First steps after landing in Canada: the first 30 days, in order

First steps after landing in Canada: the first three days

Social Insurance Number

The SIN is the nine-digit number you need to work in Canada and to get government benefits. Apply with your passport and your immigration document (the signed confirmation of permanent residence, or your work or study permit): online applications take about 5 business days and mail applications about 20, and there is no fee. Permanent residents receive a permanent number; temporary residents receive one beginning with 9 that expires with the permit. You need it to work, so it comes before everything else. Service Canada no longer issues plastic SIN cards; keep your confirmation safe and never share the number except with an employer, bank or government body that has a legal reason to ask.

Bank account

Major banks offer newcomer packages, which can include reduced chequing fees for a period, a credit card for people without Canadian credit history, and sometimes a cash incentive. You need your passport, immigration document and, for most account types, the SIN. Open it before you rent, because landlords want to see a Canadian account, and before payroll, because pay is deposited, not handed over. Wire money from home rather than carrying it.

A Canadian phone number

Every registration that follows sends a verification code to a Canadian mobile number, and the provincial health office, the bank and the licensing counter will ask for one. A prepaid SIM on day one is fine; move to a plan once you have an address and a credit card.

The first two weeks

Provincial health coverage

Register in the first week even where there is a waiting period: Alberta backdates coverage to your residency date only if you apply within three months, and Quebec's wait runs from registration. In Alberta specifically, our step-by-step guide covers exactly how to register for Alberta health care, from the AHCIP application form to what counts as proof of address. Working Holiday participants must hold private insurance for their whole stay as a condition of IEC, even where their permit also qualifies them for the provincial plan, and visitors are generally not eligible.

Give IRCC your address for the PR card

If you landed without a permanent Canadian address, you have 180 days to provide one through IRCC's online address tool; the first PR card is mailed to it, with IRCC publishing about 33 days. If you landed inside Canada through the PR confirmation portal, the address you confirmed there is used. Until the card arrives, the signed COPR or eCoPR is your proof of status; keep it safe, photograph it, and do not leave Canada, because you cannot board a flight back without the card or a permanent resident travel document.

The first six weeks

Driver's licence

Foreign licences are valid for a short grace period after you become a resident, typically 60 to 90 days depending on the province (90 in Alberta and BC, 60 in Ontario). Alberta and BC exchange licences from a list of countries (including the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, the US, Japan and South Korea) without a road test; others require a knowledge test and one or two road tests, with a graduated licence in between. In every case, bring a driving abstract or letter of driving history from your home authority: it is how you prove your driving experience, and Alberta, for example, asks for proof of two or more years for a full Class 5 licence.

Credit history

Your credit history abroad generally does not follow you. Use the newcomer credit card for small purchases and pay it in full monthly, put the phone or a utility in your name, and over the following months you build a file that landlords, dealers and, in time, mortgage lenders can read. Do not apply for several cards at once; each application is a hard check.

CRA My Account and benefits

You are a tax resident from the day you establish residential ties, and you will file a return the following spring covering income from arrival. Filing is also how the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit) keep being paid, so families should apply for the CCB as soon as they land (newcomers can apply before a first return) and everyone should file even with little income. You can register for a CRA account once you have filed a return (in Alberta and BC, earlier through the provincial sign-in partner with just your SIN); it is where notices, benefits and, later, the proof of tax filing for citizenship live.

A family doctor, a pharmacy, schools

Family doctors have waiting lists in most cities; register with the provincial finder in your first month and use walk-in clinics meanwhile. Transfer prescriptions using generic names. School boards enrol on proof of address, immunisation records and the immigration document; register early, especially in smaller communities where classes fill. If Edmonton is home, our guide to registering your children for school in Edmonton covers the public, Catholic and francophone boards and how catchment areas work.

The immigration obligations that start on day one

For workers rather than permanent residents, the list is longer. Diarise the permit expiry, note the month you will have 12 months of skilled Canadian experience, keep pay stubs and a duties-based reference letter from the start, and plan the route to PR now rather than in the last quarter of the permit; our guide to moving from temporary resident to permanent resident sets out the sequence, and maintained status explains why applying before expiry is everything.

Your Canada arrival checklist: the first 90 days at a glance

The first things to do in Canada as a newcomer are your SIN, a bank account and a Canadian phone number in the first three days, provincial health registration in the first week, then the licence exchange, CRA account and a family doctor over the next six weeks, in that order because each step unlocks the next.

Where we are, and what we can help with

Wild Mountain Immigration is based in Canmore, Alberta, and most of the settlement steps above are ones we walk clients through by video the week they land, with the Alberta specifics: AHCIP from the date of residency, the licence exchange list, and the Bow Valley's housing realities covered in our moving to Canmore guide. The immigration side (the PR card, the residency obligation, a worker's route to PR and, in time, citizenship) is what we do; banking, tax and housing are pointers to the right people. The moving to Canada checklist covers what comes before you land; the first steps after landing in Canada are what comes next, in the order above.

Compliance note. Wild Mountain Immigration is a licensed RCIC practice (CICC R706497). Provincial rules, waiting periods and licence lists change; confirm with the province. Tax and banking points are general information, not professional advice.