8 Things You Need to Know as a Newcomer to Canada

Moving to Canada is a dream for many people around the world. Whether you are looking for a better career, family life or running away from a conflict you'd most likely consider Canada as an option.

Social Insurance Number (SIN)

Your SIN number is the number that the government uses to identify you. You should keep this number private and not avoid sharing it with any none official entities. Financial institutions may ask about it to verify your identity, but you'd be mostly using it for government related applications. You should get your SIN number from a Service Canada location as early as you can as it may be required for other government applications.

Photo IDs

As a newcomer to Canada, you may might be asked to present a photo ID to the bank, cellphone service providers or when you're entering a place that requires a vaccine certificate. You can keep using your passport and your home country ID as a start, but things get way easier once you get a Driver's License or a Health Insurance Card.

Driver's License

Driver Licenses processes can be different from one province to another and there is nothing such as a Canadian Driving License. Most regions have multi-level licenses. For example, Ontario has G1, G2 and G. Some regions require an experience letter from your home country to allow you to skip to the test of the last level without having to go through the beginner levels.

Health Insurance

Similar to the Driving License concept, there is nothing such as Canadian health insurance, however, each region has its own health insurance. In general, getting your health insurance card is fairly simple, you might be required to provide an ID, PR card or your SIN if you are new to the country.

Choosing a Bank

There are many bank in Canada, but there is also the Big Five banks: Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Montreal, TD Canada Trust, CIBC and Scotia. You should do your research and check for special offers for newcomers as some banks have special no-fee programs for people who are new to the country

Cellphone service providers

There are two major telecommunication companies: Bell and Rogers, but there are many other smaller ones that run on these two companies' rails. do some research and ask which company has a better coverage on your area before checking out the offers as in some cases the coverage can be pretty poor in some areas

Grocery Shopping

This might sound like a pretty straight forward activity, but this is not always the case. There are many big Supermarket chains in the Canada that offer similar items with different prices. Many supermarkets offer price matching - which you should definitely utilize, but in general you should do some research in your area to understand the pricing. For example, in downtown Toronto, you can expect Walmart, FreshCo and No Frills to have lower prices than Metro and Loblaws.

Watch out for Scam Calls !

Nowadays, scam calls are everywhere, but the intensity differs from one country to another. In Canada you could be receiving scam calls on daily bases! They usually call your duct cleaning, winning the lottery, or the "government calling to get your SIN". Again, never share any sensitive information (especially your SIN) over the phone with anyone.

In general, moving to Canada is great. There are many things that you might need to adjust to, including the weather, the government processes or the day to day activities. But once you get everything sort, you would soon start calling Canada home.