Guides, free to everyone

The Social Insurance Number, or SIN, is a nine-digit number issued by Service Canada. You need it to work in Canada, to file a tax return and to receive government benefits. It is among the first things to arrange.

• Apply to Service Canada online, by mail or in person at a Service Canada Centre. Check the list of accepted documents before you go.
• You need an original document that shows your identity and your authorization to be in Canada, such as a permanent resident card or a work or study permit.
• A SIN that begins with the number 9 is temporary and carries an expiry date that matches your permit. Update it when your permit is renewed.
• Give the number to your employer, to your bank for accounts that earn income, and to the Canada Revenue Agency and, in Québec, Revenu Québec. A landlord, a phone company or a shop may ask for it, and you may say no.
• Keep the confirmation letter at home, not in your wallet, and never send the number by e-mail or text message.
• No one from the government telephones to say that your SIN is suspended or blocked. That call is a fraud.

Check the official source: Service Canada: Social Insurance Number

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

A credit history from another country does not follow you to Canada. Lenders, landlords and phone companies look at your Canadian record, and on the day you arrive it is empty. The remedy is simple, and it takes patience.

• You have the right to open a personal account at a bank, even without a job or a first deposit, if you show acceptable identification.
• Ask about newcomer packages, and compare the monthly fees before you choose.
• Ask for a first credit product. A secured card, backed by a deposit that you provide, is the usual place to begin.
• Use the card for small, regular purchases and pay the full balance on time, every month. Your payment record weighs most.
• Keep what you owe well below your limit, and do not apply for several products within a short time.
• Canada has two national credit bureaus. You may ask each for a copy of your own report at no charge; read it once a year and have any error corrected.

Check the official source: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Canada has no single national health plan. Each province and territory runs its own, issues its own card, and sets its own rules for who is covered and from what date.

• Apply to the plan of the province or territory where you live, once you have an address. Bring identity documents and proof that you live there.
• Some provinces apply a waiting period before coverage begins. Ask on the day you apply, and arrange private cover for the gap.
• The public plan pays for medically necessary visits to a doctor and for hospital care. For most adults it leaves out dental care and eyeglasses. Cover for prescriptions filled outside hospital varies by province: in Québec everyone must be covered, by the public plan or by a private group plan; elsewhere many adults rely on a workplace or private plan.
• Ask how to find a family doctor or nurse practitioner; many provinces keep a registry. Until you have one, walk-in clinics see patients without an appointment.
• In an emergency, call 911. For health advice by telephone, most provinces and territories answer at 811.
• Tell the plan when you move to another province, and apply to the new one promptly.

Check the official source: Health CanadaOntarioQuébecBritish ColumbiaAlberta

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Tenancy law is provincial, so the rules in Toronto are not the rules in Montréal or Vancouver. What holds everywhere is the value of paper: a written lease, and a receipt for every payment.

• See the home in person, or send someone you trust, before you pay anything at all.
• Read the whole lease before you sign. Ontario and Québec each require a standard lease form for most rented homes.
• Rules on deposits differ by province. Some provinces allow a security deposit; Québec does not allow a landlord to require one. Check with your province’s tenancy body before you agree to an amount.
• Pay by a method that leaves a record, and keep every receipt.
• Disputes go to a provincial body: the Landlord and Tenant Board in Ontario, the Tribunal administratif du logement in Québec, the Residential Tenancy Branch in British Columbia.
• Tenant insurance protects your belongings and your liability, and many leases require it.
• With no Canadian credit history, offer references, proof of income or savings, or a letter from your employer.

Check the official source: Canada Mortgage and Housing CorporationOntarioQuébecBritish ColumbiaAlberta

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Some occupations in Canada are regulated: you may not use the title or do the work without a licence from the regulator in your province or territory. Medicine, nursing, engineering, teaching, law, accounting and many trades are among them.

• Find out first whether your occupation is regulated where you intend to live. The Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials lists occupations and their regulators.
• Write to the regulator itself, before you arrive if you can. Only the regulator decides what it accepts.
• An educational credential assessment obtained for an immigration application is not a licence to practise. They are separate steps, with separate bodies.
• Gather original transcripts, course descriptions and proof of experience while you are still near the institutions that issue them. Certified translations are usually required.
• Ask about bridging programs, which close the gap between your training and Canadian requirements, and about work in a related role while you qualify.
• For the skilled trades, the Red Seal is the standard recognized across provinces and territories.
• An occupation that is not regulated needs no licence. The employer decides.

Check the official source: Canadian Information Centre for International CredentialsRed Seal Program

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Driver’s licences are issued by provinces and territories. A licence from another country lets you drive for a limited time after you arrive; after that you need a local one.

• Check how long your foreign licence remains valid where you live. The period differs from one province to another.
• Many provinces exchange licences from certain countries without a road test. For other countries you take a knowledge test and a road test.
• Bring an official driving record from the country that issued your licence. It can earn you credit for years of experience.
• Auto insurance is compulsory everywhere. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba provide basic cover through a public insurer; Québec’s public plan covers injury, with private insurance for the rest; elsewhere insurers are private.
• Winter tires are required by law in Québec through the winter and on many British Columbia highways. Everywhere else they are simply wise.
• Keep a scraper, a brush, a blanket and washer fluid in the car. Clear all the snow from it before you set off, and leave more distance than seems necessary.

Check the official source: OntarioQuébecBritish ColumbiaAlbertaTransport Canada

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Winter in most of Canada is long, bright and entirely manageable. People who dress for it go skating. People who do not stay indoors until April.

• Dress in three layers: one that keeps you dry, one that keeps you warm, one that stops the wind. Cotton next to the skin stays wet and cold.
• Buy insulated, waterproof boots with a real tread, and a coat that covers the hips. Mittens are warmer than gloves.
• Read the forecast for the wind chill, not only the temperature. Environment and Climate Change Canada issues warnings for extreme cold and for storms.
• In deep cold, cover ears, fingers and cheeks. Exposed skin can freeze quickly.
• Ask what your rent includes. If heating is on your own bill, budget for the coldest months.
• Many cities expect residents to clear the sidewalk in front of their home after a snowfall. Ask a neighbour what is expected on your street.
• Go outside every day. Winter is kindest to those who go out to meet it: a rink, a toboggan hill, a walk at noon while there is light.

Check the official source: Environment and Climate Change Canada: weather

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Canada’s tax year is the calendar year, and each person files a return of their own. File one even if you earned little or nothing, because several benefit payments depend on it.

• For most people, the return for a year is due by April 30 of the year that follows.
• You normally become a resident for tax purposes on the day you arrive and establish ties in Canada. From that day you report income from every country.
• Filing is how you receive the GST/HST credit and, if you have children, the Canada Child Benefit. Newcomers may apply for both with a form, without waiting for a first return.
• Residents of Québec file two returns: one to the Canada Revenue Agency and one to Revenu Québec.
• Keep your slips and receipts. The Canada Revenue Agency and, in Québec, Revenu Québec may ask to see them for six years.
• If your income is modest and your return is simple, free tax clinics run by community volunteers prepare it with you.
• Neither the Canada Revenue Agency nor Revenu Québec demands payment by gift card or cryptocurrency, or threatens arrest by telephone.

Check the official source: Canada Revenue AgencyRevenu Québec

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

A visit from parents is often the first thing a newcomer plans and the last thing to be arranged. Start early: the papers take longer than the flight.

• Most visitors need either a visitor visa or an electronic travel authorization (eTA), depending on their citizenship and on how they travel. Check which applies before you book.
• The super visa is for parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. It allows far longer stays than an ordinary visit.
• A super visa requires proof of private medical insurance, and proof that the host meets an income requirement. Read the current requirements on the government’s website.
• Provincial health plans do not cover visitors. Arrange visitor medical insurance for every stay, of whatever length.
• Write a letter of invitation that says who you are, whom you invite, for how long, and where they stay.
• Application forms are free on the government’s website. No agent can guarantee a visa, and only licensed representatives may charge for advice.
• Tell older parents what to expect at the airport, and write your address and telephone number on a card they carry.

Check the official source: Government of Canada: immigration and citizenship

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.

Leaving Canada does not end your ties to it, but several of them change on the day you go. Settle these before you leave, and review them each year you are away.

• Sign up with the Registration of Canadians Abroad, a free service of the Government of Canada, so that officials can reach you in an emergency.
• Provincial health coverage depends on living in your province. Tell your plan before a long absence, ask how long you remain covered, and arrange private insurance for the rest.
• Your tax obligations depend on your residency status, which turns on the ties you keep. The Canada Revenue Agency explains how it is determined.
• Canadian citizens aged 18 or over who live abroad can vote in federal elections by special ballot. Apply to Elections Canada to be added to the International Register of Electors.
• Renew your passport well before it expires. From abroad, you apply through a Canadian embassy or consulate.
• Canada has social security agreements with many countries, so that years worked in each can count toward a pension.
• Keep one Canadian bank account and one credit card in use. A credit history that falls silent for years is weaker when you return.

Check the official source: Government of Canada: travel and Canadians abroadElections Canada

General information, not legal, immigration, tax or financial advice.