Leaving from Belgium?To the Belgian plan →See the plan for Belgians moving to Canada →This plan is for people leaving the Netherlands.
Canada · Visa required
Emigrating to Canada
For Canada you need an invitation. You join a pool of candidates, and Canada invites whoever ranks high enough. So every point counts. This page shows how to gain points, which doors exist and what differs per province after arrival.
€ 499 one-off · 37 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Points system, invitation required
- Lead time
- About 6 months after invitation
- Note
- Healthcare and driving licence differ per province
Last updated: 14 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from counting points to being settled
With Canada the order is everything. After your invitation you have sixty days, and everything you still have to arrange then takes longer than that. Whoever works ahead doesn't have to rush.
- Orientation
Which door, and how many points do you bring?
In this phase you choose your door and calculate your score honestly. There are three realistic doors: Express Entry (the points system), a provincial nomination that yields 600 points, and for those aged 18 through 30 a working holiday of a year. The biggest lever is French. It yields points, and the French-language draws (rounds in which Canada sends invitations) usually closed more than a hundred points lower than the regular ones in 2026. With school French, that's the cheapest route to Canada.Read more
- Your application
Everything has a use-by date
In this phase you get your file ready before the invitation comes. Your credential assessment is valid for five years, your language test for only two, and your profile sits in the pool for twelve months. After the invitation you have sixty days for a complete file. That includes a medical examination that can only be done at one address in the whole of the Netherlands, two days a week. Whoever only starts then doesn't make it.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
Treaty country for your AOW, not for your healthcare
In this phase you arrange AOW, healthcare, tax and paperwork. The AOW you've built up comes along in full: as a single person you keep the full 70%, which isn't so outside treaty countries. There's no CAK route (healthcare via the Netherlands): you arrange your healthcare yourself until your provincial insurance starts. Two things differ from Europe: the Netherlands withholds up to 15% on your pension, and the deductions EU emigrants keep don't apply here. Good news: Canada has been an apostille country since January 2024. An apostille (a court's stamp of authenticity) is enough, and the cumbersome legalisation has lapsed.Read more
- The move
One list decides everything, and your car stays here
In this phase you move your belongings. Your whole household enters tax-free, but only what's on your arrival list: the list you hand to customs on arrival. What you forget, you simply pay for later. Count on four to six weeks door-to-door to Toronto and seven to nine to Vancouver. A car bought in Europe isn't allowed into Canada, not even for immigrants. Sell it here and put the purchase on the spot in your budget.Read more
- Arrival in Canada
Federally in, provincially settled
In this phase you arrange healthcare, driving licence and money, and almost all of it is provincial. Your health insurance starts immediately in Ontario, in Alberta from your settlement date provided you apply in time, and in British Columbia only after a good two months. You exchange your driving licence in BC and Alberta without a test. In Ontario the Netherlands isn't on the list and you sit the test again. And you start financially from zero: your Dutch credit history doesn't count here.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Canada journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 1.2 of your plan
Calculate your points, and discover what French does
- Lead time
- an evening with the calculator
- Costs
- none
With this step you know how many points you score, and so how promising the points route is for you. Calculate your score honestly with the official calculator. Age, education, language and work experience make up the lion's share of your points. Be strict with yourself. Points you hope to get don't count.
There are two things you need to know here. Many guides still get them wrong.
- A job offer no longer earns points. Those points were abolished in March 2025. So looking for a Canadian employer "for the points" no longer makes sense.
- French has become worth much more. NCLC 7 on all skills yields 25 points. If you also have English at CLB 5 or higher on all four skills, that becomes 50. That level of English is a formality for most Dutch people.
NCLC and CLB are the Canadian scales for your language level: NCLC for French, CLB for English.
The real gain isn't even in those points, but in the category draws. A draw is a round in which Canada invites the candidates with the highest scores. Besides the ordinary rounds, Canada also invites per category, for example for French speakers. The cut-off score is the lowest score that still received an invitation in such a round.
- In 2026 the French rounds closed between 382 and 420 points.
- In 2026 the ordinary rounds were only for people who already worked in Canada (the Canadian Experience Class). They closed between 507 and 523.
That's usually more than a hundred points' difference. And thousands of people are invited at once each time. There was no round open to everyone, without a category, in 2026. If you have school French and want to invest a year in it, this is the cheapest route to Canada there is.
One caveat. In April 2026 Canada asked for comments on plans for a new Express Entry. One of those plans: removing or changing the extra points for French. Nothing has been decided yet, and there is no date. That consultation does not cover the French-language draws, and that is exactly where the real gain is. Check the IRCC points table again just before you create your profile.
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Canada.
This is step 1.2 of 39. The other 38 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 39 steps for CanadaWhat you get for € 499
All 39 steps to Canada, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Canada
€ 499
one-off · 39 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
- Destination changes? Within 30 days I switch your plan to another country free of charge
- Stuck on a step? You get a personal answer within two working days
What will your move to Canada cost? Work it out →
Know someone moving to Canada? Give this plan as a gift →
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Canada: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Canada change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Canada? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Canada starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Canada
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Express Entry and your CRS score: why French is the biggest lever you pull yourselfCanada ranks you on points and invites the top. Two things many sites still have wrong: the points for a job offer were abolished in March 2025, and French yields up to 50 extra points — with French-language draws of their own that usually close far lower than the ordinary ones.
- Your first weeks in Canada: SIN, health card and a driving licence that works out differently per provinceCanada is federal as far as your status is concerned, but provincial in almost everything you arrange after that. Your health insurance, your driving licence and the deadlines differ per province — and the driving licence in particular holds a surprise: the Netherlands is on the exchange list of BC and Alberta, but not on Ontario's.
- Working holiday in Canada: the route for whoever is under 31 — with a quota and a lotteryThe Netherlands has a youth mobility agreement with Canada, and that gives access to a year of work with an open work permit. Two hard limits: you have to be 18 to 30 inclusive, and there is a quota per country allocated by lottery — and you may take part only once.
- The language test for Canada: which test counts, which score you need and what each level earnsFor Express Entry you need a language test, and not just any one. For English, Canada only accepts CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core; IELTS Academic does not count. For the Federal Skilled Worker Program CLB 7 in all four skills is the minimum, and your result must be less than two years old both when you create your profile and when you apply.
- Working in Canada: your permit, your partner and the diploma that is not yet a licence to practiseAs a permanent resident you may work anywhere in Canada and for anyone. With a temporary permit it depends on the type: an employer-specific permit ties you to one employer, one occupation and one location. For partners, the open work permit has been restricted since January 2025. And the trap: your credential assessment for Express Entry is not a licence to practise your profession.
- AOW, pension and tax in Canada: 15% stays in the Netherlands, and what you must record on day oneCanada is a treaty country, so your accrued AOW goes with you in full — as a single person you keep the full 70%. But the Netherlands withholds up to 15% on your pension, and the deductions that EU emigrants keep don't apply here. One action on your day of arrival can save thousands of euros later.
All 13 articles about Canada
- Your household contents, your car and your dog to Canada: one list that determines everything
- Banking and paying in Canada: your right to an account, the free first year and the cheque that gets held
- Buying a house in Canada: until January 2027 your residence status is the key
- Renting in Canada: the deposit, the rent increase and Ontario's new-build gap
- Your driving licence in Canada: exchange in BC and Alberta, new tests in Ontario
- Children at school in Canada: free, arranged by province, and in Québec in French
- Healthcare in Canada: provincial insurance, the waiting period and what it does not cover
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Canada: 39 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.