Countries Where Canadians Can Do a Working Holiday

Working Holiday Visa Countries

The working holiday visa is great because it allows you to avoid spending years saving for long-term travel. On a working holiday you can get a job abroad without the hassle of securing work before you leave. In fact, you can get multiple jobs, giving you the freedom to live and work in different parts of the country, rather than locking you down in one location. You could work for a while in one part of the country, do a bit of traveling, then settle down and experience another part of the country. It’s easy to find work and earn money while living abroad on a working holiday, so you can also travel abroad for longer!

Jobs Abroad for Canadian Citizens

The types of jobs you can get abroad will depend on your skills and the amount of previous work experience you have. It’s a lot like getting a new job in Canada! We’ve had Stepabroad participants work abroad in everything from marketing and communications to engineering; tourism and hospitality to education and agriculture – to name but a few. However, there are additional factors to take into consideration.

Each country has its own set of requirements for the working holiday visa, ranging from the types of jobs available to the length of time you can work in the country. For example, the UK has very few job restrictions outside of medical, dentistry and sports; Australia has limits on the length of employment with one company, and so on. To learn about the work restrictions in your country of interest, book a call to chat with our work and travel advisors.

How to Get Started

Great, so you’ve decided to move to a working holiday country. Now, you will need to look into the working holiday visa requirements to confirm you are eligible. Each country has different requirements, however as a general rule of thumb, you will need to be:

• Aged between 18 – 30 or 35 years-old, depending on the country
• Hold a valid Canadian passport
• Have support funds
• Have no dependents – the working holiday visa is an individual visa, so each person will need to apply for their own visa
• Hold a clean criminal record

You can find the individual requirements for the following countries below:

• Australia working holiday
• Japan working holiday
• New Zealand working holiday
• United Kingdom working holiday
• Spain working holiday

The remaining countries can be found through International Experience Canada.

What is International Experience Canada?

International Experience Canada (IEC) is a Government of Canada program that provides Canadians aged 18 to 35 with the opportunity to experience living and working abroad. They are the government entity responsible for arranging agreements with each of the above-listed countries. These agreements work like an exchange. Citizens from the participating country can come to Canada on a working holiday, and vice versa.

Stepabroad is a proud partner of the Government of Canada and has been recognized as an organization that provides support services to Canadians wanting to work abroad under International Experience Canada.

Work Abroad Programs

It can be tricky navigating the steps of getting your new life set up if you’ve never worked abroad before. That’s where we can help. Stepabroad’s working holiday programs provide our participants complete support getting their visa, job and accommodation (plus tons more!) sorted.

Our work and travel advisors assist with:

• Resume revisions & interview preparation for your destination country
• Step-by-step guidance on applying for your working holiday visa
• Help setting up your life abroad, including opening a bank account, choosing the right phone plan and more
• Travel and medical insurance
• Airport pick-up
• Accommodation on arrival
• Fun language classes
• Welcome orientations and a chance to meet other travellers
• Epic travel excursions
• Advice on how to pay your taxes while abroad
• Ongoing support throughout your trip
• And so much more!

Each one of our programs is unique to the other. We also offer different tiers of support, meaning we can provide you just enough assistance to get started on the right track, or hold your hand through the entire experience – you choose!