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Gone in 12 minutes: Canadian visas for new Irish emigrants were snapped up tonight

The online application portal opened at 7pm and shut minutes later.

Updated: 9.20 pm

ALMOST 4,000 VISA applications for Irish people to live and work in Canada were snapped up in 12 minutes this evening.

The International Experience Canada (IEC) permit allows Irish people under the age of 35, along with their children, to live and work in Canada for up to two years.

How many visas?

Some 7,700 visas will be available this year – with applications for 3,850 opening this evening at 7pm and applications for the remaining 3,850 opening on Thursday.

The online portal opened at 7pm tonight and 12 minutes later all the available application spots had been taken.

Applicants who logged on at 7pm reported the page being being slow and struggling to cope with online traffic.

Applicants had been waiting impatiently for this evening’s portal to open with new rules meaning prospective emigrants had to have documentation like garda clearance certs ready months in advance.

Applicants now have 14 days to get the rest of their documents in as part of the application.

A further 2,409 “young professional” IEC permits are also available for Irish people who have a job offer secured in advance. The application system for these permits opened last month.

The first IEC round last year saw visas snapped up in a record seven minutes.

Edwina Shanahan, manager at VisaFirst, said before the application process went live that the programmer is “in big demand”, noting: “People have been waiting eagerly for the last two months to see when the Irish part of the programme would open”.

Anyone interested should note it is likely that round one will sell out in less than 10 minutes and there will only be one other opportunity to get an open IEC visa – though we have not yet been told when the second round will be rolled out.

The working holiday visa enables people to work in Canada and also allows them to move around in search of better opportunities.

PA-8617596 Toronto skyline Cole Burston Cole Burston

IEC started as a cultural exchange between Ireland and Canada in 2003, but in recent years the programme has increasingly become focused on addressing Canada’s ongoing labour shortages.

More information is available here.

- With reporting from Rónán Duffy

Originally published: 6.10am

Opinion: An Irishman in America: The mixed emotions of making a new home

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    Mute james Goodyear
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:32 AM

    Women don’t make good comediennes.

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    Mute Lester Jeffcoat
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    Says the over-thinking potato.

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    Mute Mjhint
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:01 AM

    No actually Christopher Hitchens said it & done an article in Vanity Fair about the fact that evolution may have made men funny as they have to be for the purpose of mating whereas women don’t require the same tactic. After several rebuttals by women including several successful female comedians it appears they only managed to confirm his hypothesis.

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:13 AM

    James, you’re a gas man. Laughing my head off here at your witty joke!

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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Oh now!

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    Mute little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:48 AM

    Boobies are not light entertainment, they have no need for cheap funbag jokes.

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    Mute Gavin Corrigan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:34 PM

    Similar to drivers, good women comedians are a minority

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    Mute catkins407
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Definitely” over thinking girl”. It’s a lot better than me. I struggle very much to read people and social situations so I end up being ” what inappropriate fecking thing did I say now ” woman. Lol

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:24 AM

    Glad I’m not alone in that C! I think we all have situations where we overthink – and it can be such a pain. Often it doesn’t do anything positive for us either.

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    Mute little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:45 AM

    Is overtalking a thing?

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    Mute Ronan Stokes
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:14 AM

    Jo Brand is a brilliant comedian, doesn’t take any crap and knows how to deliver a good story. Similar dead pan style Jack Dee. Im not a fan of Sue Perkins style as I think its very one dimensional, for me it’s more of a “look how clever and witty I am”, as opposed to delivering something funny about life. Her style seems very approval seeking.

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    Mute Ruairi O'Hagan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Great stuff Aoife! Looking forward to the next part!

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    Mute Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Thanks so much R! :D

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    Mute dj
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:43 AM

    Go on,tell us a joke.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 11th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Enda and Joan are leaders of their parties in a government together, how’s that dj lol.

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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
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    Oct 10th 2015, 12:23 PM

    Fair play to you Aoife! It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Oct 10th 2015, 1:06 PM

    Jim Jefferies,Doug Stanhope,George Carlin,Bill Hicks – all highly recommended

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    Mute Uncle Monty
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    Oct 10th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Oh yes, I’ll add Louis CK.if you don’t mind. Doug Stanhope talking about the death of his mother is worth a watch…

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