Assistants

Applying to be an Assistant

We are always interested in people who wish to discover the gifts of living in community for a time with people with intellectual disabilities.  Details on how to apply are below.  If your application is successful, you may be asked to go to any one of the L'Arche Communities in Australia, depending on where the need is at the time.

Our expectation of people who are applying to be an assistant is that they will come for a probationary period of three months and depending on a positive evaluation, commit themselves for an additional nine months.  We can however make exceptions depending on individual circumstances.  New assistants receive a small but adequate salary from which they pay room and board.  Conditions of remuneration vary slightly between Communities.

Overseas Applications to Work in L'Arche

You are responsible for the cost of your travel to Australia, and for the return to your own country.

L'Arche does not take responsibility for health or medical care for assistants.  It is therefore required that adequate medical insurance is arrranged before your arrival.  For more information about this, see the website of the Australian Government Health Department.

L'Arche Australia has an arrangement with the Australian Immigration Department which allows approved applicants to enter Australia on a Special Purpose (416) visa.  This allows an Assistant to work in an Australian L'Arche community for up to one year.

To complete Immigration requirements, you can find the visa application form on the Australian Immigration Department website. See Form 147 - Application for a temporary residence visa. (This form is made available as a PDF file, which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer).

Making an Application

In the first instance, any person interested in sharing life with a L'Arche community in Australia should download the following application form:

L'Arche Australia Assistant Application Form

Once completed, applicants from overseas should forward the form to the Regional Co-ordinator , while Australian applicants may also do this, or forward directly to their local L'Arche community.

Once we receive all the required forms, we will send out Referee Reports to your designated referees and wait for their replies.  This may take some time.  If your application is approved at this stage, we will ask that you provide the following further information:

• A police clearance from your country of residence. If this is in a language other than English we will require a translated copy in addition to the original
• First Aid Certificate
• Medical Report
• Copy of your driver's license* (local and international)

* A driver's license is desirable but not absolutely essential

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