So you've finally, after weeks and weeks
maybe months of planning and hard work, you've
stepped foot in Canada, visa in hand
and the whole country at your fingertips.
You've made it. You've moved here. Now
what?.. That was me 15 months ago and now
I'm here to help you make those crucial
first steps after you've touched down
and gotten your visa. We're gonna go
through... everything - From the important
first things to do just when you arrive,
what phone carrier to go with, apartments,
banks, driver's license, learning
languages and how to get a job. Some of
these things are a bit more complicated
than if you were just a Canadian citizen
like the driver's license, banks and
language parts, so this video will hit all
the points an expat needs to know. If
you're just beginning your journey and
you haven't gotten your working holiday
visa yet, I've explained every little
detail to do with that in part one of
this series right... here (top right) so give that a
watch first and come back. This is How to
Move to Canada part two, so if you found
this video helpful hit subscribe for
more guides coming up, and if you have
any questions feel free to ask them in
the comments section down below, or check
out the Moving2Canada Facebook group
I've linked in the description. They'll
probably be able to answer your
questions faster than I can. Again just
disclaiming that any recommendations in
this video are based on my own personal
experience, and this video isn't
sponsored in any way. And I wish it was. (Who wouldn't)
so let's go. Social Insurance Number (SIN) The absolute number one priority after touching
down in Canada is getting your social
insurance number you will need this for
anything remotely important like
applying for a bank getting a phone
number etc so you need to get this as
soon as possible so you're able to go do
everything else you're able to get your
social insurance number at any Service
Canada office arriving in Toronto it's
right at the airport why I said just
start the immigration and if you come in
a Montreal Montreal has them in the city
I've linked a site in the description
that will help you find the nearest one
Museum when you do go there make sure to
bring your passport and your wife
Spanish as these will be your quiet no
photocopies allowed phone how are you
gonna find an apartment without a number
to reach you now to cual your
expectations right from the get-go
Canadian phone plans are garbage
horrendous absolute bollocks whole
telecom industry in Canada is
monopolized by the big three who don't
compete amongst themselves so they can
keep prices
hi they're all ridiculously expensive
they give you very little for your money
and the prices vary from province to
province for example Ontario and BC are
quite pricey with Quebec being more
affordable and Saskatchewan being very
very cheap this is because those
provinces have actual competition with
Saskatchewan having a province brawn
telecom called sasktel if you decided to
move to Saskatchewan then definitely go
with them Sasuke for everywhere else
don't even bother checking the p3 del
Rodgers Telus
them and also avoid Fido at all Kong
they are the worst I went with them when
I was on exchange here four years ago
and they were awful I paid $50 plus tax
for one gigabyte won it was nothing and
when I tried to cancel my month-to-month
plan at the end of April they ended up
canceling my plan a day before they said
they were going to and then also
proceeded to try and charge me for the
entire month of May when they won even
dreamy service avoid like the place
okay so actual options definitely bring
your own phone and stick to simile
montemagno plans it doesn't lock you in
and lets you keep costs down I recommend
going with Kudo I've been with them
since I arrived the service is good and
I currently pay $49 plus tax so total 56
dollars for six gigabytes of data
unlimited calls and unlimited tax
including international it's been more
than enough for me and if you use my
referral code right here you'll get $50
off your next bill there are cheaper
subsidiary of Telus so they have good
coverage and they're available pretty
much all over Canada for Ontario there's
also freedom mobile which is another
low-cost carry so check that out and
pair and see what works for you yeah
it's way too nice to be in here doing
this video let's go outside let's go
outside
this is Bella this is much better I can
do this alright let's go let's continue
so apartments this is a topic so massive
I'm gonna do a whole video dedicated to
the subject but the main site you needed
no rentals is qgg CA ki j IJ a dot CA
this is basically the gum tree of Canada
for any Australians watching or the
Craigslist of Canada for an Americans
Craigslist also exists and is worth
checking out as well but most people put
all this stuff on Kijiji this should
also be apartment and house made
Facebook groups for your city I've
linked the Montreal ones down below now
those are places where you can find
apartments but what about inspecting
them and deciding whether to move in let
me give you just a couple bits of advice
based on my own personal experience ah
DC or her shows a apartments our ground
floor apartments I personally avoid
these as if you live in a built-up areas
such as Montreal where housing is
densely packed in every building is at
least three stories basically no light
enters the apartment apart from the
rooms with south-facing windows I've
been known for two months and I can
confirm the common areas were almost
completely dark it's dark gloomy and
depressing avoid it the same goes the
basement and half basement apartments
before moving here I didn't even know
these existed and still don't know why
they exist why why would you do this to
yourself the same goes for bedrooms with
no windows don't do it don't do it we
actually do have a windowless bedroom in
our apartment we just use this for
storage but imagine sleeping in here you
don't know when to wake up it's soul
destroying I did it not in this room but
in like another apartment for two months
don't do it do not do it I thought I
could handle it for a few months but I
couldn't sure there are huge savings on
our DC apartments compared to
higher-level apartments but the effect
it has on your well-being insanity is
not worth it especially for windowless
bedroom stick two bedrooms with windows
and upper level apartments ideally third
floor if you live in Montreal because as
you
see we get roof access and it's dope
sunsets from here are pretty sweet and
just uh I know it's a nice thing to have
roof access this whole white thing is
something I've never had to deal with in
Australia because even at ground level
there's like everywhere but in Canada
light becomes precious in the winter and
the price premium is what if you're in
Montreal it's still dirt cheap anyway
you can save money in other ways other
things worth mentioning electricity is
called hydro in Canada so ask if that's
included or not as bills can vary
dramatically between summer and winter
which can be dollars and cents in the
summer and up to hundreds and hundreds
of dollars in the winter this has been
nice there's been pretty nice don't you
think
I needed this let's continue this
downstairs okay so moving on thanks this
was a very frustrating process when I
did it so another crappy thing about
Canada it is the norm to charge a ten to
twenty dollar monthly fee for a debit
account yes the banks charge you money
to access your own money this is a great
country isn't that great also as a new
arrival you're automatically ineligible
for pretty much every bank account in
Canada don't even think about going to
tangerine I tried and it was way too
much of a hassle and to meet the
requirements it'll cost you more than
any fees you'll save what you need to
get is something called a newcomers to
Canada account these are accounts where
the general requirements such as a
Canadian driver's license
work history bank check are waived
and you get a debit account for free for
the first year after that you need a
minimum balance of like three to four
thousand dollars to waive the fee a
bunch of different banks often newcomer
accounts but the only month worth
looking at are the ones from the Bank of
Montreal BMO and CIBC they both offer
their debit accounts for free for one
year and Bank of Montreal also offers a
credit card where you can get four
percent cashback for the first four
months up to $125 and then it's one
percent cashback after that it's not
worth going with any of the airline
points airline miles credit cards in
Canada as they don't offer good value
compared to the cashback ones
transferring your money from home to
Canada so I'm assuming you didn't
I hope you didn't bring all your cash in
your luggage on your way to Canada and
most your money is still in your home
country in your bank account and you a
transfer that without losing too much in
fees so the best method of doing this
will vary from country to country but
for Australians what I recommend is
applying for a city bank plus debit card
before you leave Australia this is the
ultimate debit card for travelling as
there are no fees and you get an
exchange rate very close to the actual
exchange rates I have been using this
card for all of my travels for the past
four years and haven't had any issues
with the bank and when you do have issue
say if you lose your card or anything
the customer service is fantastic super
quick and very helpful one time an ATM
ate my card and they send me one within
a day or two super quick and I'm not
even paying any fees for this service
it's great when you want to move your
money into Canada or when you're just
traveling in general you transfer the
money from your Australian bank account
to the city bank account and then take
that Citibank card go to an ATM in
Canada withdraw the cash from the ATM
and then deposit the cash into your
Canadian bank account all you pay is the
withdrawal fee from the ATM and that's
it the best way to get the most money
from you money other options I've had
recommended quite a lot for other
countries include transferwise when you
do this process it also helps quite a
lot to keep an eye on the fluctuating
exchange rates I generally found that
the exchange rate would always spike on
a certain day of the week for me that
was Tuesday I don't know if that's an
actual thing or if it changed but that
was what I experienced driver's license
so if you have a driver's license from
your home country and it's recognised in
Canada link below you'll be able to
drive on it for the first six months
without doing anything at all after that
you'll have to apply for a Canadian
driver's licence or exchange your arms
the first thing to look for is if your
country has an exchange agreement in
place with the province you're moving to
yes that's right not with Canada but the
province it's best to treat each
province as its own separate country
just for your own sanity or Australians
we have an exchange agreement with
Ontario but not with Quebec great right
makes so much sense so provided you have
an Ontarian address you can exchange
your
Australian license for Ontarians if
you're someone who paid for a 10-year
license back home don't worry you'll get
it back after you leave or you can
request a new one without paying for it
again when you write back home if you're
in a province with an exchange agreement
with your country you'll have to do a
driving test links for those below
languages in mostly Canada
you only need to speak English to get a
job in Quebec you'll need to be at least
at professional watch proficiency /
bilingual for pretty much any job
especially graduate roles only
exceptions being in IT and the video /
entertainment industry if you can find
work somewhere you're eligible for
heavily discounted French language
courses at these french language
learning centers around Montreal one of
them being the Santos on TV which gives
you a two month intensive French
language course for $70 very cheap for
both languages the most important thing
is your speaking ability and for that I
highly recommend going to language
meetups
this is a great way to practice and also
to meet some new friends mundo lingo is
one of the most well known language
meetups with meetups in Montreal and
Toronto although it is basically a
networking event it's great for practice
if you're just starting out and just
want to practice basic conversation it's
basically a language meetup at a bar
well it's good for basic practice after
a while you might find yourself
repeating the same stuff over and over
and over again bonds your TV on dude
let's get you paid for car light well
Quattro atom energy I'm already at it
says the rides that there are and while
that's good for basic just networking it
becomes less practice and more rote
memorization and repetition once you're
at that stage I highly recommend going
to language meetups in your area like
the ones on meetup calm I found them to
be way better for actually testing your
skills once you get to a higher level as
I've gone into really deep conversations
that have challenged me linguistically a
lot more often at these events compared
to mundo lingo which has a lot of people
who just do the rounds with kind of like
shallow surface level conversation it's
also a lot more quiet than a noisy bar
it helps comprehension
ate a lot jobs so this is something I'm
struggling with at the moment check my
previous video basically you can try to
find a graduate job in Canada
it's gonna be extremely extremely
difficult HR will routinely throw away
your CV because your degree is in
Canadian and you have no Canadian work
experience even though your degree might
be from a better University than the
ones you're competing with and your
overseas experience is valuable just to
cut down on the amount of applications
to go through sounds great right
that isn't discrimination at all Canada
is so nice
the main websites to go through are
indeed see a job you like oh is quite
good monster and Linkedin angellist is
also good if you're looking for startups
but really if you want a job in your
field it's easier just to know somebody
this is the same in pretty much every
country on planet earth but in a foreign
country you have everything going
against you so you're gonna need to pull
every single string to make this work
you need to work hard and try and meet
as many people as you can as soon as you
touch down right off the bat make
friends with your roommates friends if
you have any definitely have roommates
if you move to a foreign country go to
meetups like mundo lingo others Omnicom
and also go on to LinkedIn find the
companies you want to work at and
personally reach out to employees not HR
but actual employees and awesome art for
a coffee do whatever you can to grow
your network and say yes to every
opportunity that comes your way why not
to get yourself killed of course but
saying yes to every opportunity helps a
lot when you're new to a country this
goes for jobs but also life in general
one very important note with job
applications if you're here on a working
holiday visa do not mention it on your
job application the red flag all they
need to know if they ask is that you're
legally allowed to work in Canada just
say you move to Canada and in any
interview say you intend to stay here I
actually do intend to stay here so it's
not issue for me but if you're on sudden
just keep your lips sealed and don't
mention it most employers won't be
willing to hire and take the time to
train you if you're gonna leave up to
two years unless if you want just a
service retail job or work in the ski
fields this is an extremely uphill
battle and you're gonna need to do
everything right to make it work last
thing permanent residency this is
something that you'll need to do if you
intend to stay in kind of beyond the
length of your working holiday visa if
you have enough points for Express entry
through thing
like a full-time job and a university
degree process can be as quick as six
months I will do a video on this in
detail after I've done it myself just
like the honeymoon for Canada part one
oh now I've just got a link in the
description for the official info well
that's it hopefully you're ready to get
your life started in Canada it's that
like button if you found this video
helpful I'll be doing more in depth
videos on things like finding an
apartment in Montreal which is really
complicated and weird and confusing so
I'll break it down how to get a job and
the permanent residency process from A
to Z so definitely subscribe so you
don't miss out on those by the end of it
I want this town 11 everything you need
to know about moving in Canada and I
think I'm getting that I'm making
progress let me know your thoughts and
questions in the comments down below and
I'll see you in the next video there's
one last thing before you go I'd like to
announce that I finally started selling
photo prints it's something I've been
wanting to do for ages but I wanted to
make sure I got it right I had found a
photo lab that I'm super happy with and
I'm honestly so stoked about how well
these turned out it's so sharp and the
colors are so accurate there's gonna be
over 20 different prints off the sale
shipping internationally in both 8 by 12
inch this size and 12 by 18 inch so
basically a 4 and a 3 in your choice of
either Mac or metallic archival photo
paper I personally love the metallic
just because of how rich and how deep
the colors and the blacks are as soon as
I pull this out of the case and saw it
for the first time I was just like yes
yes a hundred times yes I put a ton of
time into these videos I think the loss
how to move to Canada video took over
fifty nine hours yeah a ton of time so
if there's any photos on the Shonda Co
slash store that take your fancy I would
really appreciate the support thank you
