You’ve made a legendary decision: to take six months or a year off and move overseas on a working holiday visa. I applaud your efforts, fully support your movements to . . . where? Where will you go? What foreign country tempts you? Which thinly-drawn borders on the map are you dying to cross as a temporary resident?
Though not every country offers a working holiday visa program (you can find out information about eligible programs and regulations at sites such as Anywork Anywhere), this straightforward version is just one method of determining where to go.
Here are a few more spontaneous ways to pick your working holiday visa country:
- Point blindly. “Get out the map, get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down,” as the Indigo Girls sing. No peeking, now; straighten that finger and whatever nation lies at the end of your nail will be your new home.
- Pull a name from a hat. Write out all the eligible countries, or maybe your top 5 choices, onto pieces of paper. Fold them up, drop them in a hat and give them a stir. Want to make things extra exciting? Write your favorite and least favorite countries on a few extra paper scraps, just to challenge the odds.
- Divine tea leaves. Is that the outline of Brazil, loosely formed into the dregs of your English Breakfast tea? Or maybe Australia is taking shape among the last sips of coffee? You may not be a professional fortune teller, but try to predict what your caffeinated beverage is telling you.
- Ask for a sign. In her best-selling book, The Secret, author Rhonda Byrne suggests that upbeat thoughts can influence your path through the Universe. She refers to it as the law of positive attraction; I call it “asking for a sign.” Simply concentrate on this question: “Where will I go on my working holiday?” Let the Universe surprise you with its answer.
- Play the alphabet game. Pay attention to the signage around you for the next 30 minutes, or one hour. Do any letters appear more frequently than others? Ignore the fact that ‘e’ is the most commonly-used letter in the English language (unless you want a working holiday visa to Estonia) and choose your destination based on the letter that’s second-most prevalent.
- Pick a lucky day – then pick the first flight out that morning. What’s departing from the nearest international airport on Thursday? What about Saturday morning? Leave your decision-making up to the whims of global aviation.
- Listen carefully. Whether it’s a TV news report, radio commentary or something from a conversation overhead at the cafe: keep your ears open for place names. Hear the same name more than once and consider it more than a coincidence.
- Visit the library. Walk up to the first row and pull a book from the first shelf. Flip it open; the name of whatever country graces the next page is clearly beckoning you. Don’t see one? Keep reading…
- Google bravely. Ever used that Feeling Lucky button? Why not enter “where to go on a working holiday” into the search bar, hit that and see what happens?
Come up with a country that has no working holiday visa program, or has one that you can’t apply for? Don’t despair! Email Immigration to ask about other ways you can live and work there.
Ready to work and volunteer your way around the world? Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and RSS/email. Until the next adventure! ~ Kelli