Youth Mobility Agreement between Canada and Portugal begins in 2019

The Canada-Portugal Youth Mobility Agreement will enter into force in 2019, Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ministry said in a statement today.

“Portugal is the latest country to be included in the agreement with Canada in the International Experience (IEC) Program,” the Canadian Government said in the statement.

The bilateral agreement aims to promote exchanges between the young people of the two countries, aged between 18 and 35 years.

Young people can thus “apply for study in a facilitated way” in 2019, however, the agreement is limited to two thousand candidates from each country annually.

“The program offers young Canadians the opportunity to broaden their perspectives on the world and Canada’s role through international travel and work experience,” Canadian Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said in the statement.

According to the official, this new agreement “will give young people of both countries the opportunity to broaden their perspective of the world, having a better understanding of both cultures, languages and societies while travelling abroad.”

In May of this year, Minister Ahmed Hussen and the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, José Luís Carneiro, signed a memorandum of understanding on the Youth Mobility Agreement.

Portuguese youth can apply for three categories of the IEC program: ‘Working Holidays’, receiving work visas anywhere in the country, ‘International Co-op’, with a work students to gain experience in their field of study and Young Professionals with a specific employer visa to gain professional work experience that is within their area of study or career choice.

Canada currently has such an agreement with 34 countries.

According to Ottawa, there are about 480,000 Portuguese and Luso-Canadians in Canada.