1. Q: Will I have to do a medical examination?

A: A medical examination is required if you have resided or sojourned for six or more consecutive months in a designated country/territory in the one year immediately preceding the date of your application for a work permit under the Working Holiday Program. Upon receipt of your application, if it is determined that you must undergo a medical examination, our office will forward the medical instructions to you. Please see the Designated Country/Territory List to determine if a country/territory is designated. A country/territory is designated if there is a "YES" in the column entitled "Designated" in the Designated Country/Territory List.

or

If you have been hospitalised for a condition/illness or if you have been treated for a chronic, communicable or serious medical condition, you may require a pre-departure medical examination. You must provide a detailed explanation of your condition/history on your application form. A Visa Officer will notify you if a medical examination is required. If you are issued medical instructions you should take the medical examination immediately. If you manage a condition such as asthma or diabetes well with the medicines that you take you will not generally require a pre-departure medical examination.

NOTE: If you intend to work in the occupations of childcare, primary or secondary school teaching, or health services, you will be required to undergo medicals at your own cost. As a guide, the approximate cost to undertake a medical examination may be around $300. Ski instructors and camp counsellors do not require medicals. During the online application, you will be asked about your work intention. Upon receipt of your signed application form, you will be posted medical forms, instructions on how to have the medicals performed and a list of designated medical practitioners. We cannot approve your WHP application until we receive notification that you are medically admissible. Generally speaking, you should allow for an additional delay of at least 6-8 weeks in the processing of your application when medicals are required. The LOI issued will be valid for a year from the date of the medical examination. It will not explicitly indicate that you may work in an unrestricted field but the work permit issued to you at the Port of Entry will be an unrestricted one.

Occupational basis for medical examination :

This list is not all-inclusive. Occupations which bring you into close contact (more than three hours per day and/or risk of exchange of body fluids) with people, namely:

1. workers in the health sciences field, including staff and employees, clinical laboratory workers, patient attendants in nursing and geriatric homes, medical students admitted to Canada to attend university, medical electives and physicians on short-term locums;

2. teachers of primary or secondary schools or other teachers of small children;

3. domestics or home care helpers;

4. workers who give in home care to children, the elderly and the disabled; and

5. day nursery employees or child care workers, including assistants and helpers in a child care centre or employed in a private home (au pair, nanny).

If you wish to undergo the medical examination in a country other than Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, or New Caledonia, please indicate this and list the country in the Comments Section when you fill out the online application.

2. Q: Do I need to submit a police certificate?

A: Yes. All applicants are now required to submit a current (ie. dated within the past six months from date of the WHP application) police certificate with their application for the WHP.

3. Q: What if I don't admit my conviction / medical history when I sign my application form?

A: It is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to make a false declaration or to misrepresent a material fact. A finding of misrepresentation will prevent you from making an application to go to Canada for two years and may have serious consequences on this, or future attempts to enter Canada.

3. Q: If I am inadmissible to Canada because of a conviction, can I still visit?

A: No. However, in certain circumstances you may be eligible to apply for rehabilitation. Please refer here for more information on criminal inadmissibility.

4. Q: I am inadmissible to Canada because of a conviction. What if I just go to Canada and don't admit my conviction?

A: If your conviction comes to light at the port of entry or during your visit to Canada, you will be reported under the Act and could face removal from Canada and future inadmissibility as a person who has been removed, in addition to inadmissibility due to the conviction. If you knowingly enter Canada while you are inadmissible, then later make an application for permanent residence in Canada, your application for permanent residence is likely to be refused. This applies even if you are sponsored as the spouse or partner of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident .

5. Q: I was charged with an offence. However, I have court documents to prove I was released on a good behaviour bond or fine AND no conviction was recorded. Can I apply?

A: Yes. You need to provide copies of the court documents that indicate that a conviction was not recorded. Too, you must provide a current (police clearance ) along with your application

6. Q: I have original paperwork to show that my actual blood alcohol reading for my drink driving conviction was 0.08% exactly, or less.  Can I apply?

A: Yes, provided the conviction or traffic infringement notice was not for Impaired Driving, a drink driving offence alone with a blood alcohol reading 0.08% exactly or below will not make you inadmissible.  You may apply for the WHP Canada (declaring "yes" to having a conviction) and should include a certified copy of the evidence of your reading with your application. NOTE: If you were convicted of Impaired driving rather than for a blood alcohol concentration violation, you will be inadmissible irrespective of the blood alcohol reading.

7. Q: What is a “sentence,” and how do I calculate the “rehabilitation date?”

A: The sentence is the penalty imposed by a Court for your offence and can take the form of a monetary fine, a period of licence disqualification,  or jail term. You are eligible to apply for Criminal Rehabilitation when 5 years has elapsed from the completion of the sentence/s.
Please refer here for more information.

8. Q: I was charged or convicted after I received my Letter of Introduction (LOI). What should I do?

A: Please write us or email whpcanada.sydney@international.gc.ca. Indicate your name and date of birth and provide as much detail about the conviction as possible (e.g. the date of the offence, was there a traffic/criminal conviction recorded, the section of law under which the conviction occurred, the sentence imposed, the date that sentencing requirements were met, and a detailed narrative explaining the exact details of the offence) and/or scans of the court document and/or police certificate if available. Do not proceed to Canada until you have received notification from our office confirming whether or not you are still admissible to Canada. If the charge or conviction now makes you criminally inadmissible to Canada, the Letter of Introduction becomes invalid.

10. Q: I have an offence but it was declared in my previous WHP or SWAP application and I was subsequently found to be admissible. Do I need to re-submit all the documentary requirements, eg. police certificate?

A: You must declare the offence when making a new WHP application but you do not have to submit the documentary evidence for the same offence when you submit your application to our office. In the Comments Section of the online application, please write 'Refer to previous application for details'.

11. Q: I was previously denied entry to Canada / asked to leave Canada / removed from Canada. Can I still apply to the WHP?

Please contact the Consulate General of Canada in Sydney to clarify the details of your situation before applying or making any plans to travel to Canada.