I have a 12 Month Working Holiday Visa and plan to go and live in Sydney for a year with my girlfriend, in October. As an amazing bonus, my current UK employer has said I can work for them remotely, (over the Internet) and continue to be paid in the UK (+ pay UK tax etc) rather than leave the company and seek work in Australia.

The Visa terms+conditions say that you cannot work in any one place for more than 3 months however. I phoned up the Agency that fast tracked me the Visa and they said that the rule applies to my situation also. I'm hoping they are wrong and i'm hoping there is a way around this...surely there's some flexibility here. After all, i will be bringing money in to the country from the UK and not taking any out.

Does anyone know if I can do this under my Visa somehow...

I worked for an employer for more than three months on a working holiday visa a couple of years back - it didnt seem too strictly policed. Also, as you will be paid in the uk etc, there will be no record of you actually working in Australia anyway - ie no tax file record, medicare contributions etc, so I wouldnt see it being an issue.

Enjoy Sydney (I can highly recommend Kiribilli as a spot to live and the Kiribilli pub on the north side of the harbour).

... that its legal before they will do it. If they would turn a blind eye i know 100% that it would be ok in practice but they need a letter or something from someone to confirm it's legit.

Cant you tell them you will be working from home in the UK? Does it really make a difference to them?

As far as my employer should be concerned, I am working from home. Simple as that. However, I have told them the truth, for various reasons and so now they know i'm planning on going to Oz. They are worried that they might be helping me to break the Australian law with respect to my WHV.

I worked for the same legal firm when I worked in Sydney, Perth and then back to Sydney - no problems - and the firm certainly didnt have a problem.

Dont know if that helps. Can you not just tell your employers as there is no paper trail in Oz they will not be affected?

All the best

Was that a UK company you were working for?

Did you have a Working Holiday Visa?

Did you check out the legality before you went?

cheers
Paul

I don't see your WHV being the problem, as with a WHV you are not considered resident for tax purposes, and so you are only taxed on income you earn in Australia. The WHV is just a device to enable you to stay here for 12 months.
I would say you need to contact the Australian tax office and find out how you stand with regard to income earned abroad whilst you are here.
Take as an example an author who intends to write a book whilst on holiday down here for a publisher in the UK.
The 3 month rule won't apply to you as this refers to jobs in Australia which you won't be doing.
I'm no expert just lived here a while.

I understood that the 3 month rule was to try and protect Australian workers, ie not have visitors taking their jobs, so by working remotely you are not really infringing on this.

Thanks for all this information. I still need a piece of paper to give my employer saying its OK. Maybe i should contact the Australian Tax Office for this. I've tried the Aus High Commission in London and they don't even reply to emails.

cheers,
Paul