Visa | physiooptions

The Canadian Work and Travel Visa Programme - “International Experience Canada (IEC)”

The Canadian work and travel visa programme, or “International Experience Canada (IEC)”. This is a 12/24 month (depending on category) visa open to Irish citizens of 18-35 years of age. This section website is intended to give you an overall picture of how to apply for this visa. Should you require further details on this application, information relating to this can be found on the IEC website.

Application can only be made by the person intending to use the visa however there are several organisations that will walk you through the process for a fee of approximately €100 (USIT being one). The process is very well explained on their website, so I would advise against going that route unless you are very nervous about applying. Maybe check out my blog and it might give you a better idea of the process!

In 2014, there were three categories of visa:

Young Professionals (2500)
International coop (Internship) (500)
Working holiday (7,700)

To be eligible for the Young Professionals category you must be a citizen of Ireland between 18-35 years of age. According to the IEC website: “You must have received a signed letter of offer or contract of employment in Canada that is related to your field of expertise and that supports your career development”. You also need health insurance for two years, at least C$2,500, a return ticket back home and a valid passport. Follow this link to the IEC website if you think this is for you: Young Professionals Visa

The International Coop/Internship programme is aimed at the same age group who intend to complete a work placement or internship in Canada (max 12 months) to fulfil part of their academic curriculum. As with the Young professionals category, “a signed letter of offer or contract for a work placement or internship in Canada that meets the requirements of your academic curriculum in Ireland” must accompany the application. You must also be a student to apply for this visa and it is only available for up to 12 months. More information about this visa can be found here: The International Coop/Internship

The working holiday visa is a 24 month visa open to Irish citizens between 18-35, holding a valid Irish passport, health insurance, return ticket and C$2,500. Extra information on this visa can be found here: Working Holiday Visa

It is likely that most of us will not have a job offer going to Canada and therefore the Working Holiday Visa is the most appropriate visa for us, so here is how the application process works:

The Application is conducted through an “IEC Kompas account”. This is, for all intents and purposes an email account that gives you the ability to contact IEC directly. All communication regarding the visa application will be conducted via this account but they email you to your personal email account to let you know that there is a message in your Kompas account inbox which is helpful. You can only create a compass account when IEC is open for your own country (this year it was the 13th March at 8pm), so you really need to be checking their website daily as they usually only give you a few days’ notice of when the application process will open.

Documentation:

You will need two documents to start the process:

A scanned copy of your passport
A current CV based on their CV template

These documents need to be saved in PDF, JPG, BMP, GIF or TIF for them to be accepted with a max file size of 5MB. Once these documents are ready and IEC has opened for Ireland, you can log on and upload your documents as required. Make sure you are ready though; this year visas sold out in 10 minutes!

Payment:

You will also need a current credit card to pay for the application process. It costs C$150 (approx. €100) to apply, but if you decide that you don’t want to go ahead with the process, IEC will refund the C€150 to you.

Second Round:

There is a second round of visas. This year, applications opened on 1st of April at 9pm for second round offers. The process is the same and visas sell out fast so be ready!

Once your application has gone through, all communication will be conducted through your Kompas account. You can access your Kompas account via the IEC homepage. Go to International Experience Canada then click on “2014 Kompas login” in the menu on the left. Any new messages will appear in the “my messages” tab on the Kompas account (Top left).

Once you have uploaded your documents and made payment, IEC will contact you to confirm receipt of same and identify if there is any further information they require.

Letter of Acceptance:

I received my letter of acceptance on March 31st. This letter prompted me to open a “MyCIC” account via the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website. This is so you can submit a work permit application online. You are given a few months to do this by so you can take your time with this one.

For any other information don't forget to check out the IEC website!