Move to Canada from Ireland

How to move to Canada from Ireland

When you move to Canada from Ireland, you start with real advantages. English is one of Canada's two official languages, so you score well on the language factors that drive most economic programs. Irish degrees and trade qualifications are well understood and straightforward to have assessed, and generations of Irish emigration mean established communities right across the country.

As an Irish passport holder you travel visa-exempt to visit. What you cannot do is simply turn up and stay, because visiting and immigrating are different things. The route that fits depends on your age, your occupation, your work experience and whether you have a Canadian job offer or close family already in Canada.

There are really two finish lines. Permanent residence lets you live, work and settle anywhere in Canada with no time limit and opens the door to citizenship, while temporary status on a work or study permit brings you for a fixed spell and very often becomes the first leg of a PR journey. For many Irish applicants the IEC is exactly that first leg. The sections below take each route in turn.

The main routes from Ireland at a glance

The IEC Working Holiday: a popular first move

For younger Irish applicants, the International Experience Canada (IEC)Working Holiday is one of the easiest ways to get to Canada, and Ireland's working holiday quota is particularly generous. It is an open work permit, so you are not tied to one employer, and many Irish applicants take the two-year option, living and working almost anywhere in Canada before deciding whether to stay.

Beyond the adventure, it is strategically valuable: skilled Canadian work experience gained on a Working Holiday can qualify you for the Canadian Experience Class, turning a working holiday into a springboard to permanent residence.

Express Entry from Ireland

The main skilled worker route out of Ireland is Express Entry, the quickest federal path to PR. You set up an online profile, it is ranked by the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), and each draw invites the highest-ranked candidates to apply. Like British applicants, Irish citizens score strongly on language as native English speakers, which gives the profile a healthy head start. Three federal programs sit inside Express Entry:

• Canadian Experience Class (CEC), for people who already have skilled Canadian work experience, for example after an IEC Working Holiday.
• Federal Skilled Worker (FSW), the main route for skilled Irish workers applying from Ireland with foreign experience.
• Federal Skilled Trades (FST), for qualified tradespeople.

Before you submit, you will need an Educational Credential Assessment of your Irish degree and an approved English test (most Irish applicants sit IELTS General Training or CELPIP). Small differences in age, experience and test scores move your CRS more than people expect, and a provincial nomination adds a decisive 600 points. Try our free CRS calculator to see where you stand, then we help you find the points you are leaving on the table.

Provincial Nominee Programs for Irish movers

If your CRS falls short of the current federal cut-off, a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) is often the route through. A province picks out workers it needs, and an enhanced nomination layers on 600 CRS points, a jump that in recent draws has carried candidates well past the cut-off before IRCC sends the invitation. A few provinces come up again and again for Irish movers:

• Alberta (the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, AAIP), drawing Irish movers with its mountains, lower taxes and active worker streams. We are based in Canmore, so Alberta is our home turf.
• British Columbia (BC PNP), a strong fit for tech, healthcare and skilled workers set on the West Coast.
• Ontario (OINP), the biggest job market in the country, with streams that pull from the Express Entry pool.
• The Atlantic Immigration Program, an employer-led route through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador, where Ireland's long ties run especially deep.

Work permits and employer routes

With a Canadian job offer in hand, or one you can secure, a work permit can move you over quickly and frequently bridges to PR. The form it takes depends on the role and employer: an employer-specific permit backed by a Labour Market Impact Assessment, an intra-company transfer for staff of a multinational with a Canadian office, or a bridging open work permit to keep you working as your PR file advances. Many Irish professionals begin on the IEC or a work permit, bank Canadian experience, then move across to PR through Express Entry or a PNP.

Studying in Canada as a route to PR

Studying first is another well-worn Irish route to PR. A study permit at a designated learning institution gets you onto a Canadian course, and graduates can often claim a Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP), an open permit whose Canadian work experience feeds the Canadian Experience Class directly. You will need proof of funds for tuition and living costs, plus a Provincial Attestation Letter in provinces that require it.

Family sponsorship

If your spouse, common-law or conjugal partner is already a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, sponsorship through spousal sponsorship may be open to you. There is normally no income threshold to sponsor a partner, and the sponsored spouse arrives with permanent residence. Irish parents and grandparents of Canadians can also weigh up the Super Visa for extended visits. Our full family sponsorship guide covers who can sponsor whom.

What is different when you move from Ireland

• eTA, not a visa. You travel visa-exempt on an eTA for visits, but settling requires PR and working requires a permit.
• Generous IEC allocation. Ireland has a large Working Holiday quota, and many take the two-year option. See IEC.
• Garda police certificate. IRCC asks for a Garda (Irish police) certificate covering your time in Ireland; order it early, as it can take time to arrive.
• ECA for qualifications. Your Irish degree is assessed by a designated organisation so it can be scored against Canadian standards.
• Professional licensing. Regulated professions, such as nursing, medicine, teaching and many trades, often need Canadian provincial registration before you can practise.
• Healthcare and settling in. Provincial health cover, banking, credit history and driving licences all restart in Canada; we flag the practical steps so nothing catches you out.

How much it costs and how long it takes

There are two cost buckets. Government charges cover IRCC processing, the right-of-permanent-residence fee and biometrics; third-party costs add your ECA, an English test, the Garda certificate, a medical exam and, for most Express Entry applicants, the settlement funds you have to show. These amounts move from time to time, so we itemise the live numbers for your route rather than quote a single headline, and government fees can be checked on canada.ca.

On timing, IRCC usually completes a full Express Entry application about six months after the invitation, while provincial nomination and family sponsorship add their own stages and the IEC runs in seasonal rounds. Whatever it costs to move to Canada from Ireland, our fees guide explains our professional fee and how it differs from government fees.

How Wild Mountain helps you move from Ireland

1. 01

   Assess your profile

   We review your age, Irish qualifications, experience and language to find the route where you are strongest, whether that is the IEC, Express Entry or a PNP.

2. 02

   Plan and prepare

   We map the pathway, the ECA, the Garda certificate, the language test and your IEC, Express Entry or provincial strategy, with clear, written fees.

3. 03

   Apply and land

   We build a complete application and represent you with IRCC from Ireland through to your arrival in Canada, keeping you updated at every milestone.