I'm curious , as I never had anything to do with WHV and BUNAC, what exactly was the probelm? I here a lot of people on this board who don't have anything good to say about BUNAC and obviously it was enough of a problem that CIC became involved , so what exactly was going on?

Not until the 18th atleast

Thanks Chris, much appreciated.

NP... although thats for the direct route, based on your earlier comments RE Bunac BUNAC don't appear to have any idea when they are going live.

Simply, the CIC contracted the whole thing out to Bunac and Bunac used it to profiteer.

Unlike the new system and the system already in place for Australia and New Zealand, the previous system saw the Canada YMS exclusively handled by third party agencies for UK and Irish nationals. The UK applications were handled by Bunac and the Irish applications were handled by another similar organisation. This put the system out of whack for citizens of those two countries and basically meant that the Brits and the Irish were being discriminated against by the Canadians, whether by coincidence or by design, since those organisations charged additional mandatory fees for their services on top of the standard application fee, with a Bunac applicant facing fees of around £500 (before ACPO, flights and insurance) and the Irish paying even more. Bunac also insisted upon seeing the applicants return flight and insurance information before they would release the introduction letter to them as even though a return flight is not a pre-requisite of the CIC, Bunac knew that it was damn difficult to book a return flights 1yr+ in advance and so it gave them a selling point for their charter ticket out of which they would earn a hefty commission and to sell their 'unique' insurance policy organised via Endsleigh which was also astronomically priced.

Don't get me wrong, Bunac is a great system for 19 year old gap year students and 21 year old graduates as they offer support services not offered directly by the CIC and are friendly and helpful when you talk to them however they should be an option and not the only option and the new system should help to balance things a little. Realistically, there is no reason why a PhD graduate, an experienced white collar professional or tradesman in their late 20's should be treated in the same way as a 19 year old A-level student who has never lived away from home before and wants a year out before university.

Trust me, if I applied for a 2nd year on this, which it appears everyone now can by the way, I wouldn't be going through Bunac again, especially since I logged into their website the other night and they want another £300 in registration fees to apply for the 2011 program, even if you have already paid the same 'registration' fee in a previous year.

Thats the thing, I'm looking at and thinking I could fly over to Canada by spending £600 with this new route, made up of £300 on flights, £200 on insurance and £100 on the visa. Its upto to that price with BUNAC with the insurance and and registration fees alone!

It would be my first time away from home, and although I'd quite enjoy the challenge of sorting everything out and saving mega money by doing so, I'd be worried that I'd have no one to contact on the otherside. Even if I do decide to go with BUNAC, I am in no way going to shell out on their astronomical group flight and insurance policies.

I think it is a bit harsh to claim that BUNAC has used their Work Canada scheme to profiteer. As a not-for-profit club I don't really see screwing people out of money as part of their operational goals.

I've used BUNAC for about 4 years now, and I've always got what I paid for. I've had extensive help with filing a medical insurance claim, advice on form filling, and other last minute paranoid ramblings that have come about before flying across the atlantic. At no point was I forced to take a BUNAC group flight (and I didn't), and I only look the original BUNAC insurance policy as it was being hugely discounted - otherwise I would have gone elsewhere.

Arguments about having to go through BUNAC lay with the Canadian embassy, rather than BUNAC themselves.

I'm glad that the Canadian embassy have got their act together, and are allowing people to go without the safety net and fees which comes as manditory with the BUNAC method.

I completely agree with this, as you said Bunac does come with safety nets and some participants need those nets. In some ways I suppose it's a shame that CIC are completely taking 3rd party organisations out of the equation instead of allowing those who need Bunac, or another organisations help, to opt for that method.

Hmm...the CIC update is interesting but it does omit a few things.

Firstly, there is no reference, as to whether a psat participant under the old rules are exempt from applying for the new program.

Secondly, the WHP guide states "Be a citizen of the UK and be able to demonstrate residence in the UK for three years prior to
application". Leaves some room for interpretation surely? It doesn't specify whether the 3 years have to be directly prior, or just three years in general prior to applying.

Looks like these changes could be very useful!

I used the buffoons at Bunac for 8 years. Many different Visas for the USA and Canada. One of the things the Buffoons did was force Work Canada participants to take their insurance. This should never have been mandatory or if it were to be then it should have effected only participants going to provinces that refuse to cover new immigrants with 12 month or plus WHV's/visas for the first 3 months. I went to Nova Scotia where cover started not even a week after I called them to set this up so I did not need it but none-the-less the Buffoons forced me to pay it.

I'm not jumping to the Buffoons defence here but as for the return flight thing... This is a requirement of CIC so I was all down for the Buffoons to ask me for it because CIC certainly did at POE. The only thing CIC did not ask for was proof of funds. Talk about puzzled! LOL!

Roxy

The US programmes are a different scandal altogether and make Bunac Work Canada look like nothing in comparison. I have always been amazed at how Camp America can justify charging a participant around £500+ to get there and then profiteer from their cheap labour once they have arrived on US soil. It's nothing but legalised exploitation to be quite honest.

As I understand it, there has never been a CIC requirement for a WHV holder to carry a return flight with them by the way as long as that individual can prove at PoE that they have enough funds available to them to pay for at least their first 3 months in the country, around $3k CAD. That recommended sum tends to vary from country to country, e.g. Japanese participants are advised to have around 400,000 Yen available to them which roughly equates to around £3000, but I don't think the CIC have ever explicitly said that participants need to have a return flight booked going outside North America which was a mandatory requirement for Bunac.

This is what I really want to know, it does mention something about if you have previously been sent the letter Introduction through BUNAC but never used it, it still counts as being used once so you can only apply for the IEP one more time. So if it counts as being used does that mean its the same situations if you did use it? If that makes any sense!
If that makes any sense!

It does say "An exception is made if the candidate is temporarily in a foreign country for studies or short-term work." So I'm not sure if that includes working in Canada for a year, if you are now allowed to do it twice surely you don't need to wait 3 years inbetween!

As someone who has done Summer Camp USA through BUNAC twice, I would not agree. It is far cheaper than it's competing companies (i.e. Camp America). Plus the second time, I did all my own flights and everything, as a returner, and used conatcts from my first year of camp, which made it a lot more financially rewarding.

That whats I'm assuming. I think they have put that in, to try and stop people using the UK as a leappad from another country to Canada - I seem to remember there being issues with people coming from Britain without a basic level of English (think it was discussed in the Canada > Immigration forum).

I'm already on my second Work Canada year now, so goodness knows what I'm entitled for!

Hi

From the London's FAQ for the IEC.

"I have participated in the IEC on a previous occasion. Now that participation is restricted to two one-year periods, does my previous participation restrict my ability to travel to Canada in the future? No. The new policy of two one-year participation periods is not being implemented retroactively. So even if you have previously participated in the IEC, you will still be able to participate twice, assuming you can demonstrate eligibility to do so."

There is no 3 year waits between IEC, it appears that you are confusing it with the 3 years residency eligibility in the UK to apply.

"What does “3 years residency requirement” mean?

This means that that a candidate’s permanent residence (i.e. physically residing/living) must be in the UK for a period of at least three years full-time prior to applying to the IEC. An exception is made if the candidate is temporarily in a foreign country for studies or short-term work.