The 2025 International Experience Canada Pool Is Now Open
Interested in moving to and working in Canada? The 2025 International Experience Canada pool is now open and accepting applicant profiles for the 2025 season.
Under the IEC program, youth from certain countries can obtain work permits.
In contrast to many other work permit-issuing programs, IEC applicants are provided significantly more certainty about their chances of success.
Work experience gained on IEC work permits can help foreign nationals build eligibility for Canadian permanent residence. Canadian work experience is integral to qualifying for the Canadian Experience Class pathway and also increases an applicant’s Comprehensive Ranking System score.
So, today, we will discuss:
- What IEC is
- Who is eligible
- How one can apply to the program
What Is IEC?
The IEC is a temporary residence program in Canada that issues work permits under three categories.
The program functions as part of Canada’s international commitments with other countries. Moreover, Canada is a partner in a number of bilateral youth mobility agreements that facilitate pathways for youth from these nations to live and work temporarily in Canada.
Youth who are citizens of countries that have these youth mobility agreements with Canada can therefore apply for Canadian work permits under one of the following IEC categories:
- The Working Holiday category
- The Young Professionals category
- And lastly, the International Co-op category
Each stream has a slightly different function:
| Work Permit Category | When Applicants Should Use This Category | Type Of Work Permit Issued |
| Working Holiday | – You don’t have a job offer. – You want to work for more than one employer in Canada. – You want to work in more than one location. – You’d like to earn money to travel. | Open Work Permit |
| Young Professionals | – You have a job offer in Canada that counts toward your professional development. – You will work for the same employer and location. – The job is paid and not self-employed. | Employer-Specific Work Permit |
| International Co-Op (Internship) | – You are a student registered at a post-secondary institution – You have a job offer for a required work placement/internship in Canada. – The work placement is required to complete your studies. – You will work for the same employer and location. | Employer-Specific Work Permit |
Employer-specific work permits are tied to a single employer, limiting where holders can work in Canada. These work permits indicate the name and location of the employer, as well as the profession the foreign national has been hired for and the duration of work. These work permit holders can apply to change their employer but should present all required documentation when doing so. The decision to approve this request is up to the immigration officer who is reviewing it.
On the other hand, Open Work Permits allow holders to work for most employers in most industries in Canada. These work permits are not tied to any specific employer and generally enable holders a much greater degree of freedom when compared to employer-specific work permits.
Who Is Eligible Under These Programs?
The 2025 International Experience Canada pool is now open. Moreover, the youth from countries that have signed mobility agreements with Canada are eligible to apply under the IEC, provided they meet the associated eligibility criteria.
Applicants must:
- Be a citizen of a nation or a resident of a territory that has a youth mobility agreement with Canada
- Have a valid passport for the time duration of their stay
- Be within the eligible age range based on the terms of the youth mobility agreement that their country has signed with Canada
- Have the equivalent of $2,500 upon landing to cover expenses
- Be able to take out health insurance for the time duration of their stay (participants may have to present proof of this at a Canadian port of entry)
- Be admissible to Canada
- Not be accompanied by any dependents
- Have (before departing for Canada) a round-trip ticket or the financial resources to get a departure ticket at the end of their stay in Canada
- Pay all appropriate fees
How Can I Apply To The IEC?
The 2025 International Experience Canada pool is now open. The IEC program works on an applicant system.
Before a newcomer can apply to a program for a work permit, they must first submit an applicant profile to the IEC, with basic information about themselves. Once their profiles are placed within the applicant pool, they can be selected for an invitation to apply for a work permit in the next round of IEC invitations. Also, IEC invitation rounds typically begin toward the beginning of the year.
Moreover, applicants in the pool can obtain an ITA at any time after the first round of invitations.
Note that from that day that an applicant receives ITA they must either begin their work permit application within 10 days or decline the invitation outright.
Applicants can also navigate to the ‘Rounds of invitations’ page on the IEC website to see their chances of obtaining a work permit under one of the specific work permit categories.
This likelihood score is based on the applicant’s country quota, the number of work permits already issued to applicants from that country, the number of applicants in the pool, and the remaining spots available.
Based on the percentage likelihood the webpage can deliver a rating ranging from ‘very low’ to ‘excellent’:
| Likelihood Rating | Corresponding Chance Of Obtaining A Work Permit |
| Excellent | 80 – 99% Chance |
| Very Good | 60 – 79% Chance |
| Fair | 40 – 59% Chance |
| Low | 20 – 39% Chance |
| Very Low | 1 – 19% Chance |
The IEC program prioritizes invitations to the Young Professionals stream. Thus, applicants are more likely to obtain an invitation under this stream than under the Working Holiday stream.
If you seek information on how to begin your Canada immigration application process, you can talk to our NavaImmigration experts at 1800-918-8490. You can also drop us an email at [email protected].
