Anyone done one and any advice?

My current job situation is a bit rubbish and I’m finding it hard to get “in” with the media industry, being turned down for jobs as I don’t live in London (or at least that’s the reason they give). Me and some friends have been talking about saving up money and going away for a while. The “obvious” choice is Australia as it seems quite easy to get out there, but it seems a bit overdone. I quite fancy Canada (whistler? :P) but what’s the situation like for getting a working holiday type visa and is there any likelihood I’ll actually be able to get a “studenty” job anywhere near Whistler/other good mtb destination?

How long does the visa application process take – we were looking to go around August so is it wise to apply now?

Working holiday visas for Oz, NZ etc are all pool allocated so you have to time it right to get one AFAIK.

Obviously if you are there for the experience and not for a career then you might not be too picky on jobs. Assuming you have a visa its easy I worked in NZ, OZ and the US although the latter two i did not have a visa 😆

Pick a location and expect to drink far too much and pick up a few STD’s. Its all part of the fun.

That last line sounds like uni all over again 😆

I’d like Whistler for the biking but I guess it’s really sought after for jobs – worth a punt though I suppose. So that’s my location, I just need to figure out how to actually apply for the visa and start looking for jobs/somewhere to live 😛 I’m either crap at google or surprisingly there isn’t a lot of good information about this sort of thing on the internet.

I did one, though a little differently (I basically just went and got a job in another country).

I went to australia and got a job in a kitchen, then as a bike courier and all the while part time as a bike shop monkey. It was fun, and nice to be somewhere else. I went on my own when I had just turned 18 and it made me grow up fast.

Having been to Oz, Canada and New Zealand now I’d put Oz at the bottom of the list- it’s a strange country and while it’s fun the people are strange and it’s all too easy to get stuck in with the backpacker crowd who are almost exclusively morons. In New Zealand it was easier to meet real people and it was a lot more exciting. The locals were more friendly too, as well as biking being better.

Canada and NZ are similar but on very different scales.

It depends very much what you want to do. My aim was to get there, find a place to rent and get a job and learn some life skillz. That’s not many people’s aims on that sort of thing.

Plan where you’d like to visit, then find places to stay. Pick nice places- don’t skrimp too much some cheap places really made my time there hard. Nice places made it easier. Be prepared for your plans to change- you’ll meet people, want to do stuff with them instead.

Jobs wise, you’ll get a rubbish job unless you want to be a bike courier (yay!). When I say rubbish I don’t neccesarily mean unenjoyable, just a bit scummy.

You’ll enjoy it, it’ll be a larf.

I lived iN Vancouver for year on the BUNAC visa. Not sure if you can do it now unless you are a full time student when applying?

My ‘gap year’ turned into 7.

Pretty sure that I just applied for a visa in the summer and then went to australia.

Didn’t immensely enjoy Australia, but that was more to do with having to hang out with people that I wouldn’t normally want to.

I did nz and canada. I’ve been to oz too but I’d give that a miss, especially if you want to do some mountain biking

The Canada working gap-year visa program is changing at the moment, but you can check the website here for “latest” updates Canadian Embassy IE page

Thanks for the replies so far 🙂 Looks like I can’t really do much til that IEC opens for 2011.

Spokes my aims are similar. I was at uni for 3 years but as it was quite close to home I didn’t really get the complete “growing up experience” or whatever – I’ve matured a lot but it doesn’t feel like I accomplished a great deal still (especially as I still can’t get a job with a First) 😆 I was thinking about just getting over somewhere, getting a crap job for a while then trying to progress a proper career in what I really want to do (audio or video post production).

After a bit of reading I think I would have to do the BUNAC as a student working holiday visa requires a written job offer.

have the rules changed?

I did NZ and Canada without a job offer

Yeah according to this, Program A which is the working holiday requires the offer – http://www.visabureau.com/canada/working-holiday-visa-for-canada.aspx

Different-ish thing but I worked a summer in San Francisco in 1990 as a lbs wrench with a mate. Loved it. Rode a lot, got stoned and met great people.

I did it illegally, and had a contact to find me the job, but got paid more than in the UK and came back with a sweet ride (1st Sumpjumper Epic in the UK I’d like to think!).

Also spend summer 2003 working in France as a bike tour rep. That was a bit crap as I was on my own and the Frenchies were not friendly.

Go for it…if you CBA, do the cultural stuff as well as the hedonistic.

Are American working visas easy enough to get then (maybe not as you did it illegally)? I’ve been to SF and really liked it, was only there for 5 days though 🙁

Bunac young persons visa.. as long as you are under 30 you are good.

Nope, you dont need a job offer. can you imagine how difficult Whistler Blackcomb would find it to employ people if they needed to interview over the phone, create job offers so their $8/hr lifties could get a visa?

So do you have any jobs going at Bear Back Biking then? 🙂

haha, maybee..

No idea re visa etc, I was told I had a job and CBA with the hassle TBH.

haha, maybee..

Do you have an email address I could message for more info? 😀

Our email is in my name link. Feel free to drop me a line 🙂

Ta 🙂 Not looking promising visa-wise though. I just went to sign up for the BUNAC one and it says there are no non-student ones available and it doesn’t look like recent graduates can apply for student visas. Probably nothing available til 2012 I guess, but I’ll see what the International Experience Canada website can offer.

Tom, I’ve done a year in Canada on a bunac visa. When I did it in 07 you could get one year long visa when you were a student and one non student one as long as you were under 30. Working holiday visa means you don’t need a job offer, only a few hundred quid in your bank and a return flight. Does the bunac site say they no longer do the non student visa or does it say they’ve run out? If it says they have run out then sign up to their news letter and check the site regularly as they may well release more, thats what happened with me. You’ll then have to get in quick.

I did a season snowboarding in fernie bc (don’t do winter in whistler, no accommodation and full of clowns), 2 weeks on Vancouver island and then summer in whistler. Loads of jobs in summer and accommodation is easier to get, just turn up early, late april/early may. I worked for a landscaping company, Mon-Fri work but $16/hour is far more than the usual season job and I got to drive bobcats and excavators:-)

Best year of my life so far and met a huge amount of quality people from all over the world. Whistler seasons is a fantastic lifestyle and you won’t want to leave, just make sure you explore beyond the bike park.

Any questions, let me know.