Working holiday insurance: Comprehensive protection for your international adventure

A working holiday visa allows Canadians to work and travel abroad, generally during their youth. Working holidays let you experience a different culture while earning a living. Depending on the market and the visa, jobs can be professional and full-time, or they can be seasonal or short-term jobs such as fruit and vegetable picking, hospitality, and tourism. Working holidays visas are generally only available up to a certain age, and will last between 12 and 24 months.

Canadians have access to working holiday visas in more than 30 countries, mostly thanks to mutual arrangements that allow foreign citizens to have a working holiday in Canada as well. Most people use the International Experience Canada (IEC) visa to take a working holiday here. While the IEC visa is limited to young people ages 18-35, other countries have different age brackets, most capping the working holiday visas at age 30.

Standard travel insurance packages are meant for tourists and leisure travel. While some standard travel insurance can cover you if you’re working abroad, it's not always the case. If you’re going to be employed during your travels, get a quote for working holiday insurance. Some countries may have specific requirements, such as a minimum coverage amount or coverage for specific areas such as emergency medical treatment, hospitalization and repatriation. It's important to get coverage sorted out as early as possible, as your visa may depend on it.

Whether or not health insurance is required for a working holiday depends on the country, so make sure to check the official government website of your destination country. Many countries require some kind of health insurance to get a working holiday visa, including Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and Hong Kong. Each country will have its own specific requirements - for example, many European countries require health insurance with a minimum coverage amount of €30,000 (CAD $42,857).

Many countries allow Canadians to visit as tourists for up to a certain amount of time without needing visas, anywhere from 14 days to six months. However, nearly every developed nation requires visitors to obtain a visa to seek legal employment. Because of Canada’s bilateral agreements with more than 30 countries through the IEC program, Canadians can more easily and affordably get working holiday visas for countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Costa Rica and many countries throughout western and eastern Europe

Yes. Australia has two types of working holiday visas (subclass 417 and subclass 462), and both are subject to condition 8501, which says visitors “must have and maintain adequate health insurance for the whole of your stay in Australia.” Having the right Australian health insurance for a working holiday visa is important - Canada and Australia are more than 13,000 km apart, and medical evacuation or repatriation of remains from Australia to Canada will be very expensive. Because Australia is a popular working holiday destination for Canadians, many companies offer policies for working holiday visa insurance in Australia.