WeWorkHere.
Backpackers are part of Australia's workforce.
From farms and regional towns to hotels, restaurants, construction sites and tourism businesses, backpackers work across Australia.
WE WORK HERE is mapping that workforce — one voluntary registration at a time.
Live campaign count
…
Working Holiday Makers
On the map
Across Australia · self-reported
01 / Add your marker
Where do
you work?
Add one anonymous marker to reveal the workforce already holding communities together.
02 / The workforce
See where
we work.
Every marker is a backpacker telling us where they work. Together they show where this workforce is present across Australia. Zoom, pan and tap a marker for the industry breakdown.
Registrations are voluntary and self-reported. This is not an official census of Working Holiday Makers, and the total is not the number of backpackers working in Australia.
03 / Why we work here
More than travellers.
Part of Australia's workforce.
Backpackers are more than travellers. We work here. We live here. We spend money here. We become part of regional communities. We are part of Australia's workforce.
Working Holiday Makers often work in regional and remote Australia — on farms, in hospitality and tourism, on construction sites and in other industries shown on the map. Many complete months of specified work to become eligible for another Working Holiday visa. Regional businesses in these industries can rely heavily on temporary and international workers.
What applies today (Department of Home Affairs):
- A second visa requires 3 months (88 days) of specified work; a third visa requires 6 months, completed during the second visa.
- UK passport holders applying from 1 July 2024 don't need specified work for a second or third visa.
- Conditions differ by country of passport and visa subclass (417 or 462).
- Base application charge: A$840 for a first visa, A$1,000 for a second or third. Confirm your exact charge with Home Affairs before applying.
What has been announced — not yet in force (Minister for Home Affairs, 17 September 2026):
- Second- and third-year visas would be allocated through a ballot.
- Announced caps: 45,000 second-year and 5,000 third-year places.
- Completing regional work would make someone eligible to enter the ballot, not guarantee a further visa.
- No start date has been announced.
Our concern (the view of WE WORK HERE, not an established fact):
We're concerned about asking people to commit months to regional work when their ability to stay another year may become uncertain or depend on a ballot. This doesn't only matter to backpackers: changes to this workforce may also matter to the regional employers, communities and industries that rely on it.
Sources: Minister for Home Affairs, National Press Club address, 17 September 2026; Department of Home Affairs, specified work conditions; current visa pricing; 2026 visa application charge regulations.
Transparency note: the map shows voluntary, self-reported registrations. It is not verified workforce statistics or an estimate of future job losses.
04 / The backpacker economy
We don't just work here.
We spend here too.
Backpackers' contribution goes beyond filling jobs: they rent locally, shop locally, and travel and spend in regional towns.
Official Australian statistics — not WE WORK HERE data
321,116
Working Holiday Maker visas granted in 2024–25.
Source: Department of Home Affairs, Temporary visas granted, 2024–25.
Our data
How the
map works.
- Registration is voluntary and self-reported.
- WE WORK HERE is not an official census.
- Registration numbers don't represent the whole Working Holiday Maker population.
- The project visualises where this workforce exists.
- No name, email or employer. Individual details are never shown publicly — the map only shows grouped totals.
Backpackers are part of Australia's workforce
We
Work
Here.
Add your workplace to the map
Scan to add your workplace to the map.
Anonymous.
Visible.
Together.
04 / Take it offline
Put your
workplace on
the map.
Print it. Pin it up. Help the people you work beside find the map.
05 / Press & contact
Help tell
the story.
WE WORK HERE is an independent grassroots project mapping where backpackers and Working Holiday Makers work across Australia and highlighting their contribution to regional communities and the Australian economy.
The project also highlights concerns about announced changes to the Working Holiday Maker program, including the proposed ballot for second- and third-year visas, and what they could mean for backpackers and the regional businesses that employ them.
We welcome enquiries from journalists, media organisations, researchers and community groups who want to understand and share the story.
Press enquiries
backpackerworkforceaustralia@gmail.com
General contact
backpackerworkforceaustralia@gmail.com
Download media kit
- — Initiative description
- — Logo
- — Approved photographs
- — Methodology
- — Selected aggregate statistics
Coming soon