International Experience Canada, the youth mobility work permit program: the closed 2026 season, country eligibility, pools and invitation rounds, the 20-day application window, fees, and arrival requirements for the Working Holiday category.
Applies in: CA
International Experience Canada, known as IEC, is the federal youth mobility program run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. It is commonly called a working holiday visa, but the document it produces is a work permit, issued under the International Mobility Program, and no Labour Market Impact Assessment is needed to hire an IEC participant.
The 2026 season is closed. The rounds of invitations official page on November 2, 2026 states that the pools for the 2026 season are closed, that a person who received an invitation to apply can still complete and submit a work permit application, and that a person who did not receive one will have the profile removed from the pool and can create a new profile when the pools reopen for the 2027 season. Everything below describes the standing process that applied during the 2026 season and will apply again when the pools reopen, subject to the 2027 season pages. Do not treat any 2026 date, quota, or fee in this guide as a 2027 figure. Check the rounds of invitations page for the current season before acting.
IEC rests on youth mobility agreements between Canada and individual countries and territories. Each agreement sets its own age range, permit length, categories, and repeat-participation rules. The eligibility page requires the applicant to select a country or territory of citizenship to see which categories are available, because no single rule covers every country.
The general conditions that appear across the program pages are citizenship of a participating country or residence in a participating territory, a passport valid for the whole stay, sufficient funds, health insurance for the whole stay, admissibility to Canada, and payment of the fees. A refugee travel document from any country bars participation. The United Kingdom Working Holiday page illustrates how country-specific the detail gets: British citizens aged 18 to 35 inclusive, a valid United Kingdom or Channel Islands passport, at least CAN$2,500, health insurance for the duration of the stay, no accompanying dependants, and a round-trip ticket or funds to buy one. Use that page as an example of the shape of the rules, never as the rule for another country.
Repeat participation also varies. Some countries allow one participation only. Others allow two, in different categories. The United Kingdom page allows a first participation of 24 months in any category and a second of 12 months, with an earlier-participation exception for pre-2015 participation. A participation counts only if the applicant arrives in Canada and gets the work permit. Approval without travel does not count.
Once the season is open, the applicant completes the Come to Canada questionnaire, creates a profile in the IRCC secure account, and enters every pool for which the applicant qualifies. The three categories are Working Holiday, Young Professionals, and International Co-op, for internships. Not every category is available for every partner country.
The categories differ in what the permit allows and what the employer must do. Working Holiday participants hold open work permits and need no job offer. The Young Professionals job must contribute to professional development and must be classified in Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities category 0, 1, 2, or 3 of the National Occupational Classification, with a category 4 job able to qualify where it is in the applicant's field of study and post-secondary proof is submitted. The International Co-op placement must be required to complete the study program, the applicant must be registered at a post-secondary institution, and the job must be directly linked to the field of study. Employers hiring in the Young Professionals and International Co-op categories make a job offer through the Employer Portal and pay the employer compliance fee. Employers hiring a Working Holiday participant follow their normal hiring process, because the permit is open.
A recognized organization can also support an applicant before and during the experience. Recognized organizations are Canadian-based organizations that help foreign nationals and Canadian youth work and travel through IEC. They are not employers, and they are different from representatives who help with an immigration application. An applicant using a recognized organization must submit the organization's confirmation letter with the work permit application.
During an open season, invitation rounds run until the spots are gone or the season closes. The number invited in each round varies. The rounds page is normally updated on Fridays, with a quota, first and final round dates, invitations issued, spots available, candidates in the pool, and a chance rating for each country and category. At least 5 days notice is given before the final round, and a very small number of invitations may be issued after the final round to meet a quota where invitations were declined or withdrawn.
Quota means the number of work permits that can be issued in that season for that country and category, decided with the partner country and announced before the first round. Spots available means how many port-of-entry letters of introduction can still be issued before the quota is met. Candidates in the pool excludes people who have not responded to an invitation, have started a work permit application, or have an approved application. An applicant who has received or accepted an invitation has a spot.
Selection works differently by category. Working Holiday selection is random, with no scoring or ranking. Young Professionals and International Co-op candidates usually receive an invitation, because spots often exceed candidates. Prepare supporting documents while waiting, because the application window after an invitation is short.
Accept or decline the invitation in the account by the deadline shown there. Deadlines are in Coordinated Universal Time. After accepting, submit the complete work permit application within exactly 20 days. The application page warns against waiting until the last day, because the difference between local time and Coordinated Universal Time can cause a missed deadline.
Complete the online forms truthfully and completely, validate each form, and leave no gaps in time in the work and education history. The personalized document checklist generated by the system governs what must be uploaded. Police certificates, medical exams, curriculum vitae, passport, digital photo, and family information are the documents most applicants will need. A medical exam, where one applies because of recent residence or travel or planned work in health, education, child care, or elder care, must be with a panel physician approved by IRCC, and results are valid for 12 months. Waiting until invited before taking the exam keeps the results in date.
Fees are paid as part of the application. The 2026 IEC fee, the Working Holiday open work permit holder fee, and the employer compliance fee for the other two categories are set out in the frequently asked questions above. After submission, biometrics may be required: fingerprints and a photo, given in person within 30 days of the biometric instruction letter at an official collection location. Processing starts after biometrics are received, and the standard processing time is 56 days from receipt of a complete application including biometrics.
If the application is approved, IRCC sends a port-of-entry letter of introduction to the account. The work permit itself is issued by a border services officer at the port of entry. Before leaving, check that the permit length matches the eligibility for the country and category, that it does not run past the passport expiry date, and that any medical-exam conditions are as expected.
On arrival, be ready to show the bank statement and proof of health insurance. The statement must be no more than 1 week old and must show at least CAN$2,500, plus return-flight money. Insurance must cover medical care, hospitalization, and repatriation for the entire stay, including the cost of getting to a medical facility, returning home, or returning remains. Buying one policy for the full permit length is the stated recommendation. Where insurance covers only part of the stay, the permit is issued only to the insurance end date, and its conditions cannot later be changed on that ground. A person planning to work in Quebec should note that Quebec Health Insurance Plan coverage does not cover repatriation, so additional insurance covering repatriation is still required.
This guide states no list of participating countries, no quota for any country, no permit length for any country, and no age limit beyond the country-page warning and the United Kingdom example, because all four are set country by country on the eligibility and rounds pages and change each season. It states no 2027 season dates, because no 2027 season page could be verified. It states no biometrics fee amount and no deadline for accepting an invitation in days, because the program pages name the biometrics fee without a figure and state the acceptance deadline only as the deadline shown in the account. It states no processing figure beyond the 56-day standard, because individual processing varies with completeness and biometrics.
No. The rounds of invitations page states that the 2026 IEC season is closed and the pools for the 2026 season are closed. A person who received an invitation to apply can still complete and submit a work permit application. A person who did not receive an invitation will have the profile removed from the pool and can create a new profile when the pools reopen for the 2027 season. The existing IRCC account and GCKey stay valid, and no new account or GCKey is needed. This guide describes the standing process so a reader can be ready when the pools reopen, and the season status must be re-checked on the rounds of invitations page before any step is taken.
Participation requires citizenship of a country, or residence in a territory, that has a youth mobility agreement with Canada. The rules are not uniform. Some countries allow one participation only, and others allow two participations in different categories. Age limits, permit lengths, and the categories available are set country by country, so the eligibility page for the applicant's own country of citizenship governs. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada describes the program as serving youth aged 18 to 35, and the United Kingdom Working Holiday page gives 18 to 35 inclusive as an example, but that example must not be treated as the rule for another country. A person holding a refugee travel document from any country is not eligible to participate. Check the country page before building any plan around an age limit or a permit length.
Working Holiday candidates are randomly selected from the pool. Profiles are not scored or ranked, and every candidate in the pool has an equal chance in each round. Rounds of invitations continue until no spots remain or the season closes. Young Professionals and International Co-op candidates are in a different position: there are often more spots than candidates in those categories, and those candidates usually receive an invitation. During an open season, the rounds page gives weekly updates with a quota, invitations issued, spots available, candidates in the pool, and a chance rating from Excellent at 80 to 99 percent down to Very low at 1 to 19 percent. A Working Holiday candidate may receive no invitation before the season ends, because there are usually more candidates than spots.
Accept or decline the invitation in the IRCC account by the deadline shown there. Once the invitation is accepted, the work permit application must be submitted within exactly 20 days, measured in Coordinated Universal Time, which may differ from local time. The application is completed online in the IRCC secure account, with no gaps in the work and education history sections and all paid and unpaid work included. Supporting documents can include police certificates, a medical exam where one applies, a curriculum vitae, a passport copy, a digital photo, and the family information form. Police certificates are generally needed for countries or territories where the applicant spent 6 or more months in a row since age 18, and the certificate for the current place of residence cannot be older than 6 months on the day of application. If a police certificate or medical exam cannot be obtained in time, upload proof of the request or appointment, and expect a later request with its own deadline.
For the 2026 season, every participant pays an IEC fee of CAN$184.75. A Working Holiday participant also pays an open work permit holder fee of CAN$100. A Young Professionals or International Co-op participant pays no additional fee, but the employer must pay a CAN$230 employer compliance fee and submit the offer of employment through the Employer Portal before the work permit application is submitted. A biometrics fee applies where biometrics are required, and this guide states no amount for it because the application page names the fee without giving the figure. The IEC fee, the open work permit holder fee, and the employer compliance fee are refundable if the work permit application is withdrawn before the port-of-entry letter is issued, if the employer withdraws the offer before the permit is issued, or if the application is refused. There is no refund where misrepresentation is found.
Bring a bank statement issued no more than 1 week before departure showing at least CAN$2,500 or the equivalent in foreign currency, plus money for a return flight. Border services officers may ask for the statement on arrival. Health insurance must cover the entire stay, including medical care, hospitalization, and repatriation, and a work permit may be issued only to the end of the insurance coverage where the insurance is shorter than the stay. The passport must be valid when applying and when entering and leaving Canada, and the work permit cannot run longer than the passport. If approved, the applicant receives a port-of-entry letter of introduction and the work permit is issued at the port of entry. Working Holiday permits are open work permits. Young Professionals and International Co-op permits are employer-specific. The standard processing time for an IEC work permit is 56 days from receipt of a complete application, including biometrics.
Figures that could not be verified on an official page were cut from this guide: the participating-country list and every country quota, age limit, and permit length; all 2027 season dates; the biometrics fee amount; and the invitation acceptance window in days. Check the eligibility page for the country of citizenship and the rounds of invitations page for the current season before applying or paying.