Hi all,

I was hoping to travel from the uk to canada on a WHP. The problem is that I graduate in Nov 2011 and was hoping to go shortly after that.
Can I apply for a WHP when the scheme opens in Jan 2011 or do I have to wait for the next year (2012)?

Thanks in advance

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

You can apply now, from the Bunac website's section on eligibility:

A current full-time degree level student at a UK university OR those holding an unconditional offer for 2010 or 2011 OR have completed and graduated in 2009.

Just bear in mind that if you apply this January, you'll only have a year to enter Canada so would have to go straight after your course finishes.

Have fun!

Hi

Remember though that changes in the processing in the UK will/should be announced Jan 11th.

I thought it was the 18th?

Hi


Mea Culpa it is the 18th.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

the website has now been updated with the new changes

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca....aspx?lang=eng

Awesome news, it looks like they've made it so you can go for a second time, either the following year, or again within the eligibilty age range. That doesn't really affect me as I'd have done it as a student this year and still had the ability for one more non student trip. My biggest fear was the scrapping of the criteria allowing recent graduates, but this has been covered by the merge into one type of visa

What do you think this means for people that have already done a non-student BUNAC visa?

I've read everything there is to be read on the site but it doesn't mention it directly but sort of gives the impression that you could now get 1 more visa?

my guess would be that you can do another year as a non-student (as long as you are 30 and under)

i wonder how many places will be available, I will be applying for this and will need to get my passport renewed first. I will be aiming to get my application in asap

That's what I'm hoping!

It looks like for this year you still need to go through BUNAC:

"If you wish to apply directly to the High Commission of Canada, you will not be able to participate in 2011. You will have to wait until the next year to apply without subscribing to a third party organization. If you insist on travelling to Canada during 2011 through the IEC though there are no more places available at the High Commission initiative, you will have to subscribe to BUNAC’s services."

It says that the changes were partly brought in to make it possible for more people to participate... it will be interesting to see if they increase the places or whether its going to be a made scramble to get an application through on the 18th. It does concern me slightly because the student visas last year didn't run out, whereas the non student did. Where they've merged the two and made it possible for repeating years, competition is going to be fierce because of the wider pool of people eligible to apply. Just get your applications in ASAP and it'll be fiiiiinnnneee

Wish they had made that part clear on the main page before I'd gone spreading the good news!

You will possibly find that to have been Bunac's fault as the CIC allowed them to put visas on reserve for people before their application was submitted, hence the cap was applied to applicants and not successful applications (as it is directly for every other YMS country). Bunac were authorised to check the applications when they arrived and then submit them to the CIC if all was OK for the final approval.

It was good in a way since it meant that if you had one on reserve and you qualified as eligible then you had pretty much nothing to worry about but there will no doubt be at least a considerable number of people who had a visa reserved for them but either failed to be accepted or even just chose not to continue with the application process.

Even so, the non-student application number was a lot slower last year than expected, they didn't stop accepting new entries until late January, and this year will be an odd one because of all the confusion over how and when to apply.

I don't think that's true - the question which is answered with the above is asking about what happens when the places offered directly from the High Commission run out for 2011:

"I wish to travel to Canada under the IEC before December 31, 2011. There are no more places available through the High Commission but there are still some reserved places through BUNAC. Do I have to subscribe to their services in order to participate in the IEC this year?"