How many hours is 88 days? Is there a 30 or 35-hour rule?
Short answer
Home Affairs doesn't set an hours rule: it counts days or shifts compared with a full-timer in your job. In practice, 38 hours is a normal full week in Australia and counts as 7 days, so 88 days is about 478 hours of work (179 days is about 972 hours), spread over at least 88 calendar days.
You’ll see “30 hours”, “35 hours” and “38 hours” quoted in Facebook groups and on websites as if they were the law. None of them appear in the Home Affairs text. Here’s what the rule actually says, and why counting by hours still makes sense.
What the rule says
Home Affairs talks about days or shifts, not hours:
“One single day of work is the normal number of hours per day or shift that is considered standard practice in the industry and role in which you are employed.”
Home Affairs, specified subclass 417 work
So a “day” is whatever a normal day is in your job. Its examples show the range: a dairy worker on 6-hour days, pickers on 5 to 8-hour days, a nurse on three 12-hour shifts a week. All of them met the requirement because those hours were normal for the role.
Why hours are still the practical way to count
Your payslips show hours. Months later, almost nobody remembers how many days were on each payslip. And the Fair Work standard gives a clear benchmark: 38 ordinary hours is a full-time week in Australia.
That gives a simple conversion:
- 38 hours = 7 days (a full week, weekend included)
- 1 day ≈ 5.4 hours
- 88 days ≈ 478 hours (12.6 weeks at 38 hours)
- 179 days ≈ 972 hours (25.6 weeks at 38 hours)
Home Affairs’ own casual example works the same way: Karla worked “half of the usual full time work hours” over 122 days, which counted as 61 days.
The “30-hour” and “35-hour” rules
These are rules of thumb, not law:
- 35 hours comes from experience shared in groups: many people report that weeks of 35+ hours were accepted as a full week. That may well be true, but there’s nothing official saying so.
- 30 hours appears on some calculators and blogs. It isn’t in the Home Affairs text either.
If you count with 38 hours and you’re a little over, you’re safe. If you count with 30 hours and Immigration doesn’t agree, you could be short. That’s why the Aussie Days calculator uses 38.
Two limits on counting by hours
- A long day is still one day. Home Affairs: “if the industry’s standard day is 5 hours long, working 10 hours on one day… does not count as 2 days of specified work.” Hours help you fill a week, not stretch a day.
- You can’t finish faster than the calendar. 478 hours crammed into five weeks still only covers five weeks. You need at least 88 calendar days from your first day to your last, and a month can count at most the days it has.
Quick reference
| Hours a week (average) | Days counted per week | Weeks to reach 88 days |
|---|---|---|
| 38+ | 7 | about 13 |
| 35 | about 6.4 | about 14 |
| 30 | about 5.5 | about 16 |
| 25 | about 4.6 | about 19 |
| 20 | about 3.7 | about 24 |
Count yours
Put each payslip’s dates and hours into the 88-day calculator. It applies 38 hours = 7 days and the monthly limit automatically.
Questions people also ask
Is 35 hours a week enough to count as a full week?
There's no official rule saying 35 hours is a full week. Many people say it has been accepted, but 38 hours is the Australian standard and the safe number to aim for.
Can I do 478 hours in a month and be finished?
No. You can't complete the requirement in less than 88 calendar days, and one calendar day never counts as more than one day of work.
Does overtime count?
Overtime hours are still hours you worked and were paid for, so they help that payslip reach a full week. But a payslip can't count more days than its dates, so overtime doesn't top up a different, shorter payslip. It only fills a week with no payslip at all, like a week off on a roster.
My farm says 6 hours a day is full-time. Is that right?
It can be. Home Affairs says a day is the normal length of a day or shift in that industry and role. Its own example (Maria, dairy) counts 6-hour days. Keep a contract or letter that shows the normal hours.
Sources
General information, not immigration advice. Aussie Days is independent and not affiliated with the Australian Government. Always check the official Home Affairs pages before you rely on anything here.
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