2012 International Experience Canada Programme

Funsterdelux

Just got this email from USIT:

Thank you for registering your Interest in the 2012 International Experience Canada Programme. Unfortunately the details of the programme have not yet been released, including pricing or the opening date. We will be in contact with you as soon as we receive the information.

Thank you for your patience.
Kind regards

orgaz

Thanks for that Funsterdelux, I just checked the IEC Page today aswell and there is no confirmation date either.. Sucks :mad:

IEC France is now open so hopefully we will know soon when its open for Ireland. My visa is up the end of January so Im hoping they open it early Jan... (Fingers crossed) !

Tiv

got that email too but im still in ireland hoping to go out next year after i finish my masters. Is there a good chance to get work out there with an honours degree and a masters in accounting?

orgaz

Hi Tiv

Yes Definitely, I have 2 friends in that field and they had no problem finding work and are with there company 2 years now and even got sponsored by them for a year.

But like anything else if you want to work you really have to push hard, do your research and keep focused and you will find work here no problem, esp with your masters.

Best of luck

Tiv

Thank you very much thats great to hear I wont be going until nearly this time next year so I have plenty of time to research. Thanks again

tireoghain12

Also got the email....I know the programme doesn't close until July/August but do you have to apply in January to have any chance of getting the visa? or is it safe enough to apply in March or April?

retalivity

i'd recommend applying straight away....once you get the loi, you dont have to leave straight away......you have a year from the date to enter canada

tireoghain12

retalivity wrote: »

i'd recommend applying straight away....once you get the loi, you dont have to leave straight away......you have a year from the date to enter canada

Yeah I will now. Just read that I won't have to have the money in my bank before applying so it makes it easier to apply in January and save for four or five months. Thanks

can2011

just out of curiosity does anyone know when the french iec programme for 2012 opened?

FoosChic

can2011 wrote: »

just out of curiosity does anyone know when the french iec programme for 2012 opened?

pretty sure it's already opened

minnow1

and it closed yesterday!! WTF! 6750 places gone - when did they open I wonder - it says it's still consider anyone who applied since the 16th Nov, but not after the 28th.. Wonder how long Ireland will be??

can2011

FoosChic wrote: »

pretty sure it's already opened

Thanks but I was wondering when did it open.

supra4444

I'm planning on going around March, I've been waiting ages for the visas to be available! What's it like getting work over there?? I have a degree in Marketing and I have a decent job in Dublin, but do you think it'll be possible to get a job at a similar level over there?

orgaz

Hey Minnow1

According to the IEC website its still opened for France and there is 14000 places available.

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/canada-europa/france/jeunesse-youth/programme_mobilite-mobility_program-en.asp

orgaz

Sorry Minnow1, just checked the IEC website again and first page it says its still open but when u click on the WHP Programme its closed..Thats insane!!!

They must of had very few places going..

Really hope we find out soon when its open for Ireland!! My visa is up the 24th January and I missed this years applications by 1 day and they sent it back to me

Tsukimi

Just received an email from them there:

Thank you for registering your interest in International Experience Canada (IEC) 2012. We will be open the initiative in the next few weeks.

So hopefully will be out the first week in January? Wanna head over ASAP now!

orgaz

Yeah I just got that email now aswell Tsukimi:)

Wonder have the forms changed from last year and if its still $3,000 Proof of funds..

Hopefully they are the same format as last year.. Ohhh I would sooo love if It opened soon and I got my application off to them... Really not going to be able to enjoy Xmas with this over my head

Tsukimi

Yeah I'm the same, it really would make my Christmas if it opened before, but that's probably not going to happen :<

My friends have their flights booked for the 30th Jan so I wanna head out asap after that

ShortskirtCiara

eeeekkk just got the email as well, applied for my Garda Clearance about a week and a half ago so hopefully will that. Can we start filling out the application now or not until they open it? I literally want to have it ready to send on the day they announce its open! Can't wait!!!

orgaz

As much as Id love it too I really dont think it will open this side of 2012.

Cant believe France is closed already after nearly 6k places gone.

My visa is up 24th, and I have a return flight home on 23rd Jan, But I also have a full time job and was made permanent and id hate to have to leave it

Soo let say a prayer and cross everything in the hope it opens up soon..

Best of luck Tsukimi

Bodhidharma

I've registered my interest and they sent me a link for a step-by-step application guide, but I cant open it and I'm having problems navigating the site, has any one else had a similar problem.

I want to head over as soon as possible. Is there anything I can do between now and the official opening date which would save me time then?

I am starting to do my research, but does anyone have any suggestions, as I said, the website isn't the most user-friendly.

ShortskirtCiara

Bodhidharma wrote: »

I've registered my interest and they sent me a link for a step-by-step application guide, but I cant open it and I'm having problems navigating the site, has any one else had a similar problem.

I want to head over as soon as possible. Is there anything I can do between now and the official opening date which would save me time then?

I am starting to do my research, but does anyone have any suggestions, as I said, the website isn't the most user-friendly.

It wouldn't work for me either but this is the link http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ireland-irlande/experience_canada_experience/application_guide-guide_demande.aspx?view=d

You could get your Garda Clearance now, it takes about 3weeks in total.

FoosChic

ShortskirtCiara wrote: »

It wouldn't work for me either but this is the link http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ireland-irlande/experience_canada_experience/application_guide-guide_demande.aspx?view=d

You could get your Garda Clearance now, it takes about 3weeks in total.

Thanks for the link wasn't working for me either.

Excitement!!

MJRS

Am I reading it wrong or do we no longer need proof of funds?! Or will that be part of the IEC form that goes up when the program opens?

cmac8

Hi

I see on the step guide, that it says that you require a police cert if you have lived outside canada for a period of 6 mths since your birthday. I have been to Australia for about a nine month period before, does that apply and if so has anyone had a similiar experience before?

Also anyone know what kind of costs USIT have charged in the past and the services they provide. We are thinking of using them for our visa application but have no interest in the add on like bank accounts etc that they are also providing.

Appreciate any help

ShortskirtCiara

cmac8 wrote: »

Hi

I see on the step guide, that it says that you require a police cert if you have lived outside canada for a period of 6 mths since your birthday. I have been to Australia for about a nine month period before, does that apply and if so has anyone had a similiar experience before?

Also anyone know what kind of costs USIT have charged in the past and the services they provide. We are thinking of using them for our visa application but have no interest in the add on like bank accounts etc that they are also providing.

Appreciate any help

Can't help you in relation to the police cert question but in terms of USIT, I went with them for a J1 Visa to America before they were so expensive, so this time were doing it indepentently for the IEC programme. In total with the visa fee, insurance & flights it will come to about 700euro. Not sure what other costs we will incur though, if any! I would recommend doing it Independently.

MJRS

ShortskirtCiara wrote: »

Can't help you in relation to the police cert question but in terms of USIT, I went with them for a J1 Visa to America before they were so expensive, so this time were doing it indepentently for the IEC programme. In total with the visa fee, insurance & flights it will come to about 700euro. Not sure what other costs we will incur though, if any! I would recommend doing it Independently.

I second this, I used USIT last year because there was literally no option to do it independently, they charged me hundreds for basically reading my form to make sure it was completed correctly. They also claim that you need to book your flights and insurance through them, which they charge extortionate prices for. I refused to do this and booked my own flights and insurance (check out airtransat and backpackertravelinsurance). They hadn't a leg to stand on! My friends used USIT a couple of months before me and USIT cost them about 2 grand for something which can be done for 700euro now. If not even less, the visa itself costs around 110, the insurance is 166 and the flight over is as low as 178 (just looking at airtransat's offers, not dates etc.) We only booked a flight over, we're glad we didn't book the flight home now as we are applying to stay a second year through the IEC, the flight would have gone to waste.

cmac8

Thanks folks

I have heard that about USIT before alright. To do it yourself so all you seem to need to do so is fill out the application for canada abroad form and family form, along with sending 4 passport photos and a garda cert. Then wait until the IEC application form, comes online and send them all off together to the UK address outlined. Is that it?

There is a section on one of the forms, thats says where have you lived in the last 5 years. I was in Oz, 4 years ago and wondering what to do with this section especially with my situation regarding needing to get the police cert from there.

Niamh84

Ill be reapplying for the 2012 programme. Im currently in Canada on my first IEC visa. Does anyone know if its easy to get a police cert from Ireland when you're already over here. It says on the IEC website that it has to be original copy so I cant use my one from last year. For my last one I had to show my ID in the Garda station so Im assuming its going to be difficult to try and get one now im out of the country.

Any help appreciated?

retalivity

Niamh84 wrote: »

Ill be reapplying for the 2012 programme. Im currently in Canada on my first IEC visa. Does anyone know if its easy to get a police cert from Ireland when you're already over here. It says on the IEC website that it has to be original copy so I cant use my one from last year. For my last one I had to show my ID in the Garda station so Im assuming its going to be difficult to try and get one now im out of the country.

Any help appreciated?

I too am looking for my second year, and Ive got my mother on the case for a new one that i'll (hopefully) pick up there at xmas. as far as i know its currently being procesed, no issues with ID

Zapp Brannigan

Do you have to have a Police Cert issued from Canada if you've been there on a visa before?

kraggy

Regarding getting a police cert while out of the country guys, my garda station said I could email them a scan of my passport and the list of addresses that I've lived in the last 6 years and that they'll post it to me here in Korea.

Check with your local station in case they do that for you. It might get you out of a fix.

If you just want to get the ball rolling after spending a year in Canada already and you're coming home for a while, email them all the info and have them post it to your family address. That way it will be ready.

Moral of the story: You don't have to be in the country to start the ball rolling.

cmac8

Just got a mail there from USIT saying that the process has changed from last year and that i will need a police cert from my time in Oz four years ago. According to goforless website this process will take up to 8 weeks. Do i need to have all this information before I can apply for my visa because if i do, i doubt that i will be allocated one as I imagine that they will be all taken up by mid feb?

Has anyone applied for something like this before and can offer any advice?

Any help would be appreciated

FreeAnd..

cmac8 wrote: »

Just got a mail there from USIT saying that the process has changed from last year and that i will need a police cert from my time in Oz four years ago. According to goforless website this process will take up to 8 weeks. Do i need to have all this information before I can apply for my visa because if i do, i doubt that i will be allocated one as I imagine that they will be all taken up by mid feb?

Has anyone applied for something like this before and can offer any advice?

Any help would be appreciated

And have the IEC confirmed this? I would take what USIT say with a pinch of salt unless confirmed with the IEC - as of 2012 (could be 2013 though) - USIT will have no affiliation with the IEC and to be honest the IEC cant wait to wash their hands of them so do not take anything USIT say as gospel...

cmac8

I got a mail from the IEC going through the steps to get you ready for your application yesterday. On this it says if you lived outside the country for a 6 month period in the last 5 years then you have to get a police cert from that country. I have contact UCIT and Go for less today and both said the same so i have to send a form off to Australia with finger prints etc ( and a cost of about 100 euros draft) to get this and they reckon that this will take 4- 8 weeks to process. They said that the FAQ section has not been updated on the site yet (which contradicts it slightly)

I didnt intend on heading over until start of the summer but could have done without the extra hassle

FreeAnd..

cmac8 wrote: »

I got a mail from the IEC going through the steps to get you ready for your application yesterday. On this it says if you lived outside the country for a 6 month period in the last 5 years then you have to get a police cert from that country. I have contact UCIT and Go for less today and both said the same so i have to send a form off to Australia with finger prints etc ( and a cost of about 100 euros draft) to get this and they reckon that this will take 4- 8 weeks to process. They said that the FAQ section has not been updated on the site yet (which contradicts it slightly)

I didnt intend on heading over until start of the summer but could have done without the extra hassle

If you are not heading over until the summer then I would not get the police certs yet - this time last year it was the same thing i.e. you needed police certs...I had everything almost ready for Oz and NZ...was so glad I held off as a few weeks after opening the IEC they changed the rules...as they have done numerous times...if you are in no rush I would wait until the IEC opens and the actual rules are laid out...just my 2 cents...

cmac8

Appreciate that

Just want to get things sorted as quickly as possible. When did they change the rules last year?

FreeAnd..

cmac8 wrote: »

Appreciate that

Just want to get things sorted as quickly as possible. When did they change the rules last year?

About 2 weeks after it opened I think...I remember discussing it in a thread here on boards and someone had just went to the hassle of sending everything off to Oz, fingerprints and paying the money etc. and it literally changed just as I was about to send everything off myself...

If only USIT/GoForLess have said that the FAW is out of date and not the IEC then I would still be sceptical...The IEC run programs for a lot of countries and often the mails they send out are not actually acurate for the actual country i.e. things get slightly mixed up...

all that counts is the actual application form that you download and the rules contained in that...the eligibility criteria changed a good few times last year after the program opened - some people applied early and got refused and people who applied later when things changed a bit got accepted (or vice versa) - even when the circumstances were identical..

Tight Ted

I've already done 6 months in Canada. When my year is finished, I'm not sure if I want to do my second year straight away.

If I move home is there a maximum period of time after my first year visa has expired that I can wait before applying for your second year?

Ie. If I wait too long is the option of doing a second year gone?

FreeAnd..

Tight Ted wrote: »

I've already done 6 months in Canada. When my year is finished, I'm not sure if I want to do my second year straight away.

If I move home is there a maximum period of time after my first year visa has expired that I can wait before applying for your second year?

Ie. If I wait too long is the option of doing a second year gone?

No, they are unrelated - as long as you are under 35 and there are visas available...

FoosChic

MJRS wrote: »

Am I reading it wrong or do we no longer need proof of funds?! Or will that be part of the IEC form that goes up when the program opens?

Says on this link you don't! http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ireland-irlande/experience_canada_experience/faq.aspx?view=d#ProofFunds

retalivity

How does the proof of funds work for people already in canada? 3 grand still required, even though im here and working?

I have the money in the bank at the mo, but am going home for xmas so come january, i'll be near broke again....balls.

FoosChic

retalivity wrote: »

How does the proof of funds work for people already in canada? 3 grand still required, even though im here and working?

I have the money in the bank at the mo, but am going home for xmas so come january, i'll be near broke again....balls.

Think I saw in FAQ section it's 2500 canadian dollars. I'd imagine it would be like us here,when you bring your LOI bring a bank statement with you too. You definitely need the money in the bank though even if you're working there already, mentions it in FAQ

kraggy

FreeAnd.. wrote: »

About 2 weeks after it opened I think...I remember discussing it in a thread here on boards and someone had just went to the hassle of sending everything off to Oz, fingerprints and paying the money etc. and it literally changed just as I was about to send everything off myself...

If only USIT/GoForLess have said that the FAW is out of date and not the IEC then I would still be sceptical...The IEC run programs for a lot of countries and often the mails they send out are not actually acurate for the actual country i.e. things get slightly mixed up...

all that counts is the actual application form that you download and the rules contained in that...the eligibility criteria changed a good few times last year after the program opened - some people applied early and got refused and people who applied later when things changed a bit got accepted (or vice versa) - even when the circumstances were identical..

Hey FreeAnd.

Are you saying that initially they were looking for police certs from OZ but then changed their mind and said that they weren't?

FreeAnd..

kraggy wrote: »

Hey FreeAnd.

Are you saying that initially they were looking for police certs from OZ but then changed their mind and said that they weren't?

Exactamundo....when 2011 opened initally you had to have police certs from every country you lived in for 6 months...then about 3 weeks into the program they changed it to what is currently in the IEC faq i.e. you do not need one (only an irish one - but may be asked for one during the second stage in London...I did not here of one person being asked for them during the London stage)

Unless you are in a huge rush to get to Canada by the end of January (which you shouldnt be because it will be miserable here) - wait until the program opens a while and you download the app form...then if it looks like a definite requirement get the Oz one (I think they're like $180 and require fingerprints which cost money to get done too)...

All in all - if you wait, you would still be here by April time which is the earliest I would reccomend anyone to come

montreal2011

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Do you have to have a Police Cert issued from Canada if you've been there on a visa before?

As part of the requirement to provide police certification with my IEC application, do I need to provide a Canadian police certificate if I have previously participated in the initiative?

No. You are not required to provide a copy of a Canadian police certificate with your new application if you have previously participated in the IEC.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ireland-irlande/experience_canada_experience/faq.aspx?view=d#PoliceCert

In the Step-by-Step Application Guide for 2012, step 3 is as follows:

2nd set of documents (admissibility to Canada):
Application for work permit made outside of Canada (IMM1295) | PDF (222 KB), Instruction Guide (IMM5487), *;

Application for work permit made outside of Canada, does this apply to those who are already in Canada and want to apply a second time? A confusing title if so! :pac:

somedeed

Apparently, if you apply and the application reaches the IEC, and they acknowledge receiving the application, before you become too old, 34 but turn 35 during the processing, then you are still valid. Does anyone know, if this also the case with living more than 18 months outside of Ireland? The end of January marks my 18th month in Canada, if I get the application to them before then, would I still be valid for the visa?

Have emailed the consulate but they take ages to respond and can't seem to find anyone by phone who can help.

Demo2011

It's actually 18-35 inclusive so up until the day of your 36th birthday


Must be between the ages of 18 and 35 inclusive at the time your application is received. Your application must be stamped as received by the Office of the Embassy of Canada in London on or after your 18th birthday, and before your 36th birthday;


As for being in Canada, that is covered aswell

Read about the program on the relevant website

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/ireland-irlande/experience_canada_experience/working_holiday-vacances_travail.aspx?view=d

somedeed

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it, but what I'm trying to understand is if the age principle also applies to the 18 month rule. Hoping it does, but would prefer to know for sure as it greatly affects my options.

Spunge

Can you still apply for this ?

retalivity

the program hasnt opened yet....probably will some time in jan