Australian working holiday visa program gaining popularity with Britons and Canadians

Australia, 11th March: The Australian working holiday visas have been becoming increasingly popular among young Canadian and British students.

It has been found that more and more students from both these nations are using the concept of gap year for moving to Australia on a working holiday visa.

Latest figures from Australian immigration department show that there has been an increase of around 5 percent in the number of Australian working holiday visas issued between the year 2009 and 2010.

So, the concept of gap year, i.e., when the students miss out a place in the university or the time gap between post-secondary education and getting employment, is being considered as an excellent opportunity for overseas holiday and work opportunities by several youngsters.

No wonder, many universities are offering the option of deferring the studies for one year.

Official data from Higher Education Funding Council for England reveals that nearly 200,000 aspiring students in Britain are likely to face a gap year due to their inability to get a place in a university this year.

In the year 2010, there has been an increase of 15 percent in the number of Britons getting Australian working holiday visas taking the numbers to 40,182.

And the year 2011 is likely to witness an almost similar trend. More and more Britons are using Australian working holiday visas for improving their life skills as well as their employability by gaining overseas work experience.

While Britain happens to be the biggest source for Australian working holiday visas, Canada, too, is quick to grab this option.

Many young Canadians aged between 18 to 30 years having passion for adventure and work are loving the opportunity of studying, traveling and working for a period of up to one year in Australia.

A couple of recent studies have also cited numerous benefits of gap year for students. The findings of the studies revealed that those who took a gap year had clear aims, indulged in less wastage of money and the employment rate among such students was nearly eight percent higher than that of those who did not take any gap year.