Now that you have crossed the many hurdles on your way to settling in Canada, the next few months are going to be full of hope, anticipation and jitters as the excitement of getting your Confirmation of PR settles in and you start planning to move. Getting your PR may have been a roller coaster ride so far. But let me tell you this right now. It’s not going to be a cakewalk after this either. This will be a really busy time with so much to do in a short period but you will enjoy every bit of it.
On this page we will talk about some of the things you should prepare for before you move so that you have a smooth transition to a new country. If you are already in Canada (for example, CEC applicants), then you already know a lot but if you are coming from outside (for example, FSW applicants), it’s going to be a fun ride!
When should I start preparing to move
Your COPR (and your PR visa, if you got one) will have an expiry date which is usually one year from your medical test. You will have to land in Canada before that date or else you may need to get a new medical test done. If the expiry date is 3 or more months away, then you should be able to manage easily. Ideally you should start preparing as soon as you can to avoid last minute hassles. You may be doing many of these things for the first time, so leave enough margin.
Booking flights
Flights get more expensive to book as you get closer to the flying date. Book them at least 4 months in advance, if possible, to get good rates. Most likely, you will be flexible on your arrival dates, so I would recommend checking websites like skyscanner.ca to search for the lowest priced tickets for every month.
Pro tip: If you have worked hard towards getting your PR and want to give yourself a break, then you can also book a short vacation for your first or second week in Canada. When we booked our one way international flight to Toronto with Air Canada, we also added a return Toronto-Calgary trip with that. The combined 3-flight ticket saved us a lot of money compared to booking them separately. We travelled to the Rockies and visited many beautiful national parks within our first month of landing and it was totally worth it. It was like a treat to ourselves for working so hard in the last 12 months and gave us a memorable start to the next chapter of our lives!
Once you book your flights, your clock will start ticking and you will need to wrap up everything keeping that date in mind. So think twice before you book.
Exchanging Currency
Of course you need to convert some of your savings into Canadian Dollars before you move. The amount you want to bring into Canada depends on you. We would recommend bringing in at least the minimum amount that is required for proof of funds. If you don’t have a job in hand, you won’t know how long it’s going to take to get one.
There is no good time to exchange currency because the exchange rates keep fluctuating. If you think the exchange rates are not good today and you want to wait, there is no guarantee that the rates will go in your favour. They can even go worse and you will regret not buying it at that time.
Check some of the best ways to exchange currency and how we converted our money when we moved.
Get Health Insurance
Canada has universal healthcare but each province manages its own healthcare system so there are some differences from province to province. Most of the provinces have a 3 month waiting period before universal healthcare for new immigrants kicks in. Some provinces don’t have this waiting period but may take a few days or weeks to process your health coverage.
Check the waiting period for the province where you plan to settle initially and then purchase a private health insurance for that period. For example, Ontario has a 3 months waiting period and that’s why we purchased private health insurance for a little over 3 months just in case there is a delay. But we got our health cards right on the day we completed 3 months. The provincial healthcare coverage does not begin automatically and you will have to apply for it. You can do this in your waiting period once you are in Canada.
It is not mandatory to buy private insurance for this waiting period but this is something you should not take lightly. Healthcare is very expensive in Canada. It’s free only when you get enrolled in the provincial healthcare plan, so we don’t see the bills. But if you are not covered, you will get a heart attack looking at your bills if you end up requiring a major treatment. Spending a few dollars now and having some peace of mind is so much better.
Connect with settlement agencies
You will be surprised to know how much the government spends on settling newcomers in Canada. There are tons of settlement agencies that guide newcomers for getting a job or improving English or French skills. Some of them start working for you even before you move to Canada. These are called pre-arrival settlement services.
You should contact these settlement agencies as they can help you prepare to move to Canada, get your education or work experience recognized, and connect you with more free services when you arrive in Canada. We connected with Planning for Canada before we moved and we found their services very useful. They answered quite a few doubts we had, such as banking, renting, culture and even connected us with other agencies.
List of items for customs
When you enter Canada, you can bring up to $800 worth of goods with you without paying any duties. However, when you land in Canada as a permanent resident for the first time, you are exempted from these duties and you can bring in all your personal belongings even if they are above the $800 limit.
To avoid paying duties, you need to prepare two lists of goods – one for the items that you are bringing with you when you enter Canada for the first time, and one for the items that you will bring with you in the future (list of goods to follow). Whatever you can’t bring the first time because of luggage restrictions, add it in the second list. Get both these lists stamped by CBSA when you arrive. Anything that is on these lists will be treated duty free whenever you bring it.
Some of the items may be restricted, such as food, plants, firearms, etc. Make sure everything that you bring with you is permitted.
Short term accommodation
If you know someone in the city you are planning to move to and that person is willing to host you, then it can be a big help while you look for a long term accommodation. If you don’t have that luxury, then booking a hotel or Airbnb for a couple of weeks is your best option. You can get a place to rent for a long term before you land but it’s always better to see the place in person where you plan to live for at least a year. When you are there, you will have a better idea of transit accessibility or distances from major points of interest. But it doesn’t hurt to explore the places to rent online and see what kind of places are available in your budget.
Pro tip: Beware of the scams that target new immigrants. Many scamsters outside of Canada pretend to be Canadians and post a fake ad for a place they don’t own. The price and place will look too good to be true and that should be your first hint. They will make an excuse that they are not in the country and would like to do the transaction via third party services. They’ll also share their fake ID to build trust. You will need to make a deposit and you will be told that you will get your key once you reach there. Obviously, no one will be there with a key and police won’t be able to help you because the criminals are outside of Canada and can’t be traced. Don’t fall for these scams and book a hotel or a place to stay from a trusted website such as Airbnb.
Documents to carry
Start making two lists of documents. One that you must carry and the other ones are good to have. As the name suggests, you will need all of the documents in your must carry list or you may face issues entering the country.
Documents that you must carry
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- Passport
- Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR)
- Proof of funds (It will be better to get new proofs of funds issued. The ones you submitted to IRCC with your application would be dated now)
- List of goods that you are bringing with you
Documents that are good to carry
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- Work experience letters
- Degrees and diplomas
- Driver’s license and/or International Driving Permit
- Driver’s license abstract
- List of goods to follow
- Health insurance documents
- List of prescription drugs and any medical records
- Marriage certificate, birth certificate
- A list of your contacts in Canada (if you have any) with their phone numbers and addresses
Even if you are unable to carry all documents that are good to have, make sure you carry scanned copies of those documents so you are able to present them when required.
Close the accounts that you won’t need
There will be many services such as banking, mobile phone, electricity connection, etc. that you won’t need after you move. Start planning for closing these services as there may be a grace period for cancellation.
If you don’t want to cancel then you may want to modify your services. For example, before moving I had three bank accounts. I closed two of them and consolidated my funds in the third one. It was just easier to manage one account from outside of the country. I also kept the phone line from my home country active but I moved to a cheaper plan because I wasn’t going to use it much.
If you have multiple credit cards, then you can also cancel all of them except one, especially if you are paying a fee on those cards. It’s good to have one card left with you that you can also use in Canada in case of an emergency and also when you visit your home country in future.
Buy warm clothes
If you are landing in Canada in winters and you are not used to living in a cold country then you should purchase some very warm clothes before you travel. You may not get an opportunity to buy winter wear the day you land so bring something with you. If you live in a warm country, it’s very likely that whatever you buy from there, will not be sufficient for Canadian winters but it’s better to at least get something.
If you are landing in spring, summer or fall, then just get whatever you already own. It’s better to buy winter wear from Canada because it’s made for Canadian weather and it’s high quality. You will find jackets with different temperature ratings and you can choose the right one(s) depending on where you live.
Electricals and Electronics
Canada uses a 110 Volts electricity system. If you live in a country with a different voltage, such as 220 V or 240 V, your electrical items and appliances such as a coffee maker or a toaster won’t work here. It’s better to leave them behind however attached you are to them.
Electronic items such as mobile phones and laptops are usually made to operate anywhere in the world, so you can bring them and they’ll work just fine.
However, the thing you will have to worry more about is the plugs and sockets. Canada uses Type A and B sockets that are also used in the USA, Mexico and Japan. If you aren’t from these countries, then your chargers and adapters won’t fit the sockets here. You must bring with you power adapters, ideally one for each electronic item. Universal adapters are easily available and will let you plug in your charger in the adapter and the adapter will plug in the socket.
If you are planning to buy a new phone or any other electronic item, it’s better to wait for a few months and buy them in Canada so that you don’t have to carry your adapter everywhere you go.
Driving
If you plan to drive in Canada soon after arriving, then you should get an International Driving Permit (IDP) from your home country. It’s a special license that allows you to drive in other countries for up to 1 year without applying for a new license. This is especially important if your driver’s license is not in English or French. Some provinces may have some restrictions, for example, you may only be able to use your IDP for 3 months in that province.
If you don’t plan to start driving right away, you should still plan ahead to get your driver’s license whenever you feel ready for it. Canadian provinces have exchange agreements with some countries such as United States, Australia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, etc. If you have a valid driver’s license from these countries then you can easily get a Canadian driver’s license in exchange.
If your country doesn’t have an exchange agreement, you will need to pass the driving test(s) to get your license. However, you can make it easier by getting an abstract of your driver’s license from your home country. This document is a proof of your driving history and it helps you shorten the waiting period to get your Canadian license. Try to get it issued before you move.
Make a checklist
It can get overwhelming with the amount of work you will need to accomplish in a short period but having a checklist will save you from panicking later. Make a checklist right in the beginning and start adding items as you go. I would suggest having 3 checklists:
- Documents to carry (what we covered above)
- Things to pack (anything you plan to bring with you)
- Things to do (work you want to wrap up before you move)
We prepared our checklists in Microsoft Excel and it was quite easy to manage. We also colour coded the items based on their completion.
Miscellaneous items
Other than the obvious, such as your clothes, bring anything that you really like that may not be easy to find in Canada in the beginning, as long it is not a prohibited item. For example:
- Your favourite snacks
- Utensils that you are going to use regularly that may not be available here
- Ready to eat meals if you have dietary restrictions
- Over the counter medicines for headache, cold or pain, as long as they are not restricted
However, after a couple of years we figured that everything we needed was already available in our city. Toronto being a very multicultural city, we had access to almost everything and more from our home country.
Arriving in Canada
On your arrival at the airport, you will meet a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer and you will need to present the two copies of COPR and other documents requested by the officer. One copy of the COPR will be retained by the officer after taking your signatures.
The officer may also ask you a few questions to ensure you are still admissible in Canada for immigration purposes. For example, if your marital status has changed or you got involved in a criminal activity after getting the COPR. Remember that getting COPR doesn’t exactly equate to getting PR. You still have to satisfy the border officer before he/she stamps your COPR and lets you in. When that happens, congratulations, you officially become a permanent resident!
You may be asked for your address at the border. This address will be used to send your PR card and it doesn’t have to be your own address. It can be a close relative or a friend’s address too. If you don’t have any address to share, you can tell them so. Once you find a place, you can apply for your PR on IRCC’s website with that address.
After arriving
As you head out of the airport, breathe in the fresh air and drive away to your hotel or friend’s place. It isn’t over yet, though. There is a lot of ground to cover as you start a new life. Opening bank accounts, getting a phone connection, applying for documents, etc. But before you do any of that, chill for a couple of days because you have earned this break. Explore the city, eat local food (relish some poutine) and sip a beer or two because you are going to get busy once again. Or if you are like us and love travel, head over to the Rockies for a nice long vacation after you arrive!