It is time to give in to wanderlust and make plans to head to Australia for a nice long vacation, or even short-term work.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is on the first of a three-day visit to Singapore, announced today (Jun. 2) the new travel schemes that will allow Singaporeans to spend more time Down Under.

Long-term visa

A new long-term, multiple-entry visa will be exclusively available to Singaporeans from Jan. 1, 2018.

The visa, known as the Visitor (Subclass 600) visa, will allow Singaporeans to make multiple visits to Australia and stay in the country for up to three months at a time over a six-year period. This saves Singaporeans the trouble of having to apply for a new long-term visa every few months.

Work and Holiday Maker programme

From Aug. 1, 2017, young Singaporeans looking to take on short-term work or study will be able to do so via the Work and Holiday Maker programme.

Up to 500 places per year will be available for the programme.

The programme is a reciprocal programme between Singapore and Australia, and also allows young Australians to come to Singapore to study or for short term work short.

More than 230,000 Singaporeans were granted visitor visas to Australia last year. This was 16 per cent more than the previous year.

The new travel schemes have been introduced to boost tourism and business links between Singapore and Australia.

Details of the new travel schemes to Australia will be made available at the Australian Visa Application Centre's website.

Top image from SeeAustralia Facebook.

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