Before you start looking for work in Cairns there are a few things you need to get sorted to make it legal and possible.
You will need to get a working holiday visa BEFORE you get to Australia. Once you get here it is too late. Countries that are eligible include the citizens of the following countries:
Different rules apply to different countries, but in a nutshell you need to be between 18 and 31 years old, you are able to stay up to 12 months, you can work whilst you are here (max 6 months per employer) and you may study for up to 4 months. Once granted the visa you need to enter Australia within 12 months, but you can leave and return as many times as you like whilst the visa is valid. You may be able to get a second working holiday visa. For more information about working holiday visas go the the deparment of immigration website.
Once you have your visa you will need to get a tax file number from the Australian Taxation Department. Unlike the working holiday visa, you need to actually be in Australia before you can apply for it. Without a tax file number you will pay tax at 50% so it pays to get one if you are looking at working in Cairns. The easiest way to get one is to apply online, and then it will be sent to you by post. If you are coming to Cairns or already here, you may put down Cairns City Backpackers as your address, and pick it up when you arrive (our address is at the bootom of this page). To apply for the visa jump onto the Australian Taxation Office website
So, you are a backpacker, you have your working holiday visa, you have arrived in Cairns and applied for your tax file number and are starting to look for work. You should also open a bank account in Australia, as without it you probably will not be able to get paid (cash jobs are few and far between). To open a bank account in Oz, you will need to show your passport and also have an address to get it sent to. Please feel free to have it sent to Cairns City Backpackers-we keep mail for 2 weeks. The big 4 banks are the Commonwealth bank, Anz, National Australia bank and Westpac. It is a good idea to open an account at one of these as they have more ATM machines than other banks and you will be able to access your money easier. Make sure you get hooked up to internet banking so you can transfer money easily even if you are in remote areas of Australia. If you are staying at Cairns City Backpackers, all of the above banks except for the Commonwealth bank has a branch at Cairns Central Shopping Centre, only a 5 minute walk away from the hostel. The Commonwealth bank does have an ATM in the shopping centre though.
To have any hope of getting a job you will need a mobile phone with an aussie sim card and phone number. You will probably want to get a pre-paid phone, which means that you pay a certain amount in advance (ie $30), and you can then use your phone until the money runs out. When it runs out you will have to buy a recharge card (sold at Cairns City Backpackers, supermarkets and petrol stations) to put more credit back onto your phone before you can use it again. Many of the companies have deals going so that when you buy a $30 recharge card for example, you get $200 worth of credit and so on. You can get pre-paid phones quite cheap, for example $50 including $50 of call credit, meaning the phone will cost you practically nothing. The catch is that your phone will be with locked in with whichever company the phone credit is with for usually 1 year. The main 3 mobile phone companies in Australia are Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone and all three of them are in the Cairns Central Shopping Centre, just a short walk from Cairns City Backpackers. Australia Post also sells cheap pre-paid mobile phones and they are also at the shopping centre.
Once you have done the above you are ready to look for work. Well done! For great hints, links and information about looking for a job in Cairns please go to our "backpackers work guide for Cairns"
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