Misbelieves, Mistakes and Misses in the Working Holiday Canada process
Every season in the IEC Program (which includes the Working Holiday) there are hundreds of work permit refusals due to preventable mistakes in the application process. This info blog post will show you the misbelieves, most common mistakes, and most common refusal reasons. With this information you can be sure you will do better than all other work and travellers who received a refusal.
Common Working Holiday Canada misbelieves corrected
The IEC pool is not "first come first served".
Because invitations go out only a few weeks after the pool opening, it doesn’t matter if you apply into the pool 1 minute after opening or 1 week after opening. The chances for the first invitation round are exactly the same for all applicants in the pool. Invitations are sent out weekly during the entire IEC season, that lasts until about October.
No one is given preference in the pool. The chances of an invitation are the same for all profiles in the pool.
- It doesn’t matter, if you apply on your own, or pay a ton of money to an agency.
- Did you just finish high school? It doesn’t matter what education you have.
- Likewise, it doesn’t matter if you have many years of work experience or whether you even have a PhD.
- It doesn’t matter for the Working Holiday if you already have a job lined up in Canada. A job is not a requirement for the Working Holiday and therefore will not give you any preference.
- A job is only important for the Young Professional category and the Co-Op Internship of the IEC program.
No agency or immigration lawyer can speed up the process, or guarantee an invitation or a work permit.
No matter how much money you pay and what promises they make, no one has impact on the chances in the IEC pool. Everything is random. Stay away from that kind of agencies or lawyers.
The IEC work permit (including the Working Holiday) is not extendable
A common misbelief even with the immigration lawyers is, that an IEC work permit is extendable and they (illegally) advise applicants to apply for an extension to gain maintained status.
An IEC work permit cannot be extended beyond the maximum allowed time in the agreement of a country.
> In this info blog post < you can read more on why an IEC is not extendable.
There is no maintained status between two IEC participations.
If you are in Canada under an IEC work permit like the Working Holiday, and you apply for another Working Holiday because your country allows this, then you will not have maintained status while you wait for the processing of the new IEC.
You must apply for visitor record if your current work permit expires soon. While the visitor record application is being processed, you are in maintained visitor status and can stay in the country legally as a visitor until a decision is made or until you activate a new work permit, whichever comes first.
You have to stop working on the day your work permit expires and can start working again when the new work permit is activated.
A few more words that will hopefully put your mind at ease.
First of all, don’t be intimidated by the list of required documents and information. Although the process may seem overwhelming with all its questions, it’s essentially a combination of your work and travel history, an overview of your life, in other words.
Importantly, the government simply wants to know where you’ve been since the age of 18. They are not concerned with what you were doing during that time.
If a processing officer finds something unclear or incomplete, they will simply request additional documents. There’s no need to worry, this is a normal part of the process.
Moreover, the Canadian government and its processing officers do not judge your personal life or base decisions on it. Whether you’ve worked consistently or spent most of your time unemployed doesn’t matter.
Even if you spent ten years in your parents’ basement playing video games, that’s perfectly fine. What matters is that you can indicate where you lived during that period.
Similarly, your level of education or job experience (whether you’ve just graduated high school, have years of work behind you, or even hold a PhD) is not a deciding factor.
Ultimately, every applicant in the International Experience Canada (IEC) program is treated equally, regardless of their background.
Top 10 mistakes during the Working Holiday application
1. Typos when creating the profile into the pool
Do not rush! Take your time and answer the questions correctly and check for typos before submitting the profile.
Important data like name, birth date, birth country and passport number will be greyed out in the profile and cannot be changed later in the application. According to the official info from IRCC, you have to delete that profile and create a new profile with the correct information.
2. Applying for the incorrect category
Applicants sometimes confuse the available categories under the IEC program (e.g., Working Holiday, Young Professionals, and International Co-op) and apply for the wrong one.
Read the requirements for each category carefully on the IRCC website. Each category has different eligibility criteria. Applying for the wrong category could lead to delays or refusals.
- decline the invitation,
- delete the current profile,
- create a new profile,
- answer of ‘no’ to the job offer,
- re enter the Working Holiday pool,
- wait for a new invitation for the Working Holiday category
3. Missing the deadlines
After you received the invitation, you have 10 days to accept the invitation by clicking the “Start Application” link. From then on you have additional 20 days to upload all required documents and submit the application.
The IRCC system is very faulty. Do not wait until the last day to accept the invitation or submit the application.
Also, the system time is in coordinated universal time (UTC). This is different than your local time.
For example, you accept your invitation at 11:25 a.m. UTC, you must submit your application before 11:25 a.m. UTC 20 days later.
To be on the safe side, accept your invitation latest on day 8 of 10 and submit the application latest on day 18 of 20.
If you receive a refusal because you missed one of the deadlines, it is not the end of the world. You can create a new profile and enter the pool again as long as the pool is still open.
4. Not reading the letters that are received in the GCKey account
It starts with the invitation letter. The ‘invitation to apply’ letter contains a lot of links that are important for the Working Holiday application. By ignoring those links, many applicants miss important instructions and receive a refusal of the work permit. Below you can see an example of the Invitation Letter.
5. Not going back to the 18th birthday with the work history and resume
Unfortunately, this is a system issue. The application questions ask for details about “the past 10 years”, but IRCC doesn’t take into account that some applicants are older, and the past 10 years may not cover their full work history.
However, IRCC expects you to list your work experience all the way back to your 18th birthday. If you do not list the work history back to the 18th birthday, then an additional travel history form (IMM 5257 Schedule 1) will be requested and the process will be delayed.
6. Leaving gaps in the work history and resume
It is very, very important to fill out the work history without any gaps.
If you went to school or studied at a college/university, travelled or were unemployed, list everything and month by month. The selection in the application will then be “Student” and “Unemployed“. There will be no “Travelling” as a choice in the drop-down list.
If there are gaps in the work history or in the CV/résumé, the processing agent will request a more extensive travel history form (IMM 5257 Schedule 1) to be filled out. This is a very annoying form that will delay the application. You definitely want to avoid that.
7. Not ‘submitting’ requested documents after upload
Until the biometrics step, the application process is fully automated. After you submit your biometrics, a human processing officer will review your application. If something is missing, like a police certificate, the officer will request the additional document.
A common mistake happens when a processing officer asks you to provide additional documents. After you uploaded the document you wait for a long time, only to receive a refusal because the document submission deadline has passed. The problem is that the document never reached the processing officer because you didn’t complete the submission correctly.
To avoid this, after uploading the document, you must click ‘next’ and complete all the steps until the system marks the document as ‘replacement provided’. Only then will the document be properly submitted for review.
8. Relying on outdated information
Some applicants often rely on outdated advice or information from unofficial sources like blogs, leading to confusion about the application process.
A common mistake today is relying on AI platforms like ChatGPT for immigration advice. While these tools provide useful insights, they are often based on outdated data and cannot keep up with the rapid changes in immigration requirements. AI crawls the internet for information that could be months or even years old, which is problematic because immigration rules can change frequently.
To avoid mistakes, always check the official IRCC website for the most up-to-date and accurate information.
9. Not reading the program requirement for certain countries
Residency requirements
**NEW for Italy**: If you’re an Italian citizen, you’ll also need to provide a residence certificate (certificato di residenza) to prove you live in Italy. The certificate must be translated into English or French by a certified translator (it cannot be translated by you). You must then merge the original + translation into one file and upload this file into the “Optional documents” spot at the bottom of the Document Checklist page in your GCKey account.
Discontinuance requirements
Many Work and Travellers fall in love with Canada or want to immigrate, so they want to stay longer in Canada and make use of the additional options under the IEC program. After all, the IEC program is the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to work in Canada. For example another Working Holiday. Or another category in the IEC program like the Young Professional.
The following countries have a discontinuance requirement, which means there must be a break between the expiry date of the first IEC work permit and the submission date of the second IEC work permit application. You can only apply for a second participation after a certain time since the old work permit has expired. Here are the breaks:
- Croatia: 3 months
- Latvia: 1 year
- Lithuania: 3 months
- Poland: 6 months
- Slovakia: 3 months
- Spain: 3 months
10. Confusion about the eTA
One common mistake that many applicants make is not reading the very important POE (Port of Entry) approval letter after receiving it. Some applicants mistakenly believe they need to apply separately for an electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). Over the last 10 years, IEC participants asked countless times in the IEC support groups, “Do I need an eTA to travel to Canada?”
The answer is yes, you do need an eTA to travel to Canada. However, the eTA is already included in the POE approval letter, so you do not need to apply separately for an eTA if you’re part of the IEC program. Just make sure you carry your POE approval letter with you when traveling.
You can find the valid eTA number on page 1 of the POE.
Common mistakes at activation of the work permit
Number 1 mistake: Not buying enough health insurance
This is one of the most common, and most painful mistakes Work and Travel participants make. Hundreds of travellers have regretted this choice when arriving at Canadian airport immigration or a land border to activate their work permit.
Here’s what often happens: they believe they can purchase IEC health insurance for just a few months, planning to extend the insurance later and use that to extend the work permit. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
Take this common example: Australia allows a 2-year IEC work permit. Some travellers, based on their original plan to stay for just one ski season, bought only 5 months of IEC health insurance. However, when they arrived at the border, immigration officers issued the work permit for only 5 months, matching the length of the insurance.
The outcome? Huge, huge regret. That shortened work permit cannot be extended, even if the traveller decides to stay longer later on. As a result, they could only work during one ski season, even though the full 2-year permit would have allowed more.
It is the official IEC requirement from the Canadian government:
For the International Experience Canada (which includes the Working Holiday) you must have health insurance for the entire duration of your stay in Canada. So if your country allows a 2-year work permit, you must have a 2-year health insurance policy at the time you activate the work permit at the border.
> Check health insurance options here <
If your insurance policy is valid for less, you will get a work permit that expires at the same time as your health insurance. Then you will not be able to extend your work permit later.
The best IEC health insurance for European and UK citizens
recommended by other IEC participants who used them
Another common example, that many Work and Travellers report (and you might feel the same way), involves the uncertainty of being far from home for the first time. Many participants worry they won’t enjoy Canada, or fear they might get homesick. So, they plan to “try it out” for a few months before committing to a longer stay.
Because of this, many travellers purchase IEC health insurance for just a few months, thinking they can extend it later if they decide to stay longer. However, this approach often ends up with tears.
When these travellers arrive at the border with only short-term health insurance, for example 3 months, the IEC rules take over. Border officers issue the work permit for exactly the same length as the insurance. That means they receive a 3-month work permit, with no option to extend it later.
In the end, the decision is no longer theirs. Instead of having the flexibility to stay longer, they are limited to working and living in Canada for just those initial few months. Or they have to look into other work permit options to stay longer.
Number 2 mistake: Not having the proper health insurance
Many Working Holiday participants who are already in Canada on another work permit and have provincial health insurance mistakenly believe that this coverage is enough to activate their Working Holiday permit. However, it is not.
IRCC clearly states the following:
“Having a valid provincial health card is not enough. Repatriation is not covered by provincial health insurance.”
This means that, even if you’re covered under a provincial plan like OHIP or MSP, it does not meet the IEC insurance requirement, because repatriation (emergency return to your home country due to illness or injury) is not covered.
Furthermore, if you are no longer in your home country, you’ll need a travel insurance policy that allows you to purchase coverage while already abroad. One popular option for UK and European citizens is the > True Traveller for UK and European citizens < which is designed specifically for this purpose.
By the way, many people believe that provincial health care in Canada covers everything. However, this is also a common misconception.
For example, ambulance services are not free. I personally had to pay $385 out of pocket for an ambulance ride in Alberta, because it’s not covered under Alberta Health.
In the case of an accident or medical emergency, you can rely on your private IEC health insurance, the one required for your Working Holiday. This insurance covers services like ambulance transportation, hospital stays, and other emergency care that provincial health plans may not include.
Another big gap in provincial healthcare is dental care. No provincial plan covers dental procedures, but many IEC health insurance policies include dental coverage up to a certain limit, depending on the policy’s terms and conditions.
Mistake number 3: Not checking the work permit for mistakes
No matter how quickly you want to leave that stressful immigration office, it is very important that you check all the details on the work permit before you leave the immigration desk! Have it corrected immediately by the border agent if something is wrong. Getting it corrected after you left is a major pain and must be done via paper application with long processing times.
Check the information on the Working Holiday work permit:
- expiry date
- passport number
- If you did a medical exam, you should not have medical restrictions on your work permit.
- “open” employer
- “open” location