Hi Krista,
 
Where are you from? If you’re from a Commonwealth country and 30 or under you’ll be able to apply for a Working Holiday Visa very easily from the British High Commission in your home country. As far as I know, there’s no set amount for proving you’ll be able to support yourself but I’d assume at least $2000, possibly more. I think this is one of those questions nobody knows the answer to so I’d recommend giving them a call and asking. Post back here to let us all know!
 
Getting the WHV is very easy as long as you have no dependents and no criminal convictions. There are companies that offer to help you get the visa and charge for it (like SWAP in Canada for example) but these are a ripoff as it’s easy to do things on your own for half the cost. The visas are for 12 months of work over 2 years but I don’t think the immegration department can really police this and load sof people work for more than 12 months.
 
If you’re American you can’t get a visa on your own, you have to go through a company called BUNAC which offers a 6 months visa I’m pretty sure. Plus the fees are a lot more than for us Commonwealth people. Americans kind of get screwed. I think their site is bunac.org.
 
I live in zone 2 in London and pay £380 for a room in a sharehouse plus bills, £90/month transport, £80-100/month food, £40/month gym, and manage to save at least £300/month. I earn £1300/month after taxes doing office work which I would recommend as it’s easy and keeps your evenings and weekends free. The rest of my money I blow at the pub, trips to Europe, clothes etc. Finding an office temping job is easy and you don’t even have to look yourself, just hit a few agencies and wait a week or so and you should have something come your way. Pub work pays crap. Really crap. And is unsociable. Retail pays crap too. If you’ve got some kind of skill you will probably find somewhere in London to use it to earn more. I figures for London sicne that’s what I know and that’s the most expensive it’ll get. Things will be cheaper elsewhere but you’ll also get less pay.
 
Hope this helps, any more questions give me a shout!

Kirsty

Question For Kirsty:

How much did it cost you for your Visa?
I am in Australia and was shocked and pissed off to find priceshad risen from 100 odd to 400 AUD plus for a working visa

Geoff I’ve got a British passport so can’t tell you. But I do know that there’ve been changes to the UK’s working holiday program recently (mainly only being able to work 12 months out of 2 years) so the price jump doesn’t really surprise me. A bit extreme though! All I can suggest is that you make sure you’re not dealing with a middleman. Get the info and application from straight from the British High Commission and do everything through them because going with a company can often be at least twice the amount.