Brace yourselves because it’s that time of year again. The mad dash towards securing a Canadian working holiday visas starts now for Irish hopefuls as the Citizenship and Immigration Canada just announced that the International Experience Canada (IEC) programme is now open for the 2015 round. If you’re planning to travel to Canada on a working holiday visa, you should definitely pay attention.
According to reports, over the next few weeks, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will be announcing the opening dates for each of the 32 countries involved in the IEC programme. The immigration agency has yet to announce a specific date for Ireland, but it is encouraging visa applicants to check its website daily to get the latest news.
Just like last year, 10,700 IEC visas will be awarded to Irish applicants. However, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has yet to confirm whether the IEC visas will be allocated in one or two rounds, or be divided into separate streams such as those for working holidaymakers, young professionals, and “international co-op” for students and interns.
The Irish Canadian Immigration Centre (Ican) in Toronto said that there seems to be a huge interest to work in the North American country among Irish applicants again. With the expected influx of applicants, Cathy Murphy, a representative for Ican, is encouraging Irish applicants to make the necessary preparations in advance to ensure a smoother application process.
“Preparing in advance will make the application process less stressful,” Ms Murphy said.
To help Irish men and women wanting to travel to and work in Canada, Ican is also providing a handy to guide to preparing the necessary documents for the IEC application. According to Ican, here are some of the documents you need to prepare beforehand.
Up-to-date passport
You will need a legible photocopy of the identification pages of your passport. Your passport must be valid for at least one day beyond the date of your departure from Canada and there must be one completely blank page available in your passport other than the last page.
A valid letter of contract/offer (Young Professionals’ stream)
If you are applying under the Young Professionals’ stream, you will need a valid letter of offer or contract from your prospective employer. The employment offer must be within your field of expertise and it should be able to contribute to your professional development. The letter must also have the employer’s letterhead or be stamped with the company seal or business number.