Program delivery update: Update to the instructions related to the International Experience Canada (IEC) Program

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

July 31, 2019

The instructions related to the International Experience Canada (IEC) Program have been updated.

The updates are summarized as follows:

Bilateral agreements and arrangements

IEC signed a new bilateral agreement with Luxembourg, on July 3, 2019. Information on eligibility requirements has been included in the bilateral agreement instructions for IEC participants who are coming from this country under the following categories:
- Working Holiday
- Young Professionals
- International Co-op (Internship)
A note has been added to the information on the Netherlands regarding nationals of the Dutch Caribbean islands.
To clarify participation requirements, information on the frequency of participation has been removed from the table and placed directly after the name of the youth mobility agreement (YMA) country or territory.

The number of YMA countries and territories in the instructions has changed from 34 to 35.

A clarification has been made to convey that, although recognized organizations have full access to all YMA countries and territories, some of the recognized organizations choose to concentrate their programming efforts on a subset of the eligible countries.
A clarification has been made to convey that recognized organization-nominated applicants are not subject to discontinuity rules imposed by some YMA countries and territories.
Under “Repeat Participation”, guidance has been added to clarify that, if an IEC participant has exhausted their allowable participations under the YMA with a specific country or territory, they can then apply through a recognized organization and, if eligible, maximize the number of lifetime participations up to 2 more participations.
The number of recognized organizations has been corrected; there are 9 recognized organizations, not 10.