The 2023 IEC season is open as of January 9, 2023.
IEC Canada work permits provide young people from around the world with the opportunity to travel and work in Canada. They include the popular Working Holiday work permits, sometimes referred to as a Working Holiday Visa in Canada.
There are over 30 countries participating in the International Experience Canada program. Find out what you need to be prepared for the next IEC season:
To begin with, here are some other useful resources:
- Where to buy health insurance for Canada (note: this is mandatory to get an IEC Canada work permit)
- How to ‘Canadianize’ your resume (or ‘CV’)
- Case-specific help in our Find out about IEC and implied status
What does this mean?
What does IEC, IRCC, and CIC stand for?
- IEC: International Experience Canada. It’s the name of the program through which several categories of IEC Canada work permits are offered to young people from over 30 countries, including the popular Working Holiday visa in Canada.
- IRCC: Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. They are the government department responsible for managing the IEC Canada program.
- CIC: Citizenship and Immigration Canada. This is the old name for IRCC, though many people still use the ‘CIC’ acronym. You may see CIC and IRCC used interchangeably to describe the same thing.
What is a ‘pool’?
A ‘pool’ is the name given to the different country and category types that are on offer. There are currently three categories of IEC Canada work permit – the popular IEC Working Holiday Visa in Canada, the IEC Young Professional work permit, and the IEC International Co-Op work permit.
So for example, ‘Ireland: International Co-Op’, ‘UK: Working Holiday’, and ‘Germany: International Co-Op’ are all different types of pools.
You can become a candidate in as many pools as you are eligible for, though many candidates will likely only choose one.
What is an ‘invitation to apply’, or ‘ITA’?
A selection of candidates will be selected from the pools, and invited at random, and at various intervals, to complete their application for an IEC Canada work permit. These will occur in what are known as ‘draws’, or ’rounds of invitations’.
When you receive notification of this via your account on the IRCC website, it is known as an ‘invitation to apply’, sometimes abbreviated to ‘ITA’.