steewh

Hey all, this is my first post here , sorry if the title is a bit convoluted; it's not easy to try sum up my question.

To give some background, I'm a 27 year old English teacher who is currently studying web development (distance learning). I have always wanted to move to Canada and I am exploring possibilities of going there to try to get my first junior role as a web developer.

Now, lacking professional experience I would imagine it would be unrealistic for an employer to consider me to sponsor a work visa. However, I was wondering that if I had a Working Holiday Visa if this would be more attractive for employers. What I mean is, there would be less risk in hiring me as I would legally be able to work (for some months) without them having to sponsor a visa. I could maybe get my foot in the door with the WHV and then hopefully do a good enough job that they take me on with a work visa.

What I don't really know is how the WHV is seen. I wouldn't be there just to backpack through and work in temporary/seasonal jobs but rather would like to use the WHV to hopefully ease the transition to Canada.

This is me trying to combine a career change with my dream of moving over there; maybe it's unrealistic .

Any thoughts?

christmasoompa

Yep, IEC is definitely the way to go. You'd be work authorised, able to work for 2 years without requiring sponsorship and consequently much more attractive to employers. The vast majority of IEC visa holders on the forum do 'proper' jobs on it and then stay longer term.

You may well not need to transfer from an IEC to a sponsored Temp Work Permit either, you could be eligible to apply straight for PR without needing any help from your employer, once you've got some Canadian work experience.

Best of luck.

SchnookoLoly

+1 to what Oompa said. IEC is the easiest way to get to Canada. It's a lottery system, so at your age you have time to have a few cracks at it in case you aren't successful. Get your application in ASAP, though, as the cap for this year is nearly full, if it isn't already. The Canadian work experience will give you a good boost in points. Have a look to see what you score on CRS, assume two years of work experience in Canada (for when you apply in ~2 years) and it'll give you an idea of whether or not you'll have to do a bit more between now and then to get an EE invite. You'll need to be scoring around 450 at least. (You can estimate some things - for example, you can assume full points on your language test as a native English speaker.)

steewh

I've just been put into the pool of candidates! I'm excited! I'll poke around the forums to see what I should look out for with the application .

SchnookoLoly

There's a full IEC thread that should be a good source of info (Though you may have to scroll through a number of pages of posts!). Well done on getting your name in, now you wait! Best of luck!

christmasoompa

Sorry to be 'Debbie Downer', but you've got very little chance of getting a visa this year. You never know, but you can see how few visas there are left for this year (and how many invites have been issued) here - Rounds of invitations – International Experience Canada

So although you may get lucky, be prepared to have to apply again in 2018, but if you apply as soon as the 2018 program opens, then you'll be in with a really good chance of getting a visa next year.

Good luck!