Canada-France Working Holiday: Combining Study, an Internship and Work Under One IEC Agreement
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 22, 2026 • Canadians Studying Abroad
The Canada-France Youth Mobility Agreement gives you three separate categories, Working Holiday, Young Professionals, and an internship stream, and you are not limited to one across your studies and after graduation.
🎓 Use the internship category (stage) for a work term your Canadian program requires or credits.
📩 Young Professionals needs a signed job offer in France tied to your field before you apply.
Working Holiday needs no job offer, you search once you land.
⏱️ Each category runs on its own permit, so plan the paperwork for each stage separately.
Three categories under one agreement
The Canada-France Youth Mobility Agreement (Entente franco-canadienne relative à la mobilité des jeunes) covers three distinct streams: the Working Holiday Programme (Programme Vacances-Travail, PVT), Young Professionals (Jeunes Professionnels), and an internship stream for students. France's diplomatic mission in Canada lists the agreement as covering PVT participants, young professionals, and students specifically, which maps onto the internship route this batch of applicants uses most.
You do not have to pick one category and stick with it for life. A student who does an internship in France during their degree returns later, after graduation, and applies again under Young Professionals or Working Holiday, since each category stands as its own application with its own eligibility check.
Working Holiday (PVT)
This stream gives you open work rights in France with no job offer required before you arrive. It fits a gap term, a summer between years, or a stretch after you finish your degree when you want to travel and pick up work as you go.
Young Professionals
This category requires a signed employment contract or job offer from a French employer, in a role connected to your qualifications, before French authorities issue the visa. Use this stream if you finish your degree with a job lined up in France in your field. The paperwork takes longer than Working Holiday because the employer's offer has to match your training.
The internship stream (stage)
This route needs a signed internship agreement, a convention de stage, involving you, your Canadian institution, and the French host organization. Coordinate with your university's co-op or international office early, since the convention needs their signature and most co-op offices need lead time to process a foreign placement. This is the stream to use if your program requires or credits a work term and you want that term to happen in France.
Sequencing the three categories around a degree
Mid-degree: use the internship stream for a required or credited co-op term, arranged through your university.
Right after graduation with a job offer: apply for Young Professionals once you have a signed contract in your field.
Right after graduation with no job lined up: apply for Working Holiday and search for work once you arrive.
A gap term before finishing: Working Holiday works here too if you take a leave of absence, provided your registrar approves the leave first.
Where to apply
Start on the Government of Canada's International Experience Canada portal to create your profile and select the category that matches your stage. France's visa authority, France-Visas , processes the actual visa application once your IEC profile clears. If you are arranging a placement through your school, loop in the French embassy in Canada or your nearest French consulate general early, since they handle the student and internship stream inquiries directly.
What each stream needs from you
Every stream needs a valid Canadian passport, proof of funds to support yourself, and health coverage for your stay. The internship and Young Professionals streams both need a document tying you to a specific placement or employer, so neither works if you are still job hunting. Working Holiday is the only stream where you apply with nothing lined up yet.
A sample sequence
Picture a student in a business program who arranges a required internship in Lyon during their third year, using the internship stream with a convention de stage signed by their university's co-op office. After graduation, that same student lines up a marketing role in Paris connected to their degree and applies again, this time under Young Professionals with the signed employment contract. A student with no internship requirement and no job offer yet instead applies straight to Working Holiday after finishing their degree, searching for work once they land.
What happens to your enrollment while you are away
An internship stream placement during your degree usually runs inside a scheduled co-op or exchange term your university already tracks, so your enrollment status does not change beyond what your co-op office arranges. A Working Holiday or Young Professionals stay taken as a break from a still-unfinished degree needs a formal leave of absence from your registrar first. Confirm your readmission terms in writing before you commit to travel dates, since programs vary in how long they hold a spot open.
Common mistakes when sequencing these categories
Starting the France-Visas application before your convention de stage or employment contract is fully signed.
Assuming the three streams stack automatically into one long stay, when each is its own separate application and permit.
Leaving the internship agreement paperwork to your co-op office too late for them to process a foreign placement.
Booking flights before France-Visas confirms your visa, since processing takes real time.
Documents every applicant assembles
A Canadian passport valid well beyond your planned stay.
Proof of accommodation or an address in France for at least the start of your stay.
Proof of funds to support yourself while you look for work or start your placement.
Health coverage valid in France for your category, confirmed against the current France-Visas requirement.
The category-specific document: your convention de stage for the internship stream, your signed employment contract for Young Professionals, or nothing extra for Working Holiday.
Health coverage across all three streams
Every stream needs proof of health coverage for your stay, and the exact requirement differs by category since your legal status changes what French health services you access directly. Check the current insurance requirement for your specific stream on France-Visas before you apply, rather than assuming your Canadian provincial health card carries you through the stay.
If you already used one category
Using the internship stream during your degree does not use up your eligibility for Young Professionals or Working Holiday afterward, since France treats each as a distinct application. Confirm this directly with France-Visas or the French consulate handling your file if you plan to use more than one stream, since any combined time limit across categories is worth checking rather than assuming none applies.