Canada's working holiday visa cap met for UK and Irish applicants

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If you are from the UK and Ireland and are interested in going to Canada on a working holiday visa you will have to wait until next year to apply; The quota for the International Experience Canada (IEC) 2012 has been reached for applicants from the UK and Ireland and is now closed for people from these Countries.

In March, Canada made available a total of 5,350 working visa places for young people from Ireland and the UK wishing to spend a year in the country under the International Experience Canada (IEC) programme.

The visa allows those aged 18 to 35 to work legally in the country for up to one year. Applicants must be from one of the countries that have a bilateral reciprocal youth mobility arrangement or agreement with Canada. Eligible countries include Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and France.

A message was posted on the IEC website for UK and Ireland applicants on 28 May 2012, stating: "We will not accept any applications mailed after Monday May 28th, 2012. There is no guarantee that applications received before this date will be approved. Applications are processed on a first come first served basis. Once the quota is full with applications that have been approved, we will stop all processing. You will be notified of the status of your application as soon as possible."

The programme is popular among graduates and students wishing to take a gap year, but is also available to all young people, regardless of their educational background. A gap year is defined as time individuals take out to travel between life stages, typically those who have just finished schooling and who intend to continue further studies after their travels.

Applicants from the following countries can still apply for the International Experience Canada visa as there are still spaces left before the cap is reached:

AustraliaGermanyBelgiumDenmark
FranceChileCzech RepublicHong Kong
Costa RicaItalyJapanLithuania
MexicoKoreaNew ZealandSweden
NorwayPolandSlovenia


If you would like to apply for a Canadian visa WorkPermit.com can help. WorkPermit.com is a specialist visa consultancy with over twenty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Please feel free to contact us for further details.