Working Holiday Visa Activation

Rainbow_brite

Just hoping someone can give some advice. I applied for the working holiday visa in the first round 2014 and was granted the approval letter around mid April which means it will expire mid April 2015. I have since gained employed in Ireland, in academia, which means my working year ends around May. I like my job, however, my contract isn't permanent and at the moment it's reviewed at the end of each academic year. I am in a position where I want to activate the visa in case my contract is terminated in June. If I was to fly over for a few days and come back before April will i be granted a two year visa on entry and will i also need to have the insurance cover for the year as I'll only be staying a few days? Any advice or tips from somebody who did this would be great

smallgarden

I was thinking of doing the same for the exact same reaoning

Faith

Yes, you'll need insurance for 2 years. Fly over, activate the visa, fly home and cancel your insurance within the cooling off period.

Buy more insurance when you decide to come over.

Rainbow_brite

Perfect thanks Faith for the response you wouldn't happen to know the best insurance company to go with if I was buy and then cancel it?

Faith

It really doesn't matter as you're cancelling it. I think go4less had the cheapest the last time I looked. We went with VHI because it has better coverage but that won't matter to you at this stage.

ravingitup

Quite possibly a stupid question on my part, but if you cancel the insurance within the cooling-off period, do you lose the money that you paid for it with, yes? I'm thinking of doing the exact same thing as the OP, you see.

Faith

You should get a refund as long as it's within the cooling off period. There may be an administration charge though.

festesio

folks, I did exactly this on xmas eve....arrived, activated visa, wasn't asked for anything other than acceptance letter. did not get specific travel insurance, but had proof of funds if required.

staying for a few weeks as a holiday...then heading home and plan to be back out here long term from the summer onwards( acceptance letter would have expired in March otherwise)

ravingitup

festesio wrote: »

folks, I did exactly this on xmas eve....arrived, activated visa, wasn't asked for anything other than acceptance letter. did not get specific travel insurance, but had proof of funds if required.

staying for a few weeks as a holiday...then heading home and plan to be back out here long term from the summer onwards( acceptance letter would have expired in March otherwise)

Great to hear that festesio, I'm going to be doing the very same soon. I was just worried if they specifically ask for travel insurance. I've no problem with the proof of funds requirement, I just didn't want to have to spend circa €300 on travel insurance on two seperate occasions if I could avoid it.

I'm going out early next year, coming back a few weeks later, and going back out permanently at the end of the summer. I remember I asked a similar question a few months back and one poster suggested that cancelling travel insurance would invalidate your visa or something like that, so it's great to hear that such horror stories are pure fiction!

Faith

Cancelling your insurance COULD invalidate your visa if you got found out and you were in Canada at the time. If you buy insurance, cancel it for a full refund after the visa is issued, and rebuy it when you come over, there are no issues. If you get caught at immigration with no insurance, your visa will not be issued and you will not be allowed into the country (unless they're feeling generous and issue you a visitor visa).

It's up to you if you want to play Russian roulette with it. Also, if you do have to go to hospital here and you have no insurance, costs are astronomical. In BC, it's $2000 per night just to stay in the hospital, excluding all the other costs. Better safe than sorry.

ravingitup

Faith wrote: »

Cancelling your insurance COULD invalidate your visa if you got found out and you were in Canada at the time. If you buy insurance, cancel it for a full refund after the visa is issued, and rebuy it when you come over, there are no issues. If you get caught at immigration with no insurance, your visa will not be issued and you will not be allowed into the country (unless they're feeling generous and issue you a visitor visa).

It's up to you if you want to play Russian roulette with it. Also, if you do have to go to hospital here and you have no insurance, costs are astronomical. In BC, it's $2000 per night just to stay in the hospital, excluding all the other costs. Better safe than sorry.

You are right, Faith. I suppose I never thought of it that way, seeing as I'll only be over to activate it for such a short while. I will buy it before I head over, therefore covering myself for the activation trip that I am taking over there early next year. My main concern was with having to pay the same fee twice in such a short period of time. But if as you said, you can cancel within a short cooling-off period, then I will be covered both for my short activation trip (cancelling it when I get back) and then I will buy insurance before I head over permanently.

smallgarden

I was thinking of getting multitrip insurance as thinking of activating visa at end of march on short holiday to Canada, popping over for the summer but back in Ireland for end of August. I'm going to try get one with 90 day trip allowed. And then maybe getting backpacker insurance if I head back over in September on a long term basis. I'm a teacher so it will depend on if I can get a job for next September. I'm guessing if I have multitrip they might just issue visa for the year but I don't like the idea of getting backpacker insurance and cancelling it in cooling off period.

clairebearster

Hey,

i'm in a similar situation to you all, i got my visa in the second round last year (2014) and i'm not in a position to make the big move till July/Aug. I was planning to pop over for a week in April/May to activate the visa then return during the summer.

My main concern is not the insurance issue but the legitimacy of my visa if i'm only going to be there for a week initially and then not coming back till the summer. Does any one know will Canadian immigration question this? will i have any problems at the border? they will be to see that i have a return flight booked and am not planning to stay for longer than a week.

Any help or insight would be great, thanks in advance!

Fiddlex

Did this work okay for people? My POE expires in 2weeks but I wanted to activate it and come back before heading out again later in the year

smallgarden

I went in april with a few weeks left on my poe. They accidentally gave me a 1 yr visa but I realised this before leaving the area. I went back to same person and she changed it to two years. I havent gone back to Canada yet but had no issues regarding the fact that I was only there for a few days, getting it.

Fiddlex

smallgarden wrote: »

I went in april with a few weeks left on my poe. They accidentally gave me a 1 yr visa but I realised this before leaving the area. I went back to same person and she changed it to two years. I havent gone back to Canada yet but had no issues regarding the fact that I was only there for a few days, getting it.

What was the deal with the insurance, did you just ring them and cancel it within the 14days? I dont want to cancel it and then be told I cant get cover again to return later on

smallgarden

I had multitrip for the canada trip in Easter. I had bought a backpacker one for when my multitrip ended but discovered that it has to start from the date I am travelling so cancelled it. They didnt look for it

Fiddlex

smallgarden wrote: »

I had multitrip for the canada trip in Easter. I had bought a backpacker one for when my multitrip ended but discovered that it has to start from the date I am travelling so cancelled it. They didnt look for it

Are you saying they didnt look for the insurance when you went over the first time?

I dont care if I dont get the insurance refunded if I cancel I just want to know it wont mess up things getting insurance again when I go back. Someone must know?