Your first weeks in Canada: SIN, health card and a driving licence that works out differently per province

You start your first weeks in Canada with your Social Insurance Number: free and federal, so the same everywhere. After that the order depends on where you go to live.

Canada handles your residence status federally, for the whole country. Almost everything you need after that is provincial: your health insurance, your driving licence and the deadlines differ per province, sometimes considerably.

The driving licence holds the surprise. The Netherlands is on the exchange list (the countries whose licence you can exchange without a test) of British Columbia and Alberta, but not on Ontario's.

How do you get your Social Insurance Number?

The SIN is your Canadian citizen service number. Without that nine-digit number you cannot work legally, file a tax return or apply for government services.

Applying is free and can be done online, by mail or at a Service Canada counter. A plastic card no longer exists: you view and print your number in your My Service Canada Account, your online account with Service Canada.

You need two documents:

• Proof of your status in Canada. As a permanent resident that is your PR card (your residence card) or your COPR document (the confirmation of your permanent residence). As a temporary resident it is your work permit.
• Proof of your identity. Your Dutch passport suffices for this.

If you enter as a permanent resident, your COPR document is your proof of status until your PR card arrives. Keep it carefully. Submit your Canadian address and photo within 180 days: then your first PR card is free.

Item	Rule or deadline
Social Insurance Number	free; online, by mail or at the counter
Address and photo for your first PR card	within 180 days, then free
OHIP (Ontario)	no waiting period; 153 of your first 183 days in Ontario
MSP (British Columbia)	rest of the arrival month plus 2 months' wait
AHCIP (Alberta)	coverage from settlement, if applied for within 3 months
Exchanging your licence in BC	within 90 days; no test with 2 years' experience
Exchanging your licence in Alberta	within 90 days; no test (class 5)
Licence in Ontario	60 days; knowledge and road test, as the Netherlands is not listed
Using your credit limit	preferably less than 30%

When are you insured for healthcare?

This is where the provincial differences hit hardest, and where outdated information costs the most.

Ontario (OHIP): no more waiting period. OHIP is Ontario's public health insurance. The end of the waiting period is new enough that almost every Dutch emigration guide still has it wrong. The province now writes literally that the waiting period has been abolished and that you are covered immediately on enrolment. There is a presence requirement afterwards: 153 days within your first 183 days, and Ontario must be your primary residence.

British Columbia (MSP): you do wait, and BC itself tells you what to do. Here the rest of the month of arrival plus two full months applies. If you arrive on 12 July, your coverage starts on 1 October. The province itself advises bluntly: take out private insurance for that period. So count those costs in your moving budget.

Alberta (AHCIP): no waiting period, but a deadline. If you come from outside Canada, your coverage can start on the day you settle in Alberta. But: you must apply within three months. If you are later, you lose that retroactive effect and your coverage only starts when the application is processed.

What all three have in common: GP and hospital are covered, but dentist, glasses and medicines outside the hospital are not. So count on supplementary insurance, through your employer or taken out yourself. In Canada that is the norm, not a luxury.