For Taiwanese youth, IRCC, Canada's immigration department, opens all three categories of International Experience Canada (IEC), the programme through which young people from Canada's partner countries and territories can work in Canada for a while. Working Holiday gives an open work permit for most employers; Young Professionals needs a job offer in your field that counts toward your professional development; International Co-op is for students at a post-secondary institution in Taiwan who need a work placement or internship for their studies. Skilled, paid work on either of the first two permits can later count toward the Canadian Experience Class, a permanent residence programme in Express Entry, the online system that invites the skilled workers with the most points to apply.

Check your passport first: every IEC category requires a Taiwanese passport that includes your personal identification number, and so does flying to Canada with an eTA, the online authorization visa-exempt travellers need instead of a visitor visa. For Young Professionals or International Co-op, the signed job offer or internship contract must exist before your profile enters the pool. For Express Entry later, WES, an assessor designated by IRCC, wants the transcript your university issues in English, sent electronically or in a sealed envelope. The Taipei City Police Department, which handles police certificates for people living outside Taiwan, requires the English name on the certificate to match your passport exactly.

The mistake to avoid, for a man who has not yet done Taiwan's compulsory military service, is accepting an IEC invitation before checking Taiwan's own exit rules. Under Taiwan's Regulations for Exit of Draftees, a man of conscription age who has not served needs approval for each departure, and unless he leaves to study or for another purpose the rules list, each approved trip is capped far below the length of a Working Holiday or Young Professionals permit; a man who returns late has his exit applications for that year and the next refused. IRCC counts your one participation once you arrive and get your work permit, so check the rules that apply to you before you enter the IEC pool.