Visa costs you may not have known about.
So, you’re ready to go get your Working Holiday Visa in Canada?
Here’s a little breakdown of my visa process and fees they don’t advertise.
At first glance, the visa process seems easy. You go to the Canada.ca website, find IEC (International Experience Canada), which tells you that you have to pay 180 CAD, provide biometric data, possibly get a medical check, and you’re done. Well, it might be that simple for some countries—but not for mine. For someone from Lithuania, here’s how it actually goes (and I wish I had researched it before applying):
You start the visa application and pay 248.53 EUR.
You have to provide police certificates from every country you’ve lived in for more than six months. For me, that was the UK, Lithuania, and China. The UK certificate cost 79.89 EUR, Lithuania 20 EUR, and China—as expected—never replied. But it's enough to show proof that you tried, so I attached the email.
Then, the medical check. It has to be done by a certified doctor. There was only one for Lithuania. I called the number provided, and the doctor said he’d register me for all the tests. The cost: 350 EUR for him, and 60 EUR for the tests at the medical facility.
Lastly—biometric data. I paid 85 CAD (53.07 EUR). The website said, “Go to your nearest location to submit your biometric data (fingerprints).” Want to guess where the nearest location to Vilnius is? Warsaw. Another. Freaking. Country. So I bought a bus ticket to Warsaw (another 65 EUR), got on at night, went to the biometric center in the morning, spent exactly 10 minutes there, returned to the station, waited around five hours, boarded the bus back, and made it home before midnight.
I uploaded all the documents and received the POE (Port of Entry) letter, which allows me to enter Canada.
The last thing I needed to enter the country was insurance for the entire stay (1 year for Lithuanian citizens). I went with True Traveller Insurance, which cost me 557.23 EUR.
Total cost:
248.53 + 79.89 + 20 + 350 + 60 + 53.07 + 65 + 557.23 = 1,433.72 EUR
Not that cheap, I’d say.