The application process for the long-awaited first round of Canadian working holiday visas for 2015 will open to Irish people on Tuesday April 14th.
It is understood a total of 7,700 International Experience Canada (IEC) working holiday permits, which allow Irish people under the age of 35 and their children to live and work in the country for up to two years, will be on offer for 2015, the same number as last year.
The total will be split into two rounds, with 3,850 available this Tuesday and 3,850 at a later date, yet to be announced.
Demand for the IEC working holiday visas among Irish applicants has been high in recent years, with the first round snapped up in a record seven minutes last year, and the second round in half an hour.
Applicants are advised to have their documentation ready before the application system opens on Tuesday, with a Kompass account already set up. For more details, read the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre's guide to the IEC. It is worth following them on Facebook as any updates will be posted there as soon as they are announced.
Irish-run information website Moving2Canada.com has a good FAQ document, and a dedicated Facebook forum for IEC applicants.
The time of opening will be announced on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration's website on Monday.
A further 2,500 “young professional” IEC permits are also available for Irish people with a job offer secured in advance. The application system for these permits opened on March 5th, and just 91 have been taken up so far.
Full-time students with an internship arranged can apply for one of 500 “international co-op” permits, just five of which have been issued since they became available on the same date.
The IEC programme, which started as a cultural exchange between Ireland and Canada in 2003, has become increasingly work-focused in recent years as Canada has looked to the highly-skilled but underemployed Irish workforce to fill labour shortages in its economy.
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