For an Irish passport holder, specified work is one part of the second-417 test, not a guarantee of the visa. The route also checks the Ireland age range, one previous 417 that the applicant entered on, compliance with that visa, and the remaining second-visa criteria. Home Affairs requires at least three months of specified subclass 417 work and defines that minimum as 88 calendar days, including weekends or equivalent rest days during employment (Department of Home Affairs, checked 2026-07-09).
The phrase “88 days” does not mean any 88 shifts. You must complete the same number of normal workdays or shifts that a full-time employee in that role and industry would normally complete over three months. Home Affairs allows full-time work, part-time work over a longer period, and multiple qualifying periods or employers, but the requirement cannot be compressed into less than three calendar months.
Approved work and area pairings
Specified work is a two-part test: the work and the area must match a pairing published by Home Affairs. The current page lists nine pairings, and several carry work-date or application-date conditions (Department of Home Affairs, checked 2026-07-09):
- Tourism and hospitality in Northern Australia, Remote and Very Remote Australia, and postcodes 4406, 4416, 4498, and 7215, subject to the dates on the Home Affairs page.
- Plant and animal cultivation in regional Australia.
- Fishing and pearling in regional Australia.
- Tree farming and felling in regional Australia.
- Mining in regional Australia.
- Construction in regional Australia.
- Bushfire recovery in declared bushfire-affected areas for work carried out after 31 July 2019.
- Flood, cyclone, or other severe-weather recovery in declared areas for work carried out after 31 December 2021, subject to application-date rules.
- Critical COVID-19 healthcare or medical work anywhere in Australia after 31 January 2020, subject to the historical visa rules.
Home Affairs currently says it is applying flexibility by giving greater weight to the specified-work industry. Work supporting the ongoing operation of a specified industry, such as administration or cleaning, may be accepted in an eligible postcode. This is not a general exemption: check the current work and area tables before relying on a support role.
Match each category to its area rule
There is no single postcode table for every category. The regional-Australia table applies to cultivation, fishing and pearling, tree farming and felling, mining, and construction. Tourism and hospitality uses Northern Australia, Remote and Very Remote Australia, and four named postcodes. Bushfire and other disaster recovery use separate declared-area lists. Historical critical COVID-19 work used an anywhere-in-Australia rule with its own dates.
For categories that use the regional-Australia table, check the postcode where the work is physically carried out. Do not apply that table to tourism, disaster recovery, or a historical category without checking its separate area and date rules. Home Affairs maintains the live lists; use them before accepting a job rather than relying on an old screenshot or a broad claim that a town is “regional.”
Evidence to keep from day one
Home Affairs says the evidence must cover every period of specified work claimed. Its examples include:
- Payslips.
- Australian bank statements covering the declared specified-work period.
- A piece-rate agreement if the worker was paid by piece rate.
- Group certificates or payment summaries.
- Tax returns.
- Employer references.
- A written and signed agreement covering any lawful deductions from pay.
Home Affairs may contact employers to check work claims. Eligible volunteer bushfire or flood-recovery work uses separate signed-letter evidence from the volunteer coordinator or host, including the volunteer's details, duties, location, and days of assistance. Keep records as the work happens, but do not treat one filing format or document type as universally mandatory unless Home Affairs says so.
Paid leave, part-time work, and weather
Paid Australian public holidays, paid sick days, and equivalent paid workers-compensation leave can count toward the period. Unpaid public holidays or leave cannot. Unpaid days not worked because of severe or seasonal weather also cannot be included. Check the award and employment conditions that apply to the job.
Part-time work can qualify, but it takes longer than three calendar months to reach the required full-time equivalent. Multiple short periods and employers can be combined. Work cannot be compressed into less than three calendar months, even if the applicant works unusually long shifts or seven days a week.
When the work must be completed
As a rule, an applicant for a second 417 completes all specified work while the first Working Holiday visa is in effect. Home Affairs publishes limited additional circumstances for certain bridging-visa periods and former subclass 408 COVID-19 Pandemic event visa holders. Those exceptions are narrow; work on another visa does not automatically count.
- For the usual second-417 route, complete the work while the first 417 is in effect.
- Do not assume work on a student visa or another unrelated visa counts.
- Check the exact bridging-visa rule before relying on work performed while an application was being processed.
- Former subclass 408 COVID-event cases must meet the specific transition and critical-health-work conditions published by Home Affairs.
Third-year considerations
A third 417 normally requires at least 6 months of specified work completed while the second 417 is in effect. Home Affairs defines that minimum as 179 calendar days, subject to the same full-time-equivalent counting method. The work still needs the correct category, area, dates, lawful-pay treatment, and evidence; do not carry a first-year work period into the third-year calculation.
Worker rights and the Fair Work Ombudsman
The Fair Work Ombudsman protects 417 workers under the same Fair Work Act 2009 minimum wage and conditions as Australian citizens. Past Department of Home Affairs and FWO inquiries found that 35 per cent of surveyed 417 holders were paid less than the minimum wage and 6 per cent had been asked to pay an employer to sign off on regional work, all of which constitute serious breaches (Fair Work Ombudsman, accessed 2026-05-27). The relevant FWO line is 13 13 94 and complaints can be lodged anonymously and confidentially without affecting visa status.
