Arriving in Canada, Now What?

Photo credit to Nong Vang @californong

2 May 2019

This post should be read in the last week before you hop on that plane to Canada. It is not to prep you for your arrival, it is a list of things to do on your arrival, which would have been a great help to us when we landed.

When you arrive:

Permanent Residence (PR) Card

You need this card to enter and leave Canada. On arrival at the airport, the immigration officer will stamp and sign your CoPR (landing papers). This is your application for your PR card. They also cancel your visa in your passport at this time.

We did not have an address when we landed, so we needed to fill in a form and submit it once we had a residential address to provide. We waited 2.5 months for our PR card, I see the waiting/processing period now is 14 days. Don’t bother calling to follow up, as the CIC don’t often answer their phones / you are on hold for 2 hours with no one on the other end.

Things to do on Day 1:

Phone

You will provide this number to everyone for the rest of your day. They offer month to month plans here, with no contracts. We didn’t know if we would stick in Toronto, so we went with a provider where we could keep our number if we decided to move provinces or even travel Canada. However a phone number starting with 416 or 647 is from Toronto (now we know). Shop around, they are all competitive. Newcomers receive specials, discounts, etc. You may get suckered into getting a TV and WIFI bundle, this can wait for when you are more settled. Handy Note: If you are privileged like me with a Samsung phone, you can install WhatsApp dual, which means you can use your new number on WhatsApp and old number on WhatsApp dual at the same time. 

Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Your SIN aka tax number is issued by the government, and received immediately at Service Canada (its not a fancy card, just a number over the table). You’ll need this number to open a bank account, for your employer, submit your taxes, etc. Taxes are for the period January to December, and are due for submission by the end of April. You pay federal and provincial tax. I will post a tax blog in due course from the conference I attended.

Health Card

As a resident in Ontario, it is mandatory to be on the health system known as Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). We applied for our OHIP card at the Service Ontario centre. It takes 3 months from date of landing for the coverage to commence. We kept our South African medical aid (be careful as they only cover 3 months out of the country, no more) whereafter we purchased further private medical insurance. You can get private health insurance, its recommended for dental, eyes, medicine, etc. Employers generally contribute to a private health plans which are more affordable than South African schemes.

Medical Insurance

Read the fine print! If you pay for a return flight to America with your South African credit card, the medical / cancellation insurance you would usually have isn’t available. You need to fly to South Africa for that benefit.

If you book your return flight with your Canadian credit card, the insurance should be available. I was referred to Blue Cross, it is easy to use, pick and choose whatever plan you need online (no humans involved, unless you want to call them).

Bank Account

I tried opening accounts from South Africa with great difficulty, and thought, what’s the rush, lets leave it until we land… We took our CoPR and SIN to the bank, cheque check card was available immediately, credit card was posted. It really is easy when you get here. RBC gives newcomers a $2000 credit limit which I thought was madness. Tangerine has a free account, when you refer people you get $100 a referral. HSBC has a similar set up but $500 per referral. Newcomers generally have free banking in the first year you land.  Weigh the banks up yourselves, it is really personal preference. A note that debit orders pre-authorized debits can go off your cheque check account and credit card too.

Your Credit Score

In South Africa we were so rooted there, we didn’t really care about this score. From day 1 in Canada we were misinformed by the bank (by some young newcomer who no longer works there), we were told to use our entire credit card every month (we needed to kit out a house), when we should have only used 30% of our credit limit.

In order to get a car/mortgage you will need to build this score from the day you land. With certain banks you can check your credit score online for free, it is updated monthly. Remember, every time someone conducts a credit check on you, for a TV contract / Insurance / Vehicle Finance, these checks negatively affect your score. Always ask, is it a hard check (when you apply for a mortgage) or soft check (where they give your status an eye over). We keep a close eye on our score now via RBC and Borrowell.  

Things to do on Day 2, asap or when you can:

Presto Card

The transit system here in Toronto works. It has its moments some days, but they are quick to bring in buses when something fails. A presto card works in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including Hamilton, Brampton, Burlington, Mississauga, Durham, Oakville, York, Ottawa, etc. You can tap it on a TTC bus, TTC street car, TTC subway, GO train, GO bus, Union Pearson Express (UP) train between the airport and Union Station.

We were not sure whether to get a monthly pass at $151.15, but found that paying as you go worked best and was the cheaper route. $50 would keep us going for a month or three.

How you pay and swipe:

-The UP and TTC bus, TTC street car, TTC subway – only when you hop on.

-Go train and GO bus – when you hop on and hop off, otherwise you’ll be charged to the last station.

Join the Library (no jokes)

It is no ordinary library. It is such an amazing community driven opportunistic experience. You’ll see. They have innovation hubs, newcomer guides, your card gets you discounts at museums, online courses for days for free. From printing your resume on the go, to attending coding courses, to 3D printing courses, uplifting women meetings, resume advice meet ups, sewing lessons, free WIFI and spots to sit all day, and then… their books come in hard copies, kindle and PDF versions, CDs, audiobooks via the Libby app. Totally impressed!  

Learners License (now known as your G1 licence)

The sooner you get your G1 the better your insurance premiums will be, should you decide to get a car one day. Your South African license is valid for 60 days. International AA license is valid for 90 days.
Once you start your learners process, you are not able to rent a car until you get your full drivers licence (now known as your G licence).

Remember to get your Ministry of Transport (MTO) letter before you leave South Africa, it will save you 3 years in getting your G licence. This MTO letter needs to be received by the licensing department (i.e. the date you write your learners) within 6 months of the date of the MTO letter (we made it by 3 days by chance, not knowing this).

The general Ontario drivers licence system works as follows:

-When you are 16 years old, you apply to do your eye and written knowledge test, once passed you obtain your G1 license, you need to practice driving for 8 to 12 months with your G1;

-With a G1 for at least 8 to 12 months, you can apply for your G1 road test, once passed you will obtain your G2 license;

-With a G2 license for 8 to 12 months, and a further road test, you can obtain your G licence.

With the MTO letter from South Africa, it simplifies the process:

-Submit your MTO letter when you write your knowledge test, once passed you obtain your G1 license. The cost for our test in January 2019 was $105.75;

-Immediately after passing your G1, book your G license, there is usually a month or two waiting list. The cost for our test was $89.25 plus the fees of a driving instructor.

Driving instructor

Yes, we all know how to drive, but we do not know what the examiner is looking for. Remember we are now on the other side of the road and other side of the car – thank goodness for automatics. And what I found is that us South African’s drive for other people waiting for them to be reckless, cut us off, push us off the road, you know what I mean. I was reprimanded for being a defensive driver here and told I was a hazard on the road. Its good to practice a parallel or reverse parking with a cheat sheet from an instructor. My recommendation for an instructor with a solid pass rate is Saleem. I went for 2 lessons, husband for 1 lesson and we passed first time with rattled nerves.

Tenants Insurance

Something new for us Saffers is that you’ll need to get tenants insurance when renting – it is compulsory in terms of the government drafted lease agreement you will receive and sign. You can pay annually / monthly, personal preference. This covers things like flooding, theft, etc. We did not need to specify things like laptops, cell phones, jewelry, etc. its all covered.

French

Learning French with the YMCA, its free, why not? We went for our initial assessment and are on the waiting list.  We haven’t started our course yet, as we chose the busiest centre in Downtown, for Saturday classes.

Hope that helps you settle in faster! 

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