International Experience Canada Pools Open for 2022
You can now register to apply for a Canadian working holiday visa in 2022, with pools for the International Experience Canada (IEC) program open for this year’s season.
Canada offers working holiday visas to Australians aged 18-35 years old, as well as citizens of many other countries. This visa allows foreign nationals to travel and work in Canada for up to two years. But the application process works a bit differently to other countries.
Rather than simply applying for a working holiday visa, Australians must first become a candidate in the IEC working holiday pool. This is done by creating a free IEC profile on the Government of Canada website. Your profile will then remain in the pool either until you’re sent an Invitation to Apply, or until you’re no longer eligible to participate in the IEC program.
The Canadian government then invites people who’ve “waitlisted” in an IEC pool to apply in batches known as “Rounds of Invitations”. After being sent an invitation, you’ll have 10 days to decide whether you’ll accept it. You’ll then have 20 days to complete your online application for a work permit.
The final Round of Invitations for 2021 was in November, and the pools were closed for the year after that. But the 2022 season has now begun, meaning you are now able to create an IEC profile once again. The first round of invitations will be sent out this week.
Normally, all remaining profiles that are still in a pool at the end of each IEC season are removed from the pool. But this was not the case this year, with profiles submitted in 2021 carried over to 2022 due to COVID-19.
2022 Canadian working holiday visa requirements
Normally, International Experience Canada participants with a working holiday permit are not required to work for any specific employer (or at all, if they don’t want to.) But last year, due to COVID-19, the Canadian government required anyone entering the country with this type of visa to already have a job lined up.
This requirement has been dropped for the 2022 International Experience Canada season. However, anyone entering Canada under this program during this year is required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (except if you’re working in certain agriculture or meat processing jobs). The Canadian government lists approved vaccines on its website.
