CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
IMPORTANT BIOMETRICS REMINDER BEFORE BEGINNING It is required that all applicants submit their biometrics information (15 min identity check) at a Visa Application Centre within 30 days of submitting your application. This currently can only be submitted at an office in Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland or Perth. (More locations available overseas if required). Steps will be explained in the process below.
BEFORE YOU CAN APPLY
Please make sure you read this entire document before beginning and read each step carefully as it is easy to make mistakes, which can be costly! Remember we are here to help, however all the information you will need to easily walk yourself through the working holiday visa application can be found in this guide so take your time and do it right the first time. If at any stage you become overwhelmed you can contact us at canada@theworkingholidayclub.com or canada@theworkingholidayclub.co.uk
DOCUMENTS TO ORDER BEFORE YOU BEGIN YOUR APPLICATION PASSPORT: Check the validity (time remaining) on your passport ** -
You must have at least 2+ years available on your passport from the time you wish to enter Canada (for example: If you plan to enter in November 2019 you want your passport to be valid until at LEAST November 2021 to get the full 2 year visa). Apply for a new passport NOW prior to starting the working holiday application, as you may not be able to progress until your passport has been renewed. To renew your passport simply visit your local post office. Criminal History Check – In the second stage of your visa application you will be required to upload a criminal history check from your country of residence + any country you have spent longer than 6 consecutive months. It is best to order these documents now so you have them ready to upload when asked down the track. The details for Australian, New Zealand and UK police checks are below. If you need help gaining a different report for your country of residence please ask.
POLICE REPORT: (AUSTRALIANS):
You MUST obtain this report from the Australian Federal Police website ONLY: https://afpnationalpolicechecks.converga.com.au/ Please read through the information then click ‘Start new application at the bottom of the page’. What you are applying for is a ‘name check’ only. You do NOT need the fingerprint check. *Please note if you have worked in another country (regardless of your nationality) for over 6 months (UK or NZ etc) you will also need to obtain a Police Check from that country.
You will need to tick option 35 for the reason you are applying for a Police Check when completing the application. Police Certificates cost $42 and can take between 10-21 working days to arrive so please be patient. There is no way to fast track this process. *YOU CANNOT GET THESE FROM YOUR LOCAL POLICE STATION IT MUST BE FROM THE WEBSITE ABOVE cont....
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK (NEW ZEALANDERS): You MUST obtain this as a part of the visa through the New Zealand Ministry of Justice here: https:// www.justice.govt.nz/ Click ‘Criminal Record Check’ in the black bar at the top of the page. Then go down to the link ‘Get your own criminal record’ and click on PDF ‘Request your own criminal convictions history’ and follow the instructions on the form. ***IMPORTANT: When completing the form DO NOT tick the box at the top of page 3 in the section headed ‘Full Record of Convictions’. (This is to ensure that any conviction/s meeting the criteria to be concealed under the New Zealand Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 will not appear on the ‘Criminal Record‘ document). This instruction is for Canadian immigration purposes. *If you have lived in both Australia and New Zealand for longer than 6 months in each you will need to get BOTH New Zealand and Australian Police Report. TRAFFIC HISTORY REPORT: (AUSTRALIANS ONLY) (IF YOU HAVE LIVED IN QLD OR VIC) If you live in QLD or VIC you will also need to supply a Full drivers license traffic history report. This needs to be a FULL AND COMPLETE Drivers history report not just the last 5 years. Even if you have held your license for 5 years or less. You can obtain these from QLD transport or VIC Roads websites or in store.
QLD LINK
https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/licensing/history/ traffic
VIC LINK
https://billing.vicroads.vic.gov.au/driverhistory/ If you have lived in QLD or VIC but never held a license you still MUST upload a traffic history report. As you will not have a license number you need to call Vic Roads or QLD Transport and request a letter from them confirming that you have never held a license in your name.
UK POLICE REPORT –
If you are a UK resident or have spent longer than 6 months consecutively you will need to provide a UK Police Report using this link. https://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx Click ‘Apply Now’ and follow the instructions.
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PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ORDERED ALL THESE DOCUMENTS READY BEFORE YOU START THE PROCESS BELOW. YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME TO WASTE SO MAKE SURE YOU ORDER ALL THESE IMMEDIATELY
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
1:
Click on link below to create a GCKey account and begin the first stage of the visa application.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html Once you open the link, please click Option 1: ‘Sign in with GCKey’ button below:
2: You will then come to a log in page. Please click the ‘Sign Up’ button on the right hand side.
3: Now click ‘I accept’ to the terms & conditions:
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
4: Next create your username and click ‘Continue’.Then create your password and click continue again.
N OTE: MAKE SURE YOU SAVE YOUR USERNAME & PASSWORD AS THEY CANNOT BE RETRIEVED LATER! WRITE IT DOWN SOMEWHERE IT CAN BE SAVED – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
5: Next, fill in the recovery questions below and click ‘Continue’. Please make sure you save these answers as they cannot be retrieved or re-set.
6: You will now receive confirmation your GCKey account is created. Please click the ‘continue’ button. Note: You can also use this link to log into your GCKey account at any point: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
7: Now click ‘I accept’ to the Terms & Conditions: *NOTE AFTER CREATING YOUR ACCOUNT YOU MAY BE REDIRECTED TO A HOME PAGE WHICH HAS ‘ENGLISH OR FRENCH’ AS AN OPTION. (This can happen whenever you try to log in and the website traffic is high.) If this does happen, you can log in using a different web browser (i.e if you are using Google Chrome, try again on Safari) or wait 24 hours to try again.
8: Fill in your details in the ‘Create Account’ section below and click ‘Continue’
9: Next fill in your own security questions and answers below. NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THESE SOMEWHERE SAFE AS THEY ALSO CANNOT BE RETRIEVED
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
10: Y ou will now be logged into your account that will look like the below image.
At anytime you need to log back into your GCKey account you can use the same link here: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html
11: Please click on the ‘Apply to come to Canada’ Link under the ‘Start an application’ heading.
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
12: You will now come to the Personal checklist page below. Under the heading ‘I do not have a Personal Reference Code’ please click the ‘International Experience Canada’ (IEC) button.
13: Fill in your details in the Eligibility section below and click ‘Next’
14: Answer ‘No’ to the below question and click ‘Next’
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
15: Enter your Country of Residence and click ‘Next’
Note: If you are from Finland you must be residing in Finland to apply
16: Answer ‘No’ to the below question as you cannot study on the Working Holiday Visa whilst in Canada. Then click ‘Next’
17: Make sure you answer ‘No’ to the next 2 questions below. If you are currently studying you can answer ‘Yes’ to the second question if you need to as it will not change the outcome.
IMPORTANT NOTE – You MUST answer ‘No’ to having a job offer. Even if you do have one you must STILL answer ‘No’ as you are applying for an Open Work Permit NOT a Young Professionals Visa. If you answer this question incorrectly you will have to start all over again.
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
18: Y ou will now come to the below screen that will say you are eligible for the International
Experience Canada. If your application does not say this it means you have answered a question incorrectly along the way and should start again or contact us for help. Click ‘Continue’ from the screen below:
19: You will now come to the screen below that will have 4 sections for you to fill out.
20: C lick on the ‘Continue Form’ button next to the ‘Personal details of applicant’ and fill in each section and click the next button each time to keep going. Once you are at the end of this section click the ‘Validate’ button then ‘Save & Exit’.
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
21: C omplete the same process for the next 3 sections until they are all completed and show up as per below. Then click the ‘Continue’ button.
22: This will take you to the end of the first step of the application where you will electronically
sign for your application to enter the pool. Click the ‘I agree’ button and fill in your details as per below and click ‘Sign’. It will prompt you to sign twice and then the next button to click is ‘Transmit’
23: You have now completed Stage 1 and have successfully entered into the pool of applicants and will see the below confirmation on your screen.
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
24: O nce you click ‘Exit Questionnaire’ and enter back into your account you will see your submitted application in your account as below.
This is the end of Stage 1 and you have now successfully entered into the visa pool. Shortly after this you will receive a confirmation PDF in your CIC messages section stating you are now in the pool. To view this, click on ‘Check full application status’ under the Action heading in the image above. You can then scroll down to view the message section. Here you can click the ‘IEC Welcome to the pool letter’ to retrieve your PDF as per below.
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CANADA step-by-step
visa guide
From here your next step is to submit your job offer to the Canadian Government. We will send you the instructions with your job offer on how to do this. Once the job offer is submitted you will wait until you are selected from the pool of applicants and receive an ‘Invitation to Apply’. This is where you will be able to upload your documents and submit your payment and application. You cannot go any further until you receive this Invitation. The visa office advises to allow up to 8 weeks to receive an Invitation however they are allocated completely at random and you may very well receive one within a day or two. Please make sure you are regularly checking your GCKey account for any updates by logging into your account here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/account.html
Once you receive an ‘Invitation to Apply’ you only have 10 days to accept it, then a further 20 days to submit all the documents. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you do NOT let this deadline pass. Even if you do not have all the documents ready (police report etc) you can upload a receipt that you have ordered it and they will then give you further time to submit the application. For some countries you may only ever get the one Invitation to Apply so if you are unsure about anything at all please just ask as we are here to help and have been through this process thousands of times. The Stage 2 instructions will walk you through how to upload the correct documents and submit your application.
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