Working holiday visas over 30

If you, like me, have said ‘sayonara’ to your 20s, you’ve probably noticed that all the best working holiday visas are for 18-30 year olds. But why should age be a barrier? I’ve got all the best alternatives, so you can still experience a working holiday visa over 30!

A working holiday is the perfect style of relaxed travel, where you stay long term and fund your trip through short term jobs. They’re all geared towards young people, ex students who can pick up a short term gig in a bar or as a waitress and then hit the road. Shame.

The internet is absolutely brimming with posts from people who’ve looked at the odd Wikipedia page and written a blurb about where you can go, but how about those who have really done it, lived it and got the T-shirt? That’s what I’ll be serving up!

If you’re feeling an Aussie adventure, don’t miss my dedicated post on the types of Australian visas for over 30s.

And if you’re a Brit looking for work abroad programmes, I also have you covered.

For everyone else, let’s dig in!

Visas for over 30s

Are you skimming Google thinking ‘How can I work and travel abroad over the age of 30‘?

Even if you can’t get a working holiday visa right now, there are definitely ways to get your long term travel fix and see the world.

Few seem to know about it, but the age limit for an Australian working holiday visa up to the age of 35 if you’re from Canada, and a selection of European countries (not including the UK, but including Ireland). Our politicians really need to get working on that!

Are you American? BUNAC offers a programme for those up to 35 to live and work in New Zealand, too!

Browse and apply for Australia or New Zealand.

Work exchange

If you’re anything like me, you don’t work abroad to become overly wealthy, you’re just looking to make enough dough to afford your travel addiction.

Working in exchange for accommodation and food is the perfect solution. Check the rules of the country you’re interested in, but this type of arrangement often fits within a tourist visa – one of the easiest ones to get.

A typical setup would be about five hours’ work per day, with plenty of free time too. Most roles are either out of doors on a farm, working with animals, or working with children. But there are unique options too!

So, what is it really like on a work exchange over 30?

I’ve had several great work exchange experiences. In Australia, I wrote web content for an entrepreneur in the suburbs. In Iceland, I was a nanny for a young boy in an isolated town. And, I’ve done a few more childcare roles too.

I really enjoyed it and found I was able to save a little money, eat very well and get to know the locals.

For accommodation, be clear on what living situation will make you happy (with the host or without? with pets? smoking or non smoking?) and don’t compromise.

Don’t take money from your host (it would complicate your visa situation) but do agree a fair number of working hours and Skype your host in advance to make sure you’re a good fit. Ask about perks, such as using a car or bike or possible travel opportunities with your host.

Read more about my work exchange experience.

Browse work exchange oppotunities at HelpX.net, Workaway.info and Helpstay.com.

Teaching abroad

There’s huge interest in teaching English online, and it’s a career that comes with a visa (at any age) and plenty of travel.

Downside, in some (not all!) countries you will need to be a native English speaker or have a bachelor’s degree. Conditions, benefits and salary also vary wildly by location – as you’d imagine. The best place to network with other teachers and get them to spill the tea is Dave’s ESL Cafe.

This isn’t the only type of teaching you can do, however, with positions also open to those who work with special needs and to work as a cultural ambassador, for example in Japan’s JET programme.

So what is it really like teaching abroad?

I taught English in rural Peru at the start of my travel career, and it was such an eye opener! I was hired directly by an international college, so there were no fees to pay except my own air fare and insurance.

The salary was excellent for where I was living, but not enough to save for back home. Still, this isn’t the case in many other types of teaching jobs.

A homestay with a local family with the perfect way to relax and fit into the culture, while also brushing up a few language skills.

Holidays were generous and so it was always easy to hop to other countries or see more of Peru.

WWOOFing

If you’re a committed outdoorsy type, a network of roles of organic farms could be your ticket to long term travel abroad at any age. WWOOFing stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms.

So what is it really like in a WWOOFING role at any age?

Mael and Simona explain their experience as willing workers in Denmark and Iceland:

The great thing about the programme is that you can search in advance online for a position that interests you. I tried several places before finding mine, but I think it took me no more than one week on Workaway.info.

For my role in Denmark I had a bedroom and I was working 4 or 5 hours a day, taking care of horses, cleaning the stables, cutting trees and getting wood for the fireplace, taking care of the garden and some construction work. I really enjoyed working outside and not having to work too much.

In exchange I was allowed to use the family car to travel around and I was quite included in family life. I stayed there for 3 or 4 months.

For Iceland, Simona had a direct contact so we went to work in a scout camp/ camping for one month. We were working 8 hours a day, either cleaning, working in the kitchen or helping with activities (archery, climbing, kayaking, hiking). It was with a small team of volunteers and we were in a shared bedroom with 4 others. I liked the dynamic and friendly atmosphere.

In exchange for our work, we had 10 days holiday and were given a tent, camping gear and food.

I would say that you should be careful choosing your position as you don’t want to be seen as free labour. Keep in mind that your work and time is valuable, but remember as well that the work you will be doing is actually part of the experience you should be keen to discover another culture!

Pet / house sitting

People across the world have homes that need not sit empty and pets that need a spot of looking after while they’re away. This for you means living rent free!

It’s true that this type of work relies heavily on reputation, so you need to put in the time of getting verified, getting a degree of trust on the platform and connecting with potential hosts.

A great places to start your journey is trustedhousesitters.com

Working in a hostel

If getting in with the backpacker community, and extending your funds to keep travelling sounds good – this could be the way forward. Of course, it’s not the kind of job that would usually get you a visa, but if you already have visa rights (for example, you’re going from one EU country to another) and want a flexible work and travel arrangement, this is perfect.

Yvonne explains all about her time as a hostel worker at the Dreamtime Travellers Rest hostel in Cairns, Australia:

I got the job by searching on Gumtree (a free marketplace in Australia) and then sent a short CV with my skills. I needed a place to stay, so I booked in as a guest first, to check out the place. A few days later I had an interview and the next day a working trial, which obviously went well

I traded a few working hours per week for accommodation, to save money. In my case it was 2 hours of work per day, five days per week. There were two staff sleeping quarters with space for two backpackers each.

A few weeks later I upgraded to a paid job as head housekeeper with a few more hours and different duties. The staff quarters for housekeeping were much bigger. You could volunteer at the weekly BBQ for a free meal, too.

Most of the work was cleaning the bathroom, dorms and kitchen. You vacuum or mop. You split the duties with two other backpackers.

I had a few late shifts at the reception and early drop offs for the guests too, taking them to the harbour for boat trips.

When the hostel was booked out it was a tough job. But there was no need to pay for a gym membership! Still I had a great time and we became a really good dream team.

Tips for others would be:

1. Don’t be picky, you have to deal with dirty bathrooms and dorms.
2. Check out how many hours you have to work for your accommodation and what kind of duties you have to do up front.
3. Ask the backpackers who are working there when they are leaving so you know if a position will be available soon.
4. Usually owners want you to stay for a longer period of time (mostly 2 or 3 months).
5. Search for a second job to gain some extra (travel) money.

Couchsurfing

Think of this not as a free bed for the night, but as a global network of travellers all giving and receiving accommodation with friendship and local support. Yep, it’s pretty cool. And there’s no reason you can’t surf your way through plenty of fabulous destinations.

Establish your profile on the platform and start building yourself a great reputation – put up photos and a link to your website so that people can see who you really are. No one wants a stranger in their home!

Generally, reviews on the site are pretty essential as proof that you’re not, say, a murderer. You’ll get a chance to review anyone you stay with and they’ll review you too. Before that happens, you can go along to free Couchsurfing local hang outs, have a coffee with the other couchsurfers and pick up a few reviews that way.

When you’re ready, you can pen a quick individual request to each of the locals in the area you’re going to and ask if they have a spot for you on a particular date.

Get started on your journey at Couchsurfing.com.

Cruise ship work

The enormous size of cruise ships makes them work hubs and there are so many jobs on board! You might be the ship’s doctor, hair dresser, chef, massage therapist – the list is kinda endless.

And if you don’t have any of those specific skills, there are so many other roles for waiters, hospitality staff, boat crews and outdoor guides or instructors.

And the perks? A life of travel – with regular stops at different ports. You can work year round too, with many cruise workers swapping locations during the year – sailing Antarctica in the northern hemisphere’s winter, for example, and the Arctic in the summer.

If you get the job, the visa will be supplied with it and these jobs aren’t age restricted.

Extending your Schengen visa

A popular way to have the living abroad experience in Europe is to work your way between the Schengen zone in Europe (a network of countries with open borders) and those which are outside of the Schengen zone – like the UK, Andorra, Croatia, Bulgaria and more.

Essentially by hopping into and out of the zone, and never staying more than 90 days out of every 180 days inside the Schengen – it’s possible to stick around much longer.

It’s important to say that you won’t be able to work in the zone, but if you’ve saved enough for a 3-6 month period backpacking around Europe, this is the way to do it!

Erin explains her experience in Slovakia:

I have been lucky enough to spend the past winter volunteering in Slovakia at a ski resort. As Slovakia is part of the Schengen, I was only allowed to stay a maximum of 90 days out of any 180 days.

Being an Australian, I didn’t need to pre-arrange any visas, I just arrived. I had pre-arranged this volunteer programme through the online platform Workaway. After a few emails back and forth I was accepted into the Workaway programme that was based in Jasna Ski Resort, Slovakia.

Read all about how to maximise your time in the Schengen.

Gaining citizenship through your ancestry – the perfect way to take a working holiday visa over 30

This is bottom of the list because it’s not a route that absolutely everyone can take. But you’d be surprised how many can!

Ireland has recently seen record numbers of people applying for citizenship in the wake of Brexit, and it’s all down to the fact citizenship can be claimed based on an Irish grandparent, even if you have lived all your life abroad. If you have a connection to Northern Ireland, you’re in luck as both a UK and Irish passport may be possible.

And it’s certainly not the only country where this is possible! Certainly worth dusting off the old family tree to find out.

So what is it really like applying for citizenship based on your family history?

Read the full account of applying for a Dutch passport based on a family connection, despite not living in the Netherlands or speaking the language.

So there it is, the good, the bad and the ugly of all the working holiday visas over 30 that you could get! Any of them on your list?

About
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Danni Lawson

A small town girl on a mission to live in 10 different countries before she pops her clogs, Danni began travelling with a job in Peru at the age of 18. Now an expert in living and working abroad, she shares all the tips and tricks you need to get started.

Working holiday visas for the over 30s – age is just a number!