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WELCOME TO CANADA! Glad you are here along with million other immigrants, minus being discriminated.

Hope you have settled in your new house, not jet-lagged anymore, accustomed to the weather and heard your first EH!

There is more paperwork involved to enjoy the amazing benefits the Government of Canada provides every Permanent Resident of Canada. This is pretty much common for any immigrant in a new country. The Government wants you to take advantage of them, after all these services are meant for you.

Social Insurance Number (SIN)

If you are here after reading what to expect at the airport and chose to land on a weekday, please feel free to skip this section.

How to get your SIN if you arrived on a weekend in Canada or chose to do a soft landing and leave without getting your SIN ?

Search for a Service Canada or Service Ontario office near you to get your SIN right at the counter in 2 minutes. The documents required are:

You will be asked to provide an address which is just for entering information and no communication will be sent to that address. You do not have to inform anyone if you change your address too. Pay close attention to the instructions given on what to and what not to do with your SIN. Government of Canada stopped issuing SIN Cards, so that paper is your proof. DO NOT SHARE YOUR SIN WITH ANYONE, except your employer and bank.

Provincial Health Insurance Card

File for your Health Insurance Plan card at a Service Canada or Service Ontario center near you. Every province has their own rules and instructions on how to apply for the Health Insurance Plan. You are legally entitled to make use of this free health care benefit. Few provinces like Ontario and British Columbia have a 90 days probation period from the day you land to be eligible for the provincial health benefits. You will have to apply for a private health insurance at your own cost for these 90 days.

Here is a document checklist to get your Health Insurance Card in Ontario

Bank account

Most banks offer great Newcomers to Canada incentives offering great value for Chequing and Savings accounts and few offer Credit Cards without any credit history too. Major banks in Canada are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Bank of Montreal (BMO), Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada.

Documents checklist to open a checking account for free, irrespective of bank.

You will be asked your address and phone number which can be changed later if you do not have a permanent address yet and it is fine to give friends address. For Government Tax purpose you will be asked your SIN.

Below are the banks and their respective offers I researched. Pick your best option.

I am not sure of the actual policy to issue the TD Cash back Visa Credit Card listed for Newcomers but the BMO Cash back MasterCard credit card listed for Newcomers is deceiving. It is a secured balance credit card given by holding some amount in your chequing account as liability. If you want a $1000 limit credit card, $1000 are basically frozen in your chequing account against it which cannot be used for anything except to sit there, not even to repay the credit card bill. I feel disappointed my 814 Credit Score in the US is of no use here with the same TransUnion and Equifax monitoring credit history. Unfortunately, it is crucial to build your credit score to get a new internet connection, take a car loan, home mortgage, you name it.

Mobile plan

Good lord, mobile plans are costly here. Every service provider makes you pay a lot for data with limitation on call service too. After researching Rogers, Bell, Fido, Freedom Mobile, Koodo and their whopping $80-$100 per month bill for 2GB data and only Roger and Bell offering unlimited Canada wide calling, I came across PC Mobile. This was the best service provider with a bang for your buck. I am paying $60 per month for 6GB 4G LTE data, unlimited Canada wide calling, unlimited text and MMS world-wide, which would have costed around $140 with Rogers and Bell. This was a promotion I was lucky enough to pick but I chose PC Mobile for $50 plan with 3GB data, unlimited call and text. Freedom Mobile now has a similar promotion offer. My advice is to go to a mall close to you and talk to associates from different providers. Most of them will have all in one stall, which is great to compare and shop. Do not just rely on offer information listed on websites. Go to a physical store in a mall or visit Real Canadian Superstore or Loblaws for a good deal. I had an unlocked phone. If you want a new device along with new service, you will pay a bit extra.

Documents required are:

Driver's license

In Ontario, getting a driving license is a 3-step process, also referred to as a Graduating License program. Know the road signs, road rules, driver and pedestrian safety and sit for a computer exam that tests your knowledge on road safety and driving, also an eye exam. If you pass you get G-1 License. It has many restrictions related to when you can drive, who has accompany while driving, roads you can travel on, blood alcohol levels etc. After 12 months you are allowed to give a road test which will test your driving ability within city roads. If you pass the driving test, you get G-2 License which also has similar restrictions but you can drive on highways to learn advanced driving capabilities without anyone accompanying. After 12 months you are allowed to give a road test which will test your advanced driving abilities including driving on highway speeds, 3-point turns, parallel parking, reverse parking etc. You can skip the wait to 8 months to give the road test by giving an additional exam. If you pass the road test, you will get your final unrestricted G License.

Search for DriveTest Centers near you and visit to get your Driver's license. Please check the types of tests offered at the location before planning a visit.

Now that you understood the process, let see the checklist.

Out-of-Province driver's license exchange program

If you have a license from any other province in Canada, USA, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Taiwan. This exchange program benefits a lot to jump over the graduating license program if you can prove your driving experience over 2 years. If you can prove that you had a license from one listed above for more than 2 years, you can exchange that license for a full G license in Ontario. If you can prove only 1 year, you can exchange for G-2 license and proceed the usual steps to get full G license. The license has to be translated in English or French if it is in a different language.

Requirements to exchange your license for G license:

Based on the license number, the associate can pull your current license abstract data in their system if your country allows it. In many cases, this data is restricted and you will be asked to get an original drivers abstract from the License Issuing Authority of your foreign license. Be advised, many authorities will only give an abstract for the current valid license and not for the past 2 years as it is required in the case of license exchange program. I had my current Ohio, USA license issued in June 2017 valid till June 2019 with a previous one issued in March 2016 that expired in June 2017, but I was hit with two obstacles. They couldn't pull my license history off my license number both for current and past licenses (same license number), so I ordered for a 3-year certified Drivers Abstract with the help of a friend back in Ohio. At my second visit, they agreed to accept the abstract counting only one year of driving experience as the abstract listed only my current valid license information, with which I would get a G-2 license. I then contacted Ohio License authority to help me obtain full Ohio driving history for which I was given a full Drivers Application Recored dated back to 7 years. So I had now proof to show my US driving experience from 2014 which helped me successfully get my full G license. Phew! Hope the screenplay was entertaining but key takeaways here are to get your Drivers abstract or drivers application record that shows driving experience for 2 years before coming to Canada. Even if you current license was issued this year, this record will date it back to prove you had a different license history and that experience counts.

IT Job search in Canada

Many of my family and friends have asked me these questions after knowing that I moved to Canada, Are you searching for a job? Did you get a job? Are you unemployed now?

I was very fortunate enough to continue my US job remotely from Canada but it went through its own roller-coaster ride until the last two weeks of my intended travel date. My US F1-CPT visa (yes CPT! I was unfortunate to enroll for second masters, for those of you familiar.) was coming to an end and I didn't want to invest more money in paying for college to stay and live through another horrific episode of H1b lottery misery, effing A, I had an approved Permanent Residency in my hand. My travel date was fixed, I let my employer know about my next step to move to Canada a month in advance and was asked a few weeks time to either convince upper management to let me work remotely or move me to a different project in Canada. I knew my odds and started looking for jobs in Toronto. I cannot stress this enough but please create and keep your LinkedIn profile up to date. Almost all companies post jobs on LinkedIn first and its makes things easier to apply with all your required information already captured. There was a job posting which was a perfect match for my skill set and experience and I only applied to that job. I got an interview request in just two days. I cleared the phone interview and told them when I would be available for a on-site interview in Toronto, which they were flexible enough to wait for. I also interviewed with a previous company (that has an office in Toronto) I contracted with who were looking to fill in an upcoming project with my skill set. I had two future prospects before booking my flight to Toronto, I was happy. And then like I said, "fortunately" I was let to work remotely and support my existing job from Canada. I know this sounds dramatically happy and not everyone can have such happy endings, which brings me back to my main point to make use of your LinkedIn profile, LinkedIn job search feature that matches your skill set and experience. Explore IT companies along with Startups in Toronto, Markham, Kitchener and Waterloo; Visit their careers page, start applying. The sooner the better.

I used to be sad and negative about the job search prospect when I was stating experiences I read on Quora while discussing my future plan with my brother-in-law, and he pulled me out with his positivity. It might be true that the phrase "You do not have Canadian Experience" is commonly used while interviewing new immigrants looking for their first job in Canada. I can only pull you towards positivity with "Try harder, communicate clearly and effectively, do not lose hope!".