Step-by-step plan · Visa required

The step-by-step plan for Canada

From "we want this" to being settled, in 37 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

37 steps5 phases80 official sources5 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 499 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Canada: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

1
Orientation
5 steps
Open · You are here
2
Your application
6 steps
In your plan
3
Winding up the Netherlands
14 steps
In your plan
4
The move
5 steps
In your plan
5
Arrival in Canada
7 steps
In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

Canada recruits, and that makes this the friendliest of the three visa routes. But you're ranked, not assessed — and so everything turns on the question of how many points you can gather before you start anything.

By the end of phase 1 you know which of the three routes fits you, roughly how many points you score, what the journey will cost, and whether the family stands behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the three doors

Lead time:: reading step
Costs:: none

Canada has three realistic doors for Dutch citizens, and which one is open depends mainly on your age and your points. Express Entry is the main route: you create a profile, go into a pool and are ranked on your CRS score. The Provincial Nominee Program is the second way — a province nominates you, which yields 600 points and effectively puts you at the top; every province has its own streams and requirements. And whoever is 18 up to and including 30 has a third option that skips the other two: the working holiday route, with which you work in Canada for a year on an open work permit.

That last one is more than a detour. Canadian work experience counts heavily in a later application for permanent residence, so whoever is young enough can reverse the order: first a year of living and working, then applying from a much stronger position.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Seen

Step 1.2

Calculate your points, and discover what French does

Lead time:: an evening with the calculator
Costs:: none

Calculate your score honestly with the official tool. Age, education, language and work experience make up the lion's share; be strict, because points you hope to get don't count.

Two things you need to know here, and which many guides still get wrong. The points for a job offer were abolished in March 2025 — so looking for a Canadian employer "for the points" no longer makes sense. And French has become worth much more: NCLC 7 on all skills yields 25 points, or 50 if you also have English at CLB 5 — a formality for most Dutch people.

The real gain isn't even in those points but in the category draws. Besides the ordinary rounds Canada also invites per category, and in 2026 the French category repeatedly closed at around 391 to 420 points, against 516 for the ordinary rounds. That's more than a hundred points' difference, and thousands of people are invited at once each time. For whoever has school French and wants to invest a year, this is the cheapest route to Canada there is.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Seen

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:: 1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:: none

The application itself is clearly priced — count on about CAD 1,590 per adult and CAD 270 per child, plus biometrics. The money is in the things around it: the credential assessment, the language test, the medical examination, the shipping across the ocean, and a car you sell here and have to buy again there. Work it out with your own choices before you start anything.

Your budget, worked out

Seen

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:: no fixed one; take your time
Costs:: none

Canada is far away, and that's no detail: you're not back with family in a weekend. Discuss the things that only weigh later — the winter, the distances, the fact that in most provinces you're stuck without a car. And discuss the choice of province seriously, because administratively it's more decisive than people think: your health insurance, your driving licence and your tenant protection differ per province, sometimes considerably.

Seen

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:: five minutes, below
Costs:: none

Choose below the date on which you want to be standing in Canada. The step-by-step plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — and says so honestly if it gets tight. Do know what you have in hand and what you don't: the credential assessment and the language test you can plan, the moment the pool draws you not. A target date is yours: you can always move it, and on this route that's more the rule than the exception.

When do you want to leave for Canada?

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Canada. The full plan has another 32 steps ready for you: Your application, Winding up the Netherlands, The move and Arrival in Canada.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Canada

€ 499

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 499

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Your application0 of 6 steps open

Everything you gather in this phase has an expiry date, and the invitation gives you only sixty days. Whoever only starts once the invitation is in won't make it.

2.1Have your credentials assessed (ECA)count on several weeks to months
2.2Pass your language testbooking and sitting, several weeks
2.3Create your profile and enter the poola day; the profile stays for 12 months
2.4Prove your financial meansrequesting bank letters, 1-2 weeks
2.5Arrange your police certificate and medical examinationVOG 2-4 weeks; examination by appointment
2.6Submit within sixty daysdecision usually within 6 months

Open all steps · € 499

Phase 3 · Winding up the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

Canada is a treaty country for your AOW, but not for your healthcare. That difference decides two steps in this phase — and one of them costs money you have to plan for.

3.1Arrange your healthcare: there's no treaty routeresearch and take out cover, 1-3 weeks
3.2AOW and pension: what goes with you, and who taxes itan afternoon of research; you can apply up to 1 year after departure
3.3Know what you lose fiscallyone good conversation with a tax adviser
3.4Stop allowances and child benefitan hour
3.5Deregister with the municipality15 minutes at the counter
3.6Get your documents ready, with apostille1-2 weeks
3.7Arrange DigiD and your votean evening
3.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
3.9Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
3.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keeponly if this applies to you
3.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
3.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
3.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
3.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years

Phase 4 · The move0 of 5 steps open

One list decides whether your household contents come in tax-free. And your car stays here — that's not a choice but a rule.

4.1Make the list that decides everythingstart on it weeks in advance
4.2Book your containereast coast 4-6 weeks door-to-door, west coast 7-9 weeks
4.3Sell your carallow for selling time in the Netherlands
4.4Arrange your petvet and NVWA appointment, plan 3-4 weeks ahead
4.5The travel day and the borderthe day itself

Phase 5 · Arrival in Canada0 of 7 steps open

Your status is federal, but almost everything you arrange now is provincial — and financially you start from zero.

5.1Apply for your Social Insurance Numberonline about 5 working days
5.2Register for the provincial health insurancediffers per province; in BC up to over 2 months' waiting period
5.3Open a bank account and start building creditaccount the same day; building credit takes months
5.4Exchange your driving licenceBC and Alberta 90 days, Ontario 60 days
5.5Find a homecount on weeks; start with temporary accommodation
5.6Enrol the children at schoolonly if this applies to you
5.7Get your Canadian tax affairs on trackyour first return follows after the calendar year

5 of these 32 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 32 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Canada: 37 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 499 Read more about Canada first