International Experience Canada opens the 2024 season to welcome international youth

The Voice of Canada :

Canada continues to benefit from the interest shown by young people from around the world who wish to come here to acquire and contribute professional skills, travel and take part in the Canadian experience.

The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced today that the 2024 season of the International Experience Canada (IEC) Program is now open, which will allow nearly 90,000 young people from IEC partner countries and territories to come to Canada and participate. Those interested in applying can submit a profile as early as December 11, 2023.

IEC is a reciprocal program that allows Canadian and international youth aged 18–35 to work and travel in each other’s countries. Canada has established youth mobility partnerships with over 35 countries and territories, and in 2023, we signed new arrangements or agreements with Finland, Iceland and Ukraine, and improved existing ones with South Korea and the United Kingdom. While we look forward to welcoming international youth from even more countries in 2024, Canadian youth will also have more options than ever to gain international experience and perspectives by visiting our partner countries. We are also pleased to expand IEC’s use of automation technology to identify routine applications for streamlined processing, support the growth of IEC and facilitate work and travel for international youth in Canada.

With the opening of the 2024 season, participants will once again be able to take part in the Canadian experience through work and travel. This will have a positive impact on employers who are looking to fill positions, as well as on Canada’s tourism industry.

Quotes

“Canada benefits when young people around the world participate in International Experience Canada. This program will help Canadian employers in their search for talented employees, but will also serve to stimulate the tourism sector across the country. We also hope that young Canadians will take advantage of the reciprocal aspect of this program to gain work and travel experience from around the world that will serve them throughout their lives.”

– The Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Quick facts

• IEC has 3 participation categories:
  1. Working Holiday participants receive an open work permit that allows them to work anywhere in the host country to support their travels.
  2. International Co-op (Internship) participants receive an employer-specific work permit that allows students to gain targeted experience in their field of study.
  3. Young Professionals participants receive an employer-specific work permit to gain targeted, professional work experience within their field of study or career path.
• Canada and Finland signed a new youth mobility agreement in March 2023. Youth from Finland are expected to be able to participate once the agreement is ratified by both countries sometime in 2024.
• Youth will be able to participate in the Canada–Ukraine youth mobility agreement once travel to Ukraine becomes safe.