How did I end up in Canada?

Posted On November 6, 2018

I have never been on the other side of the Atlantic. Besides my college years I have never lived in another country. And as a side note, I studied in Czech Republic which almost feels like home so I do not really count that as living abroad 🙂 Now I am almost 30 years old and have been to Canada for about 2 weeks and plan to stay a few more months. And I came knowing no one here. How did that happen?

Those New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions neverreally worked for me but the last New Year provided for a nice reflection time.We went on a New Year’s ski trip with friends having fun, skiing and of coursepartying. One morning we woke up in our shared hotel room and started to reflecton the last year and on what is ahead of us. And this was the moment when Irealised I need to move towards something new…anything new.

The journey that lead me to this conclusion was of course longer, and I think I can trace it back to 2-3 years when a few new people entered my life and changed my perspective and inspired me to explore more of this world. Long story short, the first day after we returned from that trip I applied to participate in working holiday visa in Canada.

Why Canada?

The first answer is: WHY NOT?!

The second is probably because I have already heard about the working holiday program that Canada has before and as a nature lover and passionate skier Canada has always appealed to me.And yes, I loved Anne of Green Gables as a kid. Maybe that was one of the reasons I was unconsciously drawn to this country 🙂

Getting the visa a.k.a. sometimes you have more luck than sense

I do not want to get into too much detail about how to get the visa here but some basic information is necessary if you are not familiar with it. Probably the easiest way to get working visa is to participate in International Experience Canada (IEC) Working Holiday Program. It is the easiest way in terms of what is required from you.

The conditions are different from country to country. For Slovakia there are 300 spots available per year. You submit your application and wait days, weeks, and months to get an invitation (or not get invited at all). It is basically a lottery. The sooner you apply the higher your chance of getting the invitation because there are fewer people registered in the pool. The registration opens in November. I applied in January. And yes, I was pretty sceptical.

I have received an invitation to apply in mid-February. You have to provide supporting documentation within 2 weeks and then you wait for the decision if your application gets approved. I checked how many spots were left for the 2018 quota. It showed 5. I was still being pretty sceptical about getting the approval. You do not know how many people got the invitation at the same time and the system is first comes, first served.

After few more weeks I got a confirmation that my application was approved. I was speechless. I had to re-read the letter to be sure that I really understood it correctly.

You have one year to activate the visa, otherwise it gets expired and you cannot apply for this type of visa ever again. I knew I had to come. This was an opportunity which would not repeat.

And the preparation time began…