IEC – Working Holiday Visa
Obtain a work permit through the International experience Canada program
Canada currently has reciprocal agreements with 35 countries, which allow nationals of these countries to apply for a work permit. Depending on which country, each agreement is separate and may have different criteria and conditions from another participating country.
The following countries who can participate in the IEC include,
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Latvia Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Eligibility criteria
As previously stated above, your eligibility criteria will be based on your country of nationality. The program is open to individuals aged between 18 and 35 inclusive, however some of the listed countries only allow individuals who are aged between 18 and 30 inclusive, such as Australia
The International experience Canada offers three separate programs in which to pledge come to Canada, however all three programs are not available to every country. You will need to check to see which programs are available to you based on your nationality.
The three programs are:
Working holiday program
This allows individuals to apply for an open work permit. “open” that you can work for any employer you wish anywhere in Canada, excluding the province of Québec. This program is perfect if you wish to travel and work in Canada, or to gain valuable Canadian work experience.
The duration of the open work permit will be based on the agreement with your country of nationality in Canada.
For example: a citizen of Ireland is eligible to apply for a two year open work permit, whereas a citizen of Italy can apply for 6 months only.
Young professionals program
This program allows individuals to gain professional experience in the occupation. This program requires a job offer from a Canadian employer, however this job offer is LMIA exempt, which means that the employer is not required to obtain a Labour market impact assessment in order to provide this job offer. Duration of this program is dependent on the agreement between the country of nationality in Canada.
International coop program
This program allow students who have a job offer from a Canadian employer, to complete their internship in Canada as part of their educational program from the country of nationality. The duration of the work permit is for 6 months for all countries.
Recognized organizations
In additional with have an agreement with 35 countries, Canada also has an agreement with name recognized organizations which also offer the working holiday program, the young professionals program and the International core program. If your country of nationality is not listed on the countries above, you may still be eligible to apply through a recognized organization.
For example: the United States does not have a used mobility program with Canada, however US citizens can apply via a recognized organization to obtain a working holiday or young professional work permit.
Please contact us if you wish to find out more about the International experience programs.
