Australia’s new visa rules will force backpackers to join a lottery to stay longer

French backpacker Zoe has been waiting tables for months.

By doing so, she’s trying to earn the right to stay in Australia for a third year, which she hoped would give her the ability to relax and see more of the country.

But under a rule change announced by the government on September 17, even working the 88 days per year required for a new working holiday visa won’t be enough.

For the chance to secure a third year, she’d have to pay hundreds of dollars to enter the ballot to possibly win one of just 5,000 visas – down from the 31,000 previously granted.

“Everyone is stressing out,” said Zoe, 25, who asked that CNN use her first name only. “Everyone’s talking about that. The mood is low.”

It’s not just backpackers who are concerned about a premature end to their Australian adventure. Tourism operators and the farming industry are in uproar over the loss of visitors – and vital workers – in regional areas that don’t necessarily have the same appeal to tourists as some of Australia’s major cities.

Farmers rely on them to pick fruit and mend fences, the kind of work that requires minimal training but is vital to the operation of businesses in areas where few people live.

The government says it’s about adjusting the intake to favor skilled migrants like construction workers; doctors and nurses; experts in agriculture and resources; and law enforcement officers, who are seen to bring more value to the country’s economy.

But others say the outcome could be a steep drop in regional workers as first-year backpackers decide that attempting to stay longer isn’t worth it.

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Travel industry insiders say the upheaval didn’t start with Thursday’s announcement, but two years ago, when the rules changed under an Australia-UK free trade agreement.

The deal allowed British backpackers to stay for two or three years without having to do 88 days of regional work. It also raised the age limit from 30 to 35.

Since then, the number of British young people on working holiday visas has more than doubled to close to 80,000 from a previous peak of 35,000, according to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.

On Thursday, he described the surge as a “challenge” that his colleagues would be discussing with their UK counterparts in a “constructive way.”

In the meantime , the government has adopted a “go-slow” strategy on visa approvals – one that came in July without warning, said Matthew Heyes, founder of the Backpacker Job Board.

“The home affairs website wasn’t updated,” he said. “It still said that visas typically get processed in two to three days.” Instead, it took weeks, then months.

“We’re seeing backpackers that applied for their visa in July onwards, not having their visas processed still today,” he said.

CNN has reached out to the Department of Home Affairs for clarity on how the changes may affect backpackers already in the country.

Burke said on Thursday that processing times would return to normal, but Heyes said that doesn’t help the backpackers who have held off booking flights and tours, and the employers who were waiting, ready to hire them, for the harvest season.

The government says they have the option to hire laborers under the Pacific Labour Mobility program, a scheme designed to allow Pacific islanders to support families back home.

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The government’s been under pressure from rival parties over immigration levels which surged after Australia lifted its pandemic restrictions and opened the doors to new arrivals.

Since then, higher interest rates, a housing shortage, and cost-of-living crisis have contributed to discontent over migration levels – and calls by some for a permanent cut.

It’s been an issue championed by the right-wing One Nation party led by Pauline Hanson, who has long held an anti-immigration stance and whose popularity is rising in public opinion polls.

The changes announced Thursday will see international students barred from bringing family members, and tougher policing of people who’ve overstayed their visas.

By cutting the number of working holiday visas, critics say, the government risks causing more economic pain. As well as slashing the number of third-year visas to 5,000, the number of second-year visas is being cut from 57,000 to 45,000. The total drop over the two years is 38,000 visa places.

The Mahony Group runs three pubs and five backpacker hostels around Australia, from Melbourne in the state of Victoria to Cairns in the far north.

General manager Max Gibson said his forward bookings were already tracking 25% lower for the rest of the year, and the new visa rules will make it worse.

“A lot of our members have said the same – that the last two months have been the worst they’ve experienced since Covid,” said Gibson, who’s also vice president of Youth Tourism Victoria, an industry body that advocates for young travelers.

It’s unclear what the new rule change means for backpackers already in the country – some of whom have already been working towards the required 88 days.

Laura, 28, from northern France, says she’s worked for three months as a commercial cleaner so far this year with hopes to stay for a third year, then hopefully find a permanent sponsor.

“We are doing what Australians don’t want to do,” she said, asking CNN to use one name for privacy. “Not all the Australians want to go to the bush and work in the middle of nowhere. We do it because we want to stay.”

“It’s not easy to be backpacker,” said Laura. “It’s not like simple life… we don’t have a really home… our life is just in a backpack.”

Zoe said she was working hard with the promise that it would pay off later.

“I knew that it was worth it because I would like to get my third year without any problem and be able to enjoy it. But now I’m not even sure about that anymore,” she said.

“That’s a bit stressful, and I’m asking, what am I doing all that for?”

法国背包客佐伊已经当了几个月的餐厅服务员了。

她这样做是为了争取在澳大利亚停留第三年的权利，她希望这能让她放松身心，更多地游览这个国家。

但根据政府9月17日宣布的一项规则变更，即使每年工作88天，达到新的打工度假签证的要求，也是不够的。

为了获得第三年的签证，她需要支付数百美元参加抽签，有可能赢得仅有的 5000 个签证名额之一——而此前已发放了 31000 个签证。

“大家都压力很大，”25岁的佐伊说道，她要求CNN只使用她的名字。“每个人都在谈论这件事。气氛很低落。”

不仅仅是背包客担心他们的澳大利亚之旅会过早结束。旅游业者和农业从业者也对游客——以及重要的劳动力——的流失感到愤怒，因为这些地区对游客的吸引力未必能与澳大利亚的一些主要城市相媲美。

农民们依靠他们采摘水果和修补篱笆，这类工作只需要很少的培训，但对于人烟稀少地区的商业运作至关重要。

政府表示，此举旨在调整移民配额，优先引进技术移民，例如建筑工人、医生和护士、农业和资源专家以及执法人员，因为这些人员被认为能为国家经济带来更多价值。

但也有人认为，随着第一年背包旅行的人觉得试图长期停留并不值得，这可能会导致当地工人数量急剧下降。

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旅游业内部人士表示，这场动荡并非始于周四的公告，而是始于两年前，当时澳大利亚和英国根据自由贸易协定改变了规则。

该协议允许英国背包客在无需完成88天当地工作的情况下停留两到三年，并将年龄上限从30岁提高到35岁。

据内政部长托尼·伯克称，自那以后，持打工度假签证的英国年轻人数量增加了一倍多，从之前的峰值 35,000 人增加到接近 80,000 人。

周四，他将疫情激增描述为一个“挑战”，他的同事们将以“建设性的方式”与英国同行讨论这一挑战。

与此同时，背包客求职网站 Backpacker Job Board 的创始人马修·海耶斯表示，政府在签证审批方面采取了“放慢速度”的策略——这一策略在 7 月份毫无预警地出台了。

他说：“内政部网站没有更新，上面仍然显示签证通常两到三天就能办好。” 但实际上，却花了数周，甚至数月。

他说：“我们看到一些从7月份开始申请签证的背包客，直到今天他们的签证还没有得到处理。”

CNN已联系内政部，以了解这些变化可能会对已在该国的背包客产生哪些影响。

伯克周四表示，处理时间将恢复正常，但海耶斯表示，这对那些一直没有预订机票和旅行团的背包客，以及那些等待着在收获季节雇用他们的雇主来说，都无济于事。

政府表示，他们可以选择根据太平洋劳工流动计划雇用劳工，该计划旨在让太平洋岛民能够养家糊口。

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澳大利亚解除疫情限制措施并向新移民敞开大门后，移民数量激增，政府因此受到反对党的压力。

此后，利率上升、住房短缺和生活成本危机加剧了人们对移民水平的不满，一些人甚至呼吁永久削减移民数量。

这个问题一直受到由宝琳·汉森领导的右翼政党“一国党”的大力倡导，该党长期以来持反移民立场，并且在民意调查中支持率不断上升。

周四宣布的这些变化将禁止国际学生携带家属，并加强对签证逾期滞留者的监管。

批评人士指出，政府削减打工度假签证数量，可能会造成更大的经济损失。除了将第三年签证数量削减至5000个外，第二年签证数量也从57000个减少到45000个。两年内签证名额总共减少了38000个。

Mahony 集团在澳大利亚各地经营着三家酒吧和五家背包客旅馆，从维多利亚州的墨尔本到遥远的北部凯恩斯。

总经理马克斯·吉布森表示，今年剩余时间的预订量已经比上年同期下降了 25%，新的签证规定会让情况变得更糟。

“我们很多会员都表达了同样的看法——过去两个月是他们自新冠疫情以来经历的最糟糕的时期，”吉布森说道。他同时也是维多利亚州青年旅游协会的副主席，该协会是一个倡导年轻旅行者权益的行业机构。

目前尚不清楚新规对已经在该国的背包客意味着什么——其中一些人已经努力达到规定的 88 天停留时间。

来自法国北部的 28 岁劳拉表示，今年到目前为止，她已经做了三个月的商业清洁工，希望能够再干一年，然后希望能找到一个长期雇主。

“我们做的是澳大利亚人不想做的事，”她说道，并要求CNN出于隐私考虑只使用一个名字。“并非所有澳大利亚人都想去偏远地区工作。我们这样做是因为我们想留下来。”

“当背包客并不容易，”劳拉说。“生活并不简单……我们没有真正的家……我们的生活就装在一个背包里。”

佐伊说她正在努力工作，因为她相信以后会有回报。

“我知道这样做是值得的，因为我想顺利完成大三学业，好好享受大学生活。但现在我连这点都不确定了，”她说。

“这有点让人压力山大，我在想，我做这一切到底是为了什么？”