500 on waiting list for Canadian working visas after just one week

MORE than 500 people are on the waiting list for Canadian working visas, just one week after they were offered.

USIT said there has been phenomenal demand for the under-35 one-year Canada working holiday programme. When the 1,000 visas were offered last week USIT filled the places in just two days.

“The waiting list is still open but we don’t want to create false expectations for people,” said a USIT spokeswoman.

Yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said working holiday agreements between Ireland and other countries are avital part of Ireland’s public diplomacy.

“Many thousands of young Irish people have benefited greatly from the experience of working and living in foreign countries. In turn, many young people have visited Ireland and have acquired a life long love of this country. I am fully committed to these arrangements which are beneficial for the countries involved,” he said.

According to the department of foreign affairs, 2,500 visas were approved to Canada last year and 4,000 have been approved for this year.

Canada is proving increasingly popular among Irish people looking to move abroad for a year.

The only people that can qualify for the working visas are Irish passport holders ordinarily resident in Ireland and who have not resided outside of Ireland for more than four years since turning 18.

The programme fee is €399 which USIT said covers the processing of work papers, the processing of the visa application and “other support services in Ireland”.

Participants on the programme do not need to have pre-arranged employment before heading to Canada.

Dylan Whitty from Wexford is in Canada on a working visa and is based in Vancouver.

Himself and his friends have been travelling around Canada since they arrived there in October.

He said he is enjoying the experience and found it easy to get a job in Toronto.

“I think it just has everything a lot of different cultures. All the people are really friendly and the nightlife is like nothing I have ever experienced,” he said.

“I have also been to Calgary which was pretty prosperous three or four years ago but is now full of unfinished buildings.”