back home;
- Host families are left without childcare and no timeframe for their au pair’s arrival.
Hundreds of young people preparing to take up au pair placements or other working holiday positions in Australia are stuck in limbo, unable to travel because of continuing delays to Working Holiday visa processing. The Australian families waiting to host them are just as much in the dark.
Since 1 July, agencies in Australia and their international partner organisations have received a growing number of reports from young people who expected to have already arrived and begun their placements. Instead, many are still waiting on a visa decision, with no indication of when processing will return to normal.
Also IAPA has heard the same from member agencies in several other countries, confirming that none of their applicants have had a visa issued since 1 July which proves the delays reach well beyond any specific source country, and are not limited to the countries under a formal government cap.
The stakes are real on both sides. Au pairs typically arrange placements months ahead, booking flights and setting return dates around study or work commitments once the program ends, leaving little room to absorb an open-ended delay. Host families, meanwhile, have no alternative childcare and no timeframe for their au pair’s arrival.
Many host families rely on the support of an au pair and are now being forced to take leave from work or find alternative arrangements. Au pairs risk to not being able to join the family they have planned to spend the next months with. which again means losing a lot of money on visa costs police records and possibly even having to cancel their planned travels.
The timing couldn’t be worse. European summer is peak season for young people finishing their studies and heading to Australia on a Working Holiday visa, so an unusually large group is affected at once.
The Department of Home Affairs says 50 per cent of applications are processed within 24 hours, and 90 per cent within 25 days. But agencies in Australia and abroad say actual wait times are running far longer than that.
The disruption sits within a broader slowdown across the Working Holiday Maker program, which is issued in two streams. Subclass 462, the capped “Work and Holiday” stream, sets a yearly quota per partner country; as of 19 August, the Department has paused it for 23 of the stream’s 29 partner countries, with only San Marino and Türkiye remaining fully open and China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam under a ballot system. Subclass 417, the “Working Holiday” stream used by countries with a reciprocal agreement, has no country quotas and no published pause notice — yet agencies report the same lack of approvals there too, suggesting the slowdown reaches further than the Department has publicly acknowledged.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said visas were simply “being processed more slowly than they were previously,” without further explanation — a pace immigration commentators have called unusually abrupt, warning that slow processing typically creates more problems than it solves.
IAPA’s concerns are shared by BYTAP, the peak body for Australia’s backpacker and youth tourism industry, and by CAPAA (Cultural Au Pair Association Australia, Australia’s own au pair industry association and an IAPA member, both of which are pressing the Government for answers on behalf of the groups they represent.
“Those who had applied under the 417 or 462 visa after July 1, anyone who’s contacted Immigration to try and get an update on their visa have just been told that they need to wait,” said Wendi Aylward, spokesperson for BYTAP.
Associations, agencies, au pairs and host families alike are calling on the Australian Government to look clarify the situation, keep affected applicants properly informed, and get processing back on track.
IAPA is monitoring the situation closely and will share updates as further information becomes available from the Department of Home Affairs.
Sources: AIFS press release; CAPAA news blog; BYTAP; IAPA member agencies; Department of Home Affairs, Status of Country Caps (immi.homeaffairs.gov.au, accessed 19 August 2026); ABC News, “Australia working holiday maker visa program pause,” 18 August 2026.