Look inside
The plan for Canada, from the inside
These are all 34 steps of the Canada journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 34
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 64
- Only for your situation
- 5
Phase 1
5 steps
Orientation
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.
- 1.1
Understand the three doors
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.2
Calculate your points, and discover what French does
- Lead time
- an evening with the calculator
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
6 steps
Your application
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.
- 2.1
Have your credentials assessed (ECA)
- Lead time
- count on several weeks to months
- Costs
- estimate; the designated organisations publish their own rates
1 official source
- 2.2
Pass your language test
- Lead time
- booking and sitting, several weeks
- Costs
- IELTS General Training in the Netherlands approx. € 283
1 official source
- 2.3
Create your profile and enter the pool
- Lead time
- a day; the profile stays for 12 months
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 2.4
Prove your financial means
- Lead time
- requesting bank letters, 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- none; it's about proving, not spending
1 official source
- 2.5
Arrange your police certificate and medical examination
- Lead time
- VOG 2-4 weeks; examination by appointment
- Costs
- VOG € 41.35; examination approx. € 350-375 per adult
2 official sources
- 2.6
Submit within sixty days
- Lead time
- decision usually within 6 months
- Costs
- CAD 1,590 per adult, CAD 270 per child, biometrics CAD 85 (max CAD 170 per family)
2 official sources
Phase 3
11 steps
Winding up the Netherlands
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.
- 3.1
Arrange your healthcare: there's no treaty route
- Lead time
- research and take out cover, 1-3 weeks
- Costs
- private cover until your provincial insurance starts
2 official sources
- 3.2
AOW and pension: what goes with you, and who taxes it
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research; you can apply up to 1 year after departure
- Costs
- voluntary AOW continuation 17.9% of your income (min € 569, max € 5,693 in 2026)
4 official sources
- 3.3
Know what you lose fiscally
- Lead time
- one good conversation with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours, depending on your situation
3 official sources
- 3.4
Stop allowances and child benefit
- Lead time
- an hour
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.5
Deregister with the municipality
- Lead time
- 15 minutes at the counter
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.6
Get your documents ready, with apostille
- Lead time
- 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- apostille € 27 per document
3 official sources
- 3.7
Arrange DigiD and your vote
- Lead time
- an evening
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.11
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
5 steps
The move
One list decides whether your household contents come in tax-free. And your car stays here — that's not a choice but a rule.
- 4.1
Make the list that decides everything
- Lead time
- start on it weeks in advance
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 4.2
Book your container
- Lead time
- east coast 4-6 weeks door-to-door, west coast 7-9 weeks
- Costs
- estimate; there's no published rate for this route
- 4.3
Sell your car
- Lead time
- allow for selling time in the Netherlands
- Costs
- count on buying a car in Canada
2 official sources
- 4.4
Arrange your pet
- Lead time
- vet and NVWA appointment, plan 3-4 weeks ahead
- Costs
- NVWA legalisation € 65.87; flight from approx. € 70
2 official sources
- 4.5
The travel day and the border
- Lead time
- the day itself
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Phase 5
7 steps
Arrival in Canada
Your status is federal, but almost everything you arrange now is provincial — and financially you start from zero.
- 5.1
Apply for your Social Insurance Number
- Lead time
- online about 5 working days
- Costs
- free
2 official sources
- 5.2
Register for the provincial health insurance
- Lead time
- differs per province; in BC up to over 2 months' waiting period
- Costs
- no premium in most provinces; but the bridging policy
3 official sources
- 5.3
Open a bank account and start building credit
- Lead time
- account the same day; building credit takes months
- Costs
- none; a secured card does require a deposit
2 official sources
- 5.4
Exchange your driving licence
- Lead time
- BC and Alberta 90 days, Ontario 60 days
- Costs
- provincial fees
3 official sources
- 5.5
Find a home
- Lead time
- count on weeks; start with temporary accommodation
- Costs
- deposit rules differ per province
2 official sources
- 5.6
Enrol the children at school
- Lead time
- enrol with the school board of your address
- Costs
- public education is free
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 5.7
Get your Canadian tax affairs on track
- Lead time
- your first return follows after the calendar year
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
5 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Canada journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters 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
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.
Where you arrange it
What this step rests on
This is step 1.2 of 34. The other 33 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Canada?
All 34 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Canada: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Canada really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.