This is intended to be a cost guide and a checklist for Australians who are interested in working in Canada through the Working Holiday Program.

Step 1: Canadian Working Holiday Visa
Everyone who is interested in working in Canada (whom is not a Canadian citizen) needs a Working visa. You won’t be able to work in Canada without this! It will cost you $160, allows you 12 months from the date it is issued, for you to arrive in Canada, once you have arrived, the Visa is valid for two years. Since 2008 the Visa is no longer an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which means if after two years you decide to continue to stay and work in Canada then you’re welcome to reapply for program! Click here for more information on the Canada Working Holiday Visa.

Step 2 (optional): Support Company
If you want help getting a job, accommodation and help getting your SIN (Social Insurance Number) as well as a Canadian bank account and it might be an idea to look into a company such as IEP. IEP offers loads of support, IEP are also able to give you discounts and provide you with free internet which can come in handy. Click here for more information on IEP including the packages available (there are a number of packages ranging from $295 to $565. Note: you can organize all these things yourself and it’s not necessary to use a company such as IEP if you feel you will be fine to organize all these things yourself.

Step 3: American Visa
The short and simple version: As an Australian you are eligible for the American Visa Waiver Program which allows you to visit the United States for up to three months without applying for a visa, the problem with this is that the 3 months includes any time you stay in Canada or Mexico as well. To put this simply if you have stayed in Canada for 3 months and want to go to the US, then you won’t be eligible for the Visa Waiver Program, basically your 3 months has been used and your best avenue is to get the B-2 visa. The B-2 visa is a visitor visa, it allows you to stay for longer then 3 months in the US. The visa is valid for one year, but can be extended to 5 years for an extra $35. Click here for more information on the B-2 visa.

The long and complicated version: Click here for my blog post on this subject.

Step 3: Travel Insurance
Travel insurance is definitely a must have, particularly if you are going to Canada to snowboard or ski and it’s recommended that you get 3-6 months cover to start with and have money put away specifically to buy more cover at a later date. Not getting adequate travel insurance can cost you potentially tens of thousands of dollars, don’t be one of the people who don’t get it and end up in the newspapers because you got seriously ill or injured and can’t get home. Make sure you get covered for all the activities you are planning on doing; some insurance plans don’t cover injuries sustained from snow sports for example. Click here to visit my blog post on travel insurance.

Step 4: Book the Flight
This is exciting bit, booking your one way flight if you have no idea when you are going to return. The most important thing to remember is to have enough money saved to fly back home, make sure you have a bit more then you think you will need because if you unfortunately have to come back last minute for whatever reason sometimes flights can be significantly more expensive. At the moment you can pick up a one way ticket for around $1,000+ but I expect that amount to rise over the next year as prices start to go back up again, though not to the levels we previously saw. Sometimes it works out cheaper to buy a return ticket than a one way ticket and you can just not bother boarding the return flight and you’ve saved yourself some money. Your main options from Sydney to Vancouver are to fly:

Sydney–Vancouver
Sydney–Los Angeles–Vancouver
Sydney–Christchurch–Los Angeles–Vancouver
Sydney–San Francisco–Vancouver
Sydney–Nadi–Los Angeles–Vancouver

If you click on the advertisement to the right you can search Expedia which I think is a very good site for booking flights, you might also want to try WebJet which is another good flight booking website.