Surge in demand for Canadian visas

The number of Irish people applying for working holiday visas in Canada has already outstripped last year’s total.

Figures provided by visafirst.com showed 5,418 visas have been issued to Irish workers so far in 2017, with a further 1,794 applicants having applied and likely to be issued permits if their applications are eligible.

That accounts for the majority of the Irish quota of 7,700 for the Canadian working holiday programme, in which visas are issued without job offers.

Edwina Shanahan, managing director with visafirst.com, said: “That leaves only 488 places for this year.

“In 2016, over 1,000 places went unused by the end of the year. Given that we are only in April it looks extremely likely that this year’s programme will fill up, and soon.”

The IEC program allows people from many countries up to the age of 35 — or to the age of 30 for some countries — to live and work in Canada for a period of 12 or 24 months.

Applicants need a passport from an eligible country and it must be valid for the duration of their stay.

They also need at least C$2,500 (€1,750) in savings to support their stay, as well as health insurance and a clean criminal record.

Edwina Shanahan said that the snapping up of visas for the programme showed the growth in popularity of Canada as a destination.

Applicants must first register their interest under the various IEC streams and if accepted for a particular stream, applicants then have 10 days to accept or reject the offer before it expires.

Successful applicants are also required to submit work permit documentation and pay the necessary fees within a 20-day period, with those advising on the process warning that all relevant documents needed to be prepared in advance so as not to miss out on an offer.