Canadian Working
Holiday Visa

Once you contact us on the phone or on the web to request information for one of our services we will provide you with a free eligibility assessment which will determine the most appropriate visa for you. The assessment will include preliminary information on the visa conditions and how you meet the eligibility requirements. Once you agree to use our service we will process your visa application through to completion. Our service covers the checking of your documents and personal details for correctness before we lodge your application with the relevant Government/Embassy. In the event that we spot any missing information/documents from your application we will follow up by giving you a phone call or sending you an email to request the necessary details.

Thousands of customers choose Visa First to organise their working holiday visas every year because:

• We make getting the visa you need fast and hassle-free.
• We provide a free initial assessment on the process.
• We developed the unique online visa status engine which allows you to check the status of your visa 24/7. Check your status now.
• We're visa experts and have organised over 130,000 visas for people like you.
• We have a price and service promise to you to ensure a low cost effective service.
• We offer a step-by-step consultation as we do the visa.
• We provide an end-to-end service from assessment, through gathering and processing the documents till visa grant.
• We have local offices supporting the visa process.

 

The application fee is:

• Irish nationals: 24-Month Working Holiday visa – EUR 450
• British nationals: 12-Month Working Holiday visa – GBP 350
• Australian nationals: 12-Month Working Holiday visa – AUD 730
• New Zealand nationals: 12-Month Working Holiday visa – NZD 750

*Please note, Embassy fee is set by the Embassies themselves and Visa First has no control over it. Usually, the Embassy fee varies according to embassy, applicant’s nationality, type and duration of visa. The prices given here consist of Visa First handling fee and embassy fee. They are for one person, inclusive of VAT and are an estimate only. Please note that, additional fees may apply. These are dependant on the way you want to receive your passport, exchange rate changes, changes in the Embassy fees etc. In the event that in your case an additional fee is due we will contact you to organize the payment in the most convenient way for you.

No, you do not meet the criteria for the WHP Canada. Do not lodge an application. If you hold an UK passport you must be aged 18-30 years inclusive to participate in the WHP. If you hold an Irish passport you must be aged 18-35 inclusive to participate in the WHP. You may wish to explore if you are eligible to apply for a regular work permit.

Yes. The Work Permit may not be issued to exceed the validity of your passport. As such, please ensure that your passport is valid for the time you wish to be in Canada. If you wish to proceed with a passport that has less than 36 months validity, you must state in your application that you intend to leave Canada before the expiry of your passport. Write and sign this statement on the photocopy of your passport photo page that you submit with your application. If you plan to renew your passport, please renew it first and submit a photocopy of the new passport information page with your application.

No. The issuance of a Letter of Introduction counts as participation in the WHP. You are allowed to participate in the working holiday program twice, for one year at a time on each occasion. If you were issued a Letter of Introduction but did not use it, you will only be able to participate once more in the working holiday program.

No. Your Letter of Introduction is valid for presentation at a Canadian Port of Entry for one year from the date of issuance and is not affected if you turn 31 within its validity period.

No. Please be advised that we cannot help you locate prospective employers. You may source an employer over the internet, recruitment agencies, or newspaper.

There is no minimum or maximum amount of time you may for work the same employer.

No, you must complete a new application form.

A medical examination is required if you have resided or sojourned for six or more consecutive months in a designated country/territory in the one year immediately preceding the date of your application for a work permit under the Working Holiday Program. Upon receipt of your application, if it is determined that you must undergo a medical examination, our office will forward the medical instructions to you. Please see the Designated Country/Territory List to determine if a country/territory is designated. A country/territory is designated if there is a "YES" in the column entitled "Designated" in the Designated Country/Territory List.

or

If you have been hospitalised for a condition/illness or if you have been treated for a chronic, communicable or serious medical condition, you may require a pre-departure medical examination. You must provide a detailed explanation of your condition/history on your application form. A Visa Officer will notify you if a medical examination is required. If you are issued medical instructions you should take the medical examination immediately. If you manage a condition such as asthma or diabetes well with the medicines that you take you will not generally require a pre-departure medical examination.

NOTE: If you intend to work in the occupations of childcare, primary or secondary school teaching, or health services, you will be required to undergo medicals at your own cost. As a guide, the approximate cost to undertake a medical examination may be around $300. Ski instructors and camp counsellors do not require medicals. During the online application, you will be asked about your work intention. Upon receipt of your signed application form, you will be posted medical forms, instructions on how to have the medicals performed and a list of designated medical practitioners. We cannot approve your WHP application until we receive notification that you are medically admissible. Generally speaking, you should allow for an additional delay of at least 6-8 weeks in the processing of your application when medicals are required. The LOI issued will be valid for a year from the date of the medical examination. It will not explicitly indicate that you may work in an unrestricted field but the work permit issued to you at the Port of Entry will be an unrestricted one.

Occupational basis for medical examination: This list is not all-inclusive. Occupations which bring you into close contact (more than three hours per day and/or risk of exchange of body fluids) with people, namely:

1. workers in the health sciences field, including staff and employees, clinical laboratory workers, patient attendants in nursing and geriatric homes, medical students admitted to Canada to attend university, medical electives and physicians on short-term locums;
2. teachers of primary or secondary schools or other teachers of small children;
3. domestics or home care helpers;
4. workers who give in home care to children, the elderly and the disabled; and
5. day nursery employees or child care workers, including assistants and helpers in a child care centre or employed in a private home (au pair, nanny).

If you wish to undergo the medical examination in a country other than your country of birth, please indicate this and list the country in the Comments Section when you fill out the online application.

It is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to make a false declaration or to misrepresent a material fact. A finding of misrepresentation will prevent you from making an application to go to Canada for two years and may have serious consequences on this, or future attempts to enter Canada.

No. However, in certain circumstances you may be eligible to apply for rehabilitation. Please refer here for more information on criminal inadmissibility.

No. The new policy of two one-year participation periods is not being implemented retroactively.  So even if you have previously participated in the IEC, you will still be able to participate twice, assuming you can demonstrate eligibility to do so.  Please note this only applies to those who participated prior to the 2011 initiative.

At Visa First we do everything we can to make sure you receive the best possible service. If you feel that we have not achieved this goal we have set up a complaints handling process:

Complaints Process:

1. Where an official complaint is received by Visa First, the company will record the nature of the complaint and issue an acknowledgement email to the client within 5 business days of receiving the complaint. The acknowledgement will provide the client with the contact name who is responsible for dealing with the complaint. The official complaint must be made by email (you may also write, although this will slow down the process), and confirm that the client wishes to enter this process. Please email your complaint to complaints@visafirst.com
2. Visa First will investigate the complaint as swiftly as possible and where applicable, the complainant will receive a regular written update on the progress of the investigation at intervals of not more than 20 business days.
3. Visa First will try to resolve the complaint within 40 business days of having received the complaint. If the complaint cannot be resolved within 40 business days, the Firm will write to the complainant notifying them of the anticipated timeframe for the conclusion of the investigation.
4. Within 5 business days of the conclusion of the investigation of the complaint, Visa First will issue a resolution letter detailing the outcome of the investigation. This letter will include, if applicable, an explanation of the terms of any offer that the company is prepared to make in settlement of the complaint.

Alberta-$512; Saskatchewan-$352; British Columbia-$497; Ontario-$485; Manitoba-$387; Quebec-$610