Israel and Australia signed an agreement on Wednesday that will allow young adults from both countries to get work visas from the other. The deal was part of a recent effort to secure work arrangements for young Israelis abroad, to prevent them from getting in legal trouble when looking for work.

Israelis will soon be able to apply for one-year Australian work visas – Photo: Rafael Ben Ari

The agreement was signed by Israeli Ambassador to Australia Shmuel Ben Shmuel and Australian Deputy Immigration and Border Protection Minister Senator Michaelia Cash.

The deal stipulates that citizens ages 18-30 with no children will be able to request a one-year work visa. 500 such visas will be allotted for Israelis seeking to work in Australia and 500 for Australians seeking to come to Israel. Prior to Wednesday’s agreement, Israelis who got travel visas were only able to stay in Australia for six months.

Israel decided that draft dodgers will not be eligible for the visas, with exceptions, including Israeli Arabs and people who did national service instead. The visa is both a travel visa and a work permit for year, provided that a job is no more than six months at any employer.

A similar deal was signed with Germany recently.

“The agreement is another important means of strengthening the good bilateral relationship between Israel and Australia and will also enable the strengthening of ties between the two nations and for us to get to know each other’s culture,” Ambassador Ben Shmuel said.

The Israeli and Australian governments are set to work on implementing the legal and administrative measures required to put the agreement into effect; the process is expected to take a few weeks.

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=20921