Chile Working Holiday Scheme: no places remaining

There are no further places available under the Chile Working Holiday Scheme for the year to 30 September 2010. The scheme opened on Thursday 1 October and attracted so much interest, it caused an overload on our information technology system.

The system only worked intermittently on the first day. This meant that only a small number of applicants could lodge an application at a time. Due to the popularity of the scheme, nonetheless, all 1000 places were filled within hours.

We regret that this was frustrating for many applicants seeking working holiday visas for New Zealand and we apologise for any inconvenience caused by this information technology system overload. We are working on improving our information technology system so that the process works more smoothly in future.

As with many of New Zealand's working holiday schemes, the interest from potential applicants is much greater than the number of places available. This can result in the quota being filled within hours of it opening, and may mean that many people miss out.  We accept that this can be very disappointing for applicants.