BobbyN

Hi all

I just moved back to Canada a month ago on PR status and was advised it would be 3 months before i can apply for an ontario health card.

I was previously here from 2012 to mid 2013 on IEC visa but never bothered with an health card as i rarely get ill.

Would the months i stayed before matter at all as i do not want to wait another 2 months for a Health Card.

Thanks
B

bats

You have to wait.

SchnookoLoly

+1, you have to wait. I'm a returning Canadian and I had to wait 3 months. You can go apply for it now, and they will mail it within a few days of your 3 months expiring.

MarylandNed

You don't have to wait 3 months to apply. You can apply as soon as you are residing in Ontario. Go in now and make sure they backdate your application to the date you took up residence. Make sure you can prove that date. Then they'll mail out the card when you are eligible.

bats

To clarify, whether you apply now or in 3moths after you took up residence you still won't get OHIP cover until 3/12 after eligibility.

SchnookoLoly

Yep, this is what I did. I went to Service Ontario a few days after I returned as a resident (Dec 5th). I had my papers showing that I landed back at YYZ (Goods to follow) with the date stamp, that was fine. They said they'd process it all and then just hold my health card until I was eligible (March 5th). I think I received the card on the 3rd or 4th or March.

MarylandNed

Right but it's better to apply as soon as possible after taking up residence in Ontario. You don't want to give them any reason to doubt the date you took up residence. You can go in and get that date confirmed to their satisfaction on your application and then the card will arrive by the time the 3 months waiting period is up.

Waiting until you are eligible before applying is risky because you might have an issue with them accepting your residence date. Plus you add the time for them to process the application and send out the card.

bats

Yep, even if they don't have an issue with the date they usually dislike something else and send you away for more paperwork. They do give you a bit of paper with your HC number in it though while you wait for the card in the mail.

MarylandNed

Yes. They tried it on with my daughter. She was born in Canada and moved back there to go to university. When she went in to apply for the OHIP card, she couldn't produce one of the 3 documents they wanted i.e. proof of Ontario residency. She was living in university dorms at the time (she now has her own apartment) so didn't have a rental agreement that they would accept. She didn't yet have a university report card or transcript. They wouldn't accept a letter from the university stating that she was attending and residing in the dorms.

So here's the stupid part. She was able to simply apply for an Ontario Photo Card without providing proof of address. When she asked why no proof was required for the photo card, they stated that they had no reason to disbelieve her and the photo card would be sent to that address anyway so, if she didn't live there, she wouldn't receive it. My daughter was tempted to point out that being able to pick it up from the address she gave wasn't dependent on her actually living there - but she let it be. It's interesting to note that the OHIP card is also mailed out so the same argument could have applied to it - although I guess OHIP fraud costs more damage to the province than having someone's photo card get into the wrong hands (that could just hurt the applicant in terms of identify theft but I guess they don't care about that).

Anyway, after receiving the Ontario Photo Card, she was able to use it as proof of Ontario residency for her OHIP application. So back to the OHIP office she goes. I just happened to be with her this time. Good job I was because the drone behind the desk tried to trick her with some questions designed to prove that my daughter's "principal home" was not in Ontario and therefore she was ineligible since she was "just in Ontario to go to school". My daughter pointed out that the 2 things (primarily living in Ontario and being a student) were not mutually exclusive but the drone wouldn't budge. At this point I intervened. The drone tried to stop me by saying that she was dealing with my daughter and not me. I told her that she better start dealing with me if she was claiming that my house was my daughter's principal home when as far as I was concerned that was not the case. I said my daughter had left home (my home) and didn't have a single possession there. Everything she owned was now in Ontario and as far as my daughter and I were concerned, Ontario was now her principal home. I then asked to see a supervisor but the drone backed down and my daughter got her OHIP card.

Zoe Bell

there was a delightful thread once entitled "OHIP are turds"
I felt it was a fairly accurate summary.

we had similar issues over the definition of "original" vs "copy" of our lease.

remedied when we did the driving license shuffle

BobbyN

great advice guys.

i did not realise i could apply for the health card straight away so i will do that asap and hope i have no problems.

i have the date i landed on my temporary PR paper

AmyDavid

We never had any issues with obtaining our OHIP cards - the ladies in the Peterborough office could not have been anymore helpful if they tried - so they aren't all bad!

DandNHill

We had no problem here either other than we had to go back with our 15 year old because despite them saying you have a photo on your card from 16 years old it's actually from 15 1/2 and he was literally a couple of days over 15 1/2! lol

bats

I think transferring province, renewing, or reporting a lost OHIP card is a different kettle of fish to applying as a new immigrant.

I had no trouble with renewing or losing cards but when we applied for OHIP it was awful, they wanted forms that CIC were supposed to have given us except that CIC never give out said forms. In the end we had to appeal to OHIP head office and get our MPP involved.

DandNHill

Oh wow that's tough! I think starting off in NS has huge benefits then because it seems that on many fronts it was much easier... school registration for example!