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IEC
By Stephanie Ford
Posted on January 16, 2026
Here’s where things stand right now, what stands out in the early numbers, and which major quotas we’re still waiting on.
As of January 16, many of IEC’s most popular programs now have official 2026 quotas posted, including: Australia, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Korea, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.
The total so far for IEC’s 2026 quota is 47,120. This is trending lower than what we saw for the IEC season in 2025.
If we count the 2025 quotas for all the programs announced so far in 2026, the total quota would be 47,347. Though – that’s counting Australia’s quotas for this year, whereas it wasn’t counted last year because it had unlimited quotas. So, overall – we’re actually seeing a quota that’s around 6,000 spots smaller than the 2025 total.
We aren’t surprised to see the decrease, given IRCC’s general policies aimed at reducing the number of temporary residents in Canada in 2026. However, it does mean that competition is likely to be much higher this season than it was last year – and in the year’s prior.
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Australia: 5,670 (2025: unlimited)
France: 5,661 (2025: 6,615)
Ireland: 2,735 (2025: 3,800)
Italy: 1,850 (2025: 1,750)
Netherlands: 500 (2025: 430)
South Korea: 10,239 (2025: 11,570)
Spain: 857 (2025: 1,000)
United Kingdom: 9,330 (2025: 9,660)
These numbers place the UK, France, Australia, and South Korea among the largest Working Holiday programs again this year. While large, we do expect competition to be high in the working holiday pools for France, the UK, and Australia in 2026. For France, competition is already high – while candidates in Australia and the UK may start to feel the pinch later in the season. It’s possible that South Korea may not experience as much competition – unless more candidates are interested this year compared to last year, which is always possible.
One major surprise in this year’s update: Australia IEC programs have a quota this year. In prior years, Australia didn’t have a quota, so this is a big change.
For context, Australia’s working holiday program received 9,479 invitations last year. So this quota may have a big impact on competition for Australia’s working holiday program in 2026. In other words – Aussies hoping to participate this season should enter the pool as early as possible!
Given that France’s programs have been extremely competitive in recent years, the decrease in quota won’t be welcome news for 2026. We’re struggling to make sense of it, given Canada’s push to bring French speakers to the country (more to come on that). For French working holiday candidates in particular, it is critical to get in the pool as early as possible to receive the best odds of getting an invitation for this year. However, as it stands, many of you already in the pool are likely to miss out this year.
Luxembourg saw some large changes in quota for 2026, but the practical impact might be minimal. This is because Luxembourg’s IEC programs were generally undersubscribed and may not have even met the quotas last year.
The UK has been fortunate to see a relatively small reduction in the total quota for its working holiday program. That said, we do expect to see competition be quite high later in the year – as it was for the 2025 IEC season. It’s best to enter the pool early if you’d like to improve your odds of receiving an invitation to apply for this IEC season.
As of now, several high-interest countries still don’t have confirmed 2026 quotas for any of their programs, including: Germany, Japan, New Zealand, and Chile. We expect more of these to be confirmed by month’s end, if IRCC follows a similar roadmap to last year’s quota announcements.
Here’s the full breakdown:
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