Working holiday visa: do you need anything translated?

Does your document need an English translation?

Answer a few quick questions and get your answer in 1 second.

The short answer: often, nothing

This guide is about life in Australia once the visa is granted, not about the visa application itself. If you are applying for or extending a working holiday visa, read the document checklist on the Home Affairs page for your subclass and what it says about documents that are not in English. Once you are here, most of a working holiday runs on your passport and your visa, and neither is a document anyone asks us to translate.

Three situations can call for a translation: driving, staying in one state long enough for its resident rules to come into view, and an employer or licensing body asking to see a qualification in English. Then there is the question of who pays, which has a blunter answer for this visa than for most.

Driving or hiring a car on a licence that is not in English

This is the situation most likely to come up, often when a road trip is being planned. If your licence is in English, skip this section. If it is not, the states we can help with say the same thing in their own words: carry the licence, and carry either an International Driving Permit or an English translation with it.

NSW: “If your licence is not written in English, you must also carry an English translation, or an International Driving Permit.” Victoria: “If your licence is not in English, you’ll also need to carry either: an English translation of your licence, or an international driving permit in English.” South Australia lists “a current licence with an English translation if necessary or an international driver’s licence”.

Tasmania is the one state, among those we quote, whose wording names temporary visa holders: “You can drive/ride in Tasmania using your overseas licence if you are a visitor or have a temporary visa”, and “If your licence is not in English you must also carry an official translation or international drivers permit.” Queensland’s wording is specific about the translation itself: “If your licence isn’t in English, you should carry a recognised English translation of it when you’re driving. Show this translation to police when you have to show your driver licence.”

The permit is the catch for anyone already here. The Australian Automobile Association, which issues them, is asked whether an overseas licence holder can apply in Australia: “No. Only Australian driver licence holders can apply for an IDP in Australia. If you hold an overseas driver licence you must apply for a permit in the country that issued your licence.” If you did not get one before you flew, ask the body that issued your licence whether it takes applications from abroad. Otherwise the states quoted above name an English translation as the other option. Our guide permit or translation, answered by where you are standing is the two-minute version.

The hire desks put it in their own words. Hertz’s terms accept a licence that “is in English or, if not in English, is accompanied by a certified English translation”. SIXT: “Should the valid driver’s licence be in another language or have no photo SIXT will accept a certified translation in English or an International driver’s permit.”

Budget adds the line people forget: “An International Driving Permit is not a stand-alone document and must be carried with your valid domestic drivers licence.” A translation is the same: it travels with the card and does not replace it. Each of the big hire companies’ wording is on renting a car in Australia with an overseas licence; what we deliver for a licence, starting with both sides of the card, is on driver’s licence translation.

The exception is the Northern Territory, which asks for a permit: “you must apply for an international driving permit if: your overseas licence is not written in English”, and says a translation “must be done by an authorised translator in the NT”. We cannot help there, so if the Territory is on your route, apply for the permit before you travel.

If you did not, the same page sets out the other route: an official translation into English done by an authorised translator in the NT. That translator is not us, so ask the NT Motor Vehicle Registry who it counts as one. Western Australia we have not verified beyond a single line; read the WA pages yourself if you are heading west.

Staying in one state long enough that the resident rules start

A working holiday can turn into a year in one city, and at some point a state’s rules for visitors give way to its rules for people who live there. Where that line sits is the state’s decision, not your visa’s. NSW puts the visitor allowance this way: “you can drive in NSW using your overseas licence for up to six months”. Victoria draws its line in the conversion rules: “If you’re moving to Victoria and plan to live here for more than 6 months, you must convert your overseas driver licence or learner permit to a Victorian one.”

Whether a year of hospitality shifts in Melbourne counts as moving there is a question for VicRoads, and we would rather you asked them than took our word for it. We will not tell you that you must convert; that is not ours to say. If you do decide to, the quoted rules are on licence translation for Victoria and licence translation for Queensland, the second with a question to put to TMR before you order anything.

One state we have to rule out. A licence transfer in New South Wales is not something we can help with, whichever translator you would choose. Licence translation for NSW explains why and says who to go to instead.

An employer or licensing body wants your qualification in English

This one arrives by email rather than at a counter. A manager wants to see the certificate behind a skill on your CV. A licensing body asks for an English copy of a qualification issued at home. We are not going to dress these requests up as a rule, because there is none we can quote: each employer and each body decides what it wants to see.

Some employers ask for a plain English copy, and some ask for one carrying a NAATI-certified translator’s stamp. We cannot tell you which yours wants. Ask the person requesting it which they mean before you order; it changes the option you pick at checkout. Degree and diploma translation describes what a translated qualification carries across.

Who pays: the free service is closed to you

Australia runs a Free Translating Service through TIS National, and for many new arrivals it is the right first stop. We would send you there if we could. We cannot, because its eligibility page rules you out in one sentence: “Tourist visa holders and working holiday visa holders are not eligible for the Free Translating Service. Australian citizens are also not eligible for this service.”

So this is one group with no free government route, and we say so plainly: if someone wants your document in English, expect to pay for the translation. Who the Free Translating Service is for has the full quoted rules if your circumstances change.

What that buys from us: the whole document translated, delivered by email as a searchable PDF, with the full price in Australian dollars on screen before you order, and we add nothing at checkout. If you pay with an overseas card, Stripe may show the price converted into your own currency, with its own conversion fee; you can switch back to Australian dollars on that page. The order page starts on NAATI certification. For driving or hiring a car, or if the authority or employer names NAATI, choose the NAATI certification option and the translation is prepared by a NAATI-certified translator, with their certification statement and stamp. Either way, if anything is unclear, ask the person on the other side first.

Sources, checked on the date shown:

On a working holiday? You may need nothing translated

The short answer: often, nothing

Driving or hiring a car on a licence that is not in English

Staying in one state long enough that the resident rules start

An employer or licensing body wants your qualification in English

Who pays: the free service is closed to you