BRISBANE  –  French backpacker Zoe has been waiting tables for months. By do­ing so, she’s trying to earn the right to stay in Australia for a third year, which she hoped would give her the ability to relax and see more of the country. But under a rule change an­nounced by the government on Sep­tember 17, even working the 88 days per year required for a new working holiday visa won’t be enough. For the chance to secure a third year, she’d have to pay hundreds of dollars to enter the ballot to possibly win one of just 5,000 visas – down from the 31,000 previously granted. “Every­one is stressing out,” said Zoe, 25, who asked that CNN use her first name only. “Everyone’s talking about that. The mood is low.” It’s not just backpackers who are concerned about a premature end to their Aus­tralian adventure. Tourism opera­tors and the farming industry are in uproar over the loss of visitors – and vital workers – in regional areas that don’t necessarily have the same ap­peal to tourists as some of Australia’s major cities. Farmers rely on them to pick fruit and mend fences, the kind of work that requires minimal train­ing but is vital to the operation of businesses in areas where few people live. The government says it’s about adjusting the intake to favor skilled migrants like construction work­ers; doctors and nurses; experts in agriculture and resources; and law enforcement officers, who are seen to bring more value to the country’s economy. But others say the outcome could be a steep drop in regional workers as first-year backpackers decide that attempting to stay longer isn’t worth it. Travel industry insid­ers say the upheaval didn’t start with Thursday’s announcement, but two years ago, when the rules changed under an Australia-UK free trade agreement. The deal allowed British backpackers to stay for two or three years without having to do 88 days of regional work. It also raised the age limit from 30 to 35. Since then, the number of British young people on working holiday visas has more than doubled to close to 80,000 from a previous peak of 35,000, according to Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. On Thursday, he described the surge as a “challenge” that his colleagues would be discussing with their UK counterparts in a “constructive way.”

In the meantime, the government has adopted a “go-slow” strategy on visa approvals – one that came in July without warning, said Mat­thew Heyes, founder of the Back­packer Job Board. “The home affairs website wasn’t updated,” he said. “It still said that visas typically get processed in two to three days.” In­stead, it took weeks, then months.

“We’re seeing backpackers that ap­plied for their visa in July onwards, not having their visas processed still today,” he said. CNN has reached out to the Department of Home Affairs for clarity on how the changes may affect backpackers already in the country. Burke said on Thursday that process­ing times would return to normal, but Heyes said that doesn’t help the back­packers who have held off booking flights and tours, and the employers who were waiting, ready to hire them, for the harvest season.