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co-op student visa and IEC at the same time

MortyC137

Star Member
Sep 9, 2020
92
76
Hi everyone,

Is it possible to hold two visas at the same time?
In particular:
- a co-op student visa
- a working holiday IEC (International Experience Canada) visa

IEC cannot be used to enroll in university programs that are longer than 6 months. You need a student visa for those programs.
What if your IEC invitation expires before the end of the university program? Can you activate your IEC visa while keeping your co-op student visa to complete the university program? If yes, how?

I'm talking about this situation:

Code:
co-op student visa [------------------------------]
                                 [----------------------------------------] working holiday (IEC)
                                ^^^
                      medicals expiry date
                     (latest possible entry)

If it's really not possible, what do you think of this configuration instead?

Code:
[------------------------------]  co-op student visa
[----------------------------------------] working holiday (IEC)
Can you activate both at the same time upon landing?

thanks
 

MortyC137

Star Member
Sep 9, 2020
92
76
Hi,
I'm taking the liberty of asking this again, since I got conflicting information from other threads and I still can't manage to reach IRCC.

I know it's possible to hold a study permit and a working holiday visa at the same time, but I have doubts about the work permit "leg" of the co-op student visa.

My friend is now in this situation:


Code:
internship with co-op work permit [-------------------------]
                                        [----------------------------------------] working holiday (IEC)
                                       ^^^
                              medicals expiry date
                         (latest possible activation)


1) Is he going to lose his co-op work permit at the time he activates his IEC?

2) If yes, is there any risk in switching from co-op work permit to IEC without signing a new internship contract? Is it even legal to begin with?