Now is the time to prepare for your summer job experience abroad.

In order to help you to find a job for an experience abroad, we have selected a few organisations for each of the themes below.

Job Hunting in Canada

Seasonal Work

Canada is officially bilingual, so you can polish your French while waiting tables in Quebec City, or do IT work (in English) in Toronto.

Resorts in the Rocky Mountains provide some opportunities for work in bars and hotels. Before to start any search, you need to make sure that you will have a work permit as strict regulations mean that checks are often made on employees, often in places that attract a lot of international workers.

There are opportunities for work in national parks (Banff National Park in the Rockies, Jasper National Park) in hotels and ski resorts. Workers help with housekeeping, waitering, and kitchen work.

Agricultural Work

AgriVenture (http://www.agriventure.com) recruits workers between 18 and 30 for placements throughout the world, including in Canada. They take care of all the practical aspects of the trip, from tickets, work permits and insurance. Workers are paid for their labour and are provided with accommodation and food.

Nannying/Au pair

Canada also has strict employment regulations with regards to childcare positions.

You can find more information in our Au Pair article.

Working holiday visa

Visa requirements are crucial to your trip planning.
This section is intended for reference only. We strongly recommend that you contact the embassy directly for the most up to date info.

In Canada

EU nationals can enter and reside in Canada as tourists for up to six months.

In almost all cases you must have a valid work permit to work in Canada (Working Holiday Visa).
However some categories may be exempt such as people whose employment in Canada provides similar employment to Canadians abroad, such as participants in youth exchange programs, exchange teachers and other reciprocal programs and foreign students studying in Canada who need to work in order to fulfil co-op placements.
In most cases you will need a Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) authorisation.

Therefore if you are a gap year student it is worth looking into BUNAC's 'Work Canada' programme. As part of this scheme you are permitted to live and work in Canada for a year, as long as you can show funds of about CAN$1000 or less if you have already found a job for your arrival in Canada.

General rules are to contact your Canadian consulate for all visa related and immigration enquiries. You will find the address in our Consulate section

Discount Cards

A youth card or student card can offer you a lot of advantages abroad and is a recognition of your status. Two international cards will give you discounts and are essential for those taking a gap year or going backpacking:

• ISIC card (International Student Identity Card): this is for any full-time student over 12 years old.
• IYTC (International Youth Travel Card): if you are not a student, but are under 26, then this card is for you. IYTC has become internationally recognised as an identity card in 50 countries.

What the Cards offer:

• Valuable discounts on air, travel, bus and ferry, transport and accommodation (gap year backpacking discounts).
• Access to over 33,000 discounts in over 100 countries.
• Reduced admission to museums, galleries and historic states.
• Access to student travel organisations in over 90 countries.
• 24 hour emergency, legal and medical help line services.
• Basic sickness and accident travel insurance.

You can apply directly online to get the cards (http://www.isiccard.com) or buy asking your University or youth centres.