Hey everyone!
Just wondering if anyone has any experience or constructive advice in regards to this.
Tl;Dr I have to get surgery on my shoulder which was related to a previous motor vehicle accident. My recovery overlaps with the maximum entry date for my whv. Is it possible to get an extension due to medical reasons.
I'm an Irish citizen that was involved in a MVA while on my whv in Australia in may of 2024. I've had complex injuries to my right leg and left shoulder. All of my personal inquiry costs are covered by the compulsory third party insurance system whilst I'm in Australia. I won't be covered while outside of Australia so I've been in Australia basically ever since. Realistically by this point I should have every part of my recovery completed and had intended that a worst case scenario would be that I would have been done and heading to Japan by August. That's since flown by.
I was back home in Ireland over Christmas in 2024-2025 and I knew that the requirements for the working holiday visa application for Japan required you to be in the embassy of your home country so I completed it while I was home with the anticipation of moving within the year deadline. The entry deadline is 27th of February 2026.
Currently I'm having my shoulder seen to. I had to wait until I had my recovery with my leg mostly done as any work on the shoulder will make the arm basically unusable and if I was on crutches, that would be an issue. Currently, my shoulder specialist is recommending surgery (which might happen within the year, but likely will be next year) for my shoulder where did the first 6 weeks it will be basically unusable, for the first 3 months it should be used limitedly and by 6 months it should be full recovered. This means that even if I got my surgery done at the end of December all going well, the end of Feb is within those 3 months.
It would be unwise to try and fully move at that point and I will likely still have recovery and possibly other treatments following surgery. So I'm just wondering if it's possible to apply for an extension under these grounds or possible to move over to start the visa, request an exit and re entry based on medical grounds?
Any constructive advice would be much appreciated.
ありがとうございます！
by andrew_whites