Step-by-step guide to IEC Canada work permits — International Co-op, Young Professionals and Working Holiday applications

Make sure the status for all forms is “Complete.” Double-check the answers you provided—once you submit your profile to the pool of candidates, you can’t make any changes to your info.

Click “Continue” to submit your profile. The next page is the “Notice Regarding Personal Information”—yes, you’re supposed to read it, especially the “Disclosure” part.

Note that you must acknowledge that you agree to the following terms and conditions:

• You will buy a comprehensive insurance policy with illness, hospitalisation and repatriation coverage valid for the full length of your authorised stay in Canada. Otherwise, the permit issued at the border will only be valid for the length of the policy term.

• Your spouse, partner and children cannot be listed as dependents and benefit from your IEC permit. They must submit their own separate application.

• Your Port of Entry Letter of Introduction is valid for 12 months. You must come to Canada before the date written in the “Permit validity” box, otherwise your POE Letter of Introduction will expire. Your application fees won’t be refunded, although you can apply again in future.

• You must show proof of sufficient financial resources to support yourself at the beginning of your stay in Canada.

• At your port of entry in Canada, you must show the following documents: a return plane ticket (or additional funds to buy one), your valid passport, your Port of Entry Letter of Introduction, proof of sufficient financial resources (at least CA$2,500) and proof of insurance coverage for the entire length of your stay in Canada.

At the bottom of the page, select “I agree” and enter your full first and last name(s) as they appear on your passport. You must also answer one of the security questions, using the answer you chose when you created your account.

Then click “Sign.” The next page will have the same notice and disclosure message again. If you didn’t read it before, now’s your last chance. You will see your first and last name(s) at the bottom of the page. After clicking “Sign,” you will no longer be able to review your profile or make changes to it.

After clicking “Sign,” you’ll see a message confirming that you submitted your profile to an International Experience Canada pool.

You can now see your application on your Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada account homepage:

Note to former IEC candidates who submitted a profile in previous rounds: you may see your previous application listed in another row. This is perfectly normal and it won’t affect your current profile submission to the pool.

You can click “Check the status of my application and my messages” to see the status of your application.

This page shows:

• Your application number, starting with “W.” Write it down, as this is a way to track your application if for some reason you can’t log into your Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada account.
• The date your application was received.
• Your application status for each of the categories you submitted a profile to.

What does “Eligible,” “non-eligible” and “not applicable” mean?

• “Eligible” means you submitted your profile to the pool of candidates.
• “Non-eligible” means you’re not eligible to apply in a category.
• “Not applicable” means that you were eligible to apply in a category but chose not to.

You can see your submitted profile status in the “My Profile” section. If it says, “You are a candidate,” it means that you’ve been placed into the pool of candidates. No further action is required at this stage—just wait for an Invitation to Apply and keep your fingers crossed!

If you’re in an IEC pool, you should start gathering the supporting documents required for the work permit application. It can take a while to get some of the documents, yet the deadline to submit them after you receive an Invitation to Apply is short.

As long as there are spots left, rounds of invitations for Young Professionals and International Co-op work permits take place regularly. For the Working Holiday category, the system draws applicants at random so you could be waiting for a few days or a few months to receive an Invitation to Apply—and you may not receive an invitation at all, since demand usually exceeds supply.

If you do receive an Invitation to Apply, you won’t have long to submit your Young Professionals or International Co-op application. The deadline will be specified on the invitation along with instructions for the general process. If you don’t submit your application by the deadline, you’ll lose your spot. To find out about the documents you have to provide with your application, read Get all the documents you need.