All information provided are directly from IRCC Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Become a candidate
If you want to travel and work temporarily in Canada as part of International Experience Canada (IEC), your first step is to become a candidate in one or more IEC pools.
You should become a candidate as soon as possible, if you want to start working in Canada in the next 12 months.
How to become a candidate
This is a process where you:
- find out if you’re eligible by answering some questions, and if so,
- create a free online IEC profile.
The answers you give us will be used to determine if you’re eligible for a pool in one or more IEC categories:
- International Co-op (Internship)
- Working Holiday
- Young Professionals
There is one pool of eligible candidates per country and per category.
You can submit your profile to one or more of these pools. Candidates in the pools need to receive an invitation to apply for a work permit.
Tip: You may want to open this page in a different browser, tab or window while you complete your profile. You can then refer back to this information as needed.
Step 1: Answer a few questions
Use our questionnaire to see if you meet the criteria to get into the IEC pools. It will take you about 10 minutes. It will ask you about your:
- country of citizenship
- country of permanent residence (where you live permanently)
- country of residence (where you live now)
- student status (if this applies to you)
- job offer (if this applies to you)
Note: Your country of permanent residence is the country where you have a permanent address. For example, if you’re a Mexican student in Canada, your country of permanent residence is Mexico.
To answer the questionnaire, you have two options:
- Sign in to your account and select “International Experience Canada”
- Find out if you’re eligible without signing in
If you’re not sure if you’re eligible or you don’t already have an account, find out if you’re eligible without signing in.
Step 2: Complete your online IEC profile
If you get a positive result, you can complete and submit your IEC profile online.
If you checked your eligibility without signing in, follow these steps:
- Copy or write down the personal reference code we give you at the end of the questionnaire (It looks like this: JM1234567890).
- Create your account.
- Enter your personal reference code when asked.
If you signed in to your account to check your eligibility, click “Continue.” You won’t get a personal reference code. You don’t need one.
We’ll use your answers from the questionnaire to start your profile. To complete your profile, you’ll need your passport.You’ll also need to tell us about your:
- identity (full names, date of birth, place of birth etc.)
- contact information
Filling in the online forms
- Leave out any commas that separate your first or last names (if you have more than one first or last name). For example, use “Julie Louise Marie” if your first name is “Julie, Louise, Marie”.
- Use English and French letters only.
- If your passport uses other special letters or characters, use the letter without the accent. For example, use “z” instead of “ź.”
If you want to complete your profile later
You may exit the profile at any time. Your information will be saved.
If you do not complete the IEC profile in 60 days, you won’t be able to submit it and will have to start again.
Step 3: Submit your profile
When you complete your profile, we’ll tell you which pools are available to you. You can submit your profile to any of these available pools.
Before you submit your profile, make you sure you understand which category is right for you.
Important: Submitting an IEC profile does not mean you have applied for a work permit. You need an invitation to apply to start a work permit application.
If you’re invited to apply, you’ll use your account to:
- submit your work permit application
- pay your fees
- check the status of your application
This is the only way to apply for an IEC work permit.
Invitations to apply
If you’re invited to apply, you’ll get a message in your account. The message will list your category and your next steps.
You’ll have 10 days to decide if you’ll accept the invitation. The deadline will be in your invitation. From the day you accept the invitation, you’ll have 20 days to apply online for a work permit.
To accept the invitation:
- go to the section called “Continue my profile / application, not yet submitted” in your account,
- find the application called “Work permit”, and
- click “Start application”.
If you do not respond by the deadline shown in the invitation, the invitation will expire. If it expires, you’ll have to submit a new IEC profile and be accepted to the pool again before you can be considered for future invitations.
Once you accept your invitation, you need to apply for a work permit. You’ll have to show proof of the information you gave us in your International Experience Canada (IEC) profile. You’ll also have to provide more information about your background and the type of work you intend to do in Canada.
Declining an invitation to apply
If you decline an invitation, you’ll stay in the IEC pool of candidates (as long as you are still eligible) to be considered in future rounds of invitations.
If you choose to decline an invitation, it will not have a negative effect on future invitations.
To decline the invitation:
- go to the section called “Continue my profile / application, not yet submitted” in your account,
- find the application called “Work permit”, and
- click “Decline application”.
If you do not respond to an invitation, the invitation will expire by the deadline shown in the invitation. If it expires, you’ll have to submit a new IEC profile and be accepted into the pool again before you can be considered for future invitations.
Applicants in multiple pools
If you’re in more than one pool and you receive an Invitation to Apply for one category, you cannot be selected from another pool until:
- you decline the Invitation to Apply, or
- you’ve submitted your work permit application and we’ve refused your application.
If you decline the invitation or we refuse your work permit application, your profile will become active again and you may receive another Invitation to Apply.
Documents to support your application for a work permit
If you’re accepted into an IEC pool, you should consider getting your supporting documents ready as some of them may take some time to prepare (for example: police certificate(s)). We’ll regularly issue invitations to apply to candidates in the pool. If you accept an Invitation to Apply, you’ll only have 20 days to complete and submit your application for a work permit and submit all supporting documents. If these documents are ready in advance, it will be easier to apply within the 20 days.
If you’re not invited to apply
You can stay in an IEC pool:
- until we remove all profiles from the pools at the end of the season, or
- you’re no longer eligible for IEC.
Some categories will run out of spots before the season closes. If that happens, we’ll stop accepting profiles for that pool. If your profile is in a pool for another category, you may still get an invitation to apply for that category. If you want to submit a profile to a different pool, withdraw your current profile and submit a new one.
When we close the pools, you’ll be notified through your account that the pools have closed.
At the end of each season, the pools will be closed for at least two weeks while we prepare for the next season.
If you’re still interested in coming to Canada to travel and work as part of IEC, you’ll need to complete and submit a new profile when the next season opens. Once you start, you’ll have 60 days to complete the profile. If you still meet the minimum entry criteria, you’ll get a new IEC profile number. If you do not submit a new profile within the 60 days, you’ll have to start over.
Date modified: 2019-01-29 by IRCC Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
