While doing my farmwork, I noticed there is a lot of nonsense going around about the 2nd year Visa. A lot of backpackers spread these just because they heard it from another backpacker and this way they keeping spreading the rumours around. Chances are you’ve been told things that aren’t true in the slightest. If you look at facebook pages or travelblogs it seems hard for a lot of people to find farmwork. But is it really? so here below also some tips on how to find farmwork.

Where do you begin to look for farmwork?

The easiest way to find the good spots is talk to other backpackers. There are enough backpackers who did their farmwork and they all have experiences and ideas to share with you. Even if they had negative experiences it is good to know where NOT to go.
On facebook there are a lot of groups, such as Australia backpackers, Australian independent Backpackers, Australia Network Backpackers, Australian backpackers Watchout List,…. A lot of positive and negative experiences are being shared here and you can get some good leads from just chechking out these pages.

The Harvest labour Services is a governement agency linking workers with farmers and growers around Australia. You can easily call them on 1800 062 332 and they will give you info and tips about were workers are needed. Every state has a local governement farming organisation as well, you can ring them up for more information and good places to stay.

A lot of people use gumtree for finding farmwork. Watch out though, because it’s also the favourite website of scammers. I am not saying gumtree is useless, just be more carefull when using it. Since it is anonymous and people can make as many new accounts as they want using different names, it is very easy to scam. If you are calling on sending somebody an email and their name is different than their name on gumtree: watch out! If you’re unsure, call harvesttrail or post the link on one of the previously mentioned facebook pages. Chances are people already had a good or bad experience with this ad and will be happy to advise you. The backpacker community in Australia is amazing!

Picktheworld.org might be usefull too. People list their farming experiences on here, together with a phonenumber so you can call the specific farmers themselves. The website also lists which are the types of crops and harvesting times for those crops. Since this is a non-profit organisation and it relies on peer to peer sharing, some of the numbers might be out of use.

When you start looking for farmwork, remember that is has to be regional work. This means it has to be a postcode from rural areas. In other words, work close to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane doesn’t count. This document states wich postcodes are valid as regional work.

What about all the official stuff?

Wages?

Since August last year, volunteering with HelpX or WWOOF doesn’t count as farmwork any longer. You have to be paid official wages that comply with the national standards set by Fairwork.gov.au. This means that they must pay you minimum wages per worked hour. Ofcourse the farming industry has found a loophole. When you do piecework, these wages don’t have to reach the minimum wage per hour. Normal piecerate should give an average worker the chance to make the minimum wage, ofcourse this is usually not the way it goes. A lot of the piecerate is made up to pay us -the workers- less than minimum wage. If you find yourself in a similar situation, move on to another job or farm that is fair. If this is not possible, don’t worry, it is still elligelible for your second year visa, you just won’t be able to save any money.
Find more info about minimum wages and piece rate work on these pages.

Period of how long?

You have to do farmwork for a period of 88 days (about three months). When you are working a full workweek -or doing as much hours as a standard workweek- you apply as  if you’re doing a full time job, so you only have to do three months during which your days off get counted too. If you are doing seperate days and not reaching the minimum ammount of hours for a full workweek, you will have to do the full 88 days. Even if you are employed as a casual, if you reach the ammount of hours needed to do a full time, you can count it as a full time and can count the weekends.

An example:
You work 10 hours a day for 4 days a week. This counts up to 40 hours a week wich is more then the requirement for a full time so wou will be able to count your days off to.

Documents needed?

Since the law got stricter, you’ll need payslips from now on to prove that you have been paid for the work you have done. The payslips are mostly given out per week. This is the information that has to be on them: – Name of the employer or company – Name of the employee – ABN number – Ammount of hours/days worked – Amount of wages – Time period

– Kind of work and way paid (piecework / hourly rate)

The post How to Obtain a Second Year Visa: A Comprehensive Guide appeared first on BackPack Beliefs.

Luckily for you, you don’t need to make that same mistake now! I did some research and here is everything you need to know about visa’s  when you’re about to go on holiday in Indonesia! 

Follow the next steps and you’ll be a-okay! 

Before you come to Indonesia, think about how long you will stay. Certain VISA’s you can get from home, and it will make your stay a whole lot easier not having to extend them half way through your trip. Others you can get on arrival if you know where to ask for them!

Types of  Tourist VISA’s

1. Free Tourist Visa

The 30 day on arrival VISA is a VISA granted to tourist from 169 different countries, listed on this website. It is very easy to obtain and free. On arrival in Indonesia, just go through the normal immigration. You’ll get your Visa there. Remember this VISA is not extendable in any way!

Your VISA exemption stamp with date of arrival. Next to it the blue triangle is the exit stamp for when you leave the country.

2. Visa-on-Arrival

This VISA is granted to all the countries on this list. It is a very good VISA if you are traveling and decide on a whim to go to Indonesia, but still want to stay a bit longer than 30 days. You can only extend this VISA once, for another 30 days.

The VISA on arrival which is extendable that will be put into your passport.

It is not given at the normal immigration counter, so you’ll have to ask for it yourself! In Bali there was a little office in front of immigration where you can obtain the VISA. It will cost you 35 USD. You’ll get a receipt, hold on to this you’ll need it when you extend your VISA later on!

Don’t lose this one, you will need it to extend your VISA! Nope, the VISA in your passport alone wasn’t enough for Indonesian Bureaucracy.

Remember this VISA is only valid for 30 days unless you extend it! Check out this blog post for the full rundown of how to extend this VISA.

3. 60 day Tourist Visa

You can apply for this VISA from any country other than Indonesia, the cost will depend on where you get it. It takes up to 7 working days to come through and you’ll have three months until you have to enter Indonesia. If you know beforehand you are gonna stay longer than 30 days, this is your best option because it is a lot easier and saves you a lot of hassle in comparison to the extendable VISA on arrival.
You will need:

• Cash to pay the VISA in local currency. Most embassies don’t accept card payments.
• Photo ID or passport.
• Copy of passport. In most embassies you will be able to do it there but I wouldn’t count on it.
• Copy of your ticket traveling to Indonesia.
• Copy of proof of traveling out of Indonesia. They don’t always ask for it but it’s better t0 be safe than sorry. If you don’t have a ticket yet or don’t know where you will leave to, purchase a cheap ticket, ferry or plane, to one of the bordering country’s or buy a ticket that is refundable/changeable.
• Application documents: You can get them up front from the Indonesian embassy website or get them there and fill them in.

Note: A big advantage of a 60-day tourist visa over a 30-day visa on arrival is that the 60-day tourist visa can be extended four times for 30 days each, so you can stay for a total of 180 days.

Indonesia is a lovely country, and the ways to obtain a VISA are simple. If you had any other experiences with obtaining a VISA or have any questions, let us know in the comments!

Subscribe for more travel tips and tricks! Safe travels!

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The post Choosing the Right Indonesian Visa: A Quick Guide appeared first on BackPack Beliefs.

When entering Indonesia, you need to BUY the visa yourself BEFORE going through immigration!

You can buy it at a small counter before you reach immigration itself. So make sure you do this, otherwise you’ll get the 30-day non-extendable free one automatically as soon as you walk through immigration.

Good, we got the most important part covered. Now, as soon as you have your extendable visa, there’ll come a time (before the 30 days that is) that you’ll have to extend it! There’s two ways of doing this

1. With a VISA agent – easy, fast, but it’ll cost you more money
2. Extend it yourself – still easy, takes a bit more time, will save you money.

Below I’ll explain how find a visa agent, and of course how to do it yourself! Because I know you’d rather spend money on more important things!

This will be put into your passport as the 30 days extendable VISA. The green stamp is my exit stamp of later on.

1. Through a VISA Agent

A lot of people use a VISA agent because it is the easiest way. With use of a VISA agent, you’ll only have to visit immigration once (instead of three times) and, if you have a good agent, you barely have to wait. Be carefull though, the VISA agent could keep your passport for up to two weeks, so be sure it is a regulated agent and not someone you meet on the streets. Most of them are honest business people, but you never know. The price for using an agent is between 650 000 Rupiah and 900 000 Rupiah (instead of the 355 000 Rupiah you normally pay).

Me with my first VISA agent Raja , you can imagine things didn’t really work out since he was useless in filling in paperwork.

2. Extending it yourself!

The process of extending you visa is really easy. It just requires a little bit of time. As said before, you’ll have to visit the immigration office three times. Look up the immigration office closest to you, as they will ask you where you’re staying.

Make sure you go around the time the office opens. This will ensure you almost no waiting time at all. The first visit I was in and out within 30 minutes! That being said, the second visit took an hour because the machine for the fingerprints was down.

Kantor Immigrassi Denpasar! As you can see with two lost backpackers in front of it. The receipt you get when you buy an extendable VISA on arrival! Don’t lose it because you will need it again!

Here’s a list of what you’ll need:

• A black pen (these are not provided)
• Your passport (of course)
• 2 photocopies of your passport page, you’ll probably only need one like me but you never know.
• 2 photocopies of your VISA sticker in your passport
• The receipt you get when you buy the VISA at the airport
• 2 photocopies of your flight out of Indonesia within those 30 days of extension. Also needed just one but just in case.
• Address, name and telephone number of place you are staying in Indonesia.
• Address, name and telephone number of a sponsor.
  What I heard about it, it isn’t necessary but ask the owner of the guesthouse you are staying if this is ok.
• 355 000 IDR in cash. This is for the second visit.

The front entrance to the office of Immigration. Just park your bike where ever there is room, Bali style!

First visit

During the first visit you’ll have to fill in the necessary paperwork. You can just go to the immigration office and get it there, or download it and fill it in beforehand. As you arrive, ignore the Indonesians lining up, you just need to look for the foreign immigration sign, find the blue ticket machine and take a number. Then, go to Counter One and ask for the paperwork if you haven’t downloaded it already. All you need to do then is wait your turn, and hand over your filled in paperwork and the all of the copies mentioned above. Wait for your name to be called, pay attention because it can be quite noisy in there and especially if you have a hard to pronounce name, they will butcher your name. They’ll then give you a receipt that acts like a temporary passport untill you get yours back.

Well done, you survived your first visit!

You are not really allowed to take pictures within the office but here you can see on the left hand side the blue machine to take a number, the places where you ask you documents are also on the left hand side a bit further and remember for later, the place were you collect your passport is on the end of this picture. This is for the Denpasar office though.

Second visit

This visit will be the longest one, and is also the one where you have to pay up for your extension. You’ll need to go to a counter that says ‘payment’. Present them with your receipt/temporary passport you received last time and go sit down. There is an Indonesian waiting system here, so really no system at all. Just hope that the smile you gave the officer convinces him or her to do your paper fast. When your name is called go up to the counter and pay your fee. Easy. You’ll have to wait again before getting your fingerprints and a photo taken. It is possible that the officer will ask you questions as in where you are staying, why you are staying longer,.. Just answer the same things as on your form and everything will be ok! She will give you a new receipt and that’s it!

Third visit

On the last receipt you’ll get, there will be a date and time when you can pick up your passport and visa. It doesn’t matter if you pick it up after this date. They will just have it waiting for you there. Make sure to check the time too, I arrived there in the morning but could only pick it up between 2-4 o’clock. When you enter, go straight to the one counter you haven’t been yet. It doesn’t matter if there is a line of people looking confused. Most of these are VISA agents, doing all their files at once. Present your ticket to the officer behind the counter and take a seat. Wait for your name to be called. This will take between 15-30 minutes and collect your passport. Always check if dates are correct because it is known that they make mistakes and put a wrong date on the VISA. Better safe than sorry!

The stamp you will get extending your VISA. The bottom date is the date of extension, top one of untill you are allowed to stay.

And you are done!

As you can see it is not that much of a hassle and if you are on a tight budget or can’t find a visa agent you trust, it is completely possible to do it by yourself!

If you’re not sure what VISA you should get, we have another blog post going online in a couple of days! Keep an eye for it. 

Share with all your friends who are visiting Indonesia!

DISCLAIMER: Only use this text when you are using the VISA extension in a legal way. If you are working in Indonesia and using a tourist visa to extend it time after time, you will eventually run into problems because they see that you have multiple visas and only leave the country in between for a short period. This is just a guide, you’re still responsible for your own actions, so use common sense and you should be fine!

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The post Extending Your Visa in Indonesia: Step-by-Step Process appeared first on BackPack Beliefs.