About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Hello! Apologies if this is the wrong place, but my fiancee and I are moving to Vancouver on Wednesday (TWP through the Global Talent Stream). We thought we had most things sorted but we just found this website and reading through the wiki and now have some final (slightly panicked!) questions.

Firstly about Goods Accompanying/Goods to Follow. The Wiki suggests it's unclear if we'll be considered Settlers or not - but if I'm reading the linked leaflet, it still seems like we just take two lists of goods and they'll sign/stamp the goods to follow for us to send things? If that's correct - something I haven't found detailed is whether we should "brand-new" or "second-hand" values? The Wiki linked an example but the picture seemed dead...

Secondly, as I understand it we need 3 months health insurance cover (as BC won't cover us for 3 months). Does anyone have any recent experience taking this out?! It seems like such a niche insurance that we've found it hard to find any - or when we have, they've seemed to cost around the same as a whole year's worth of cover from some other places. Or is that just the reality of it? Currently only Pacific Blue Cross seem to suit what we're looking for...

Lastly, does anyone have experience of using Revolut or Monzo (or any of the other "online" banks) as main bank accounts? I'd assume so, but the Revolut Help is hilariously unhelpful - it suggests you can't change your country of residence, but then advises not to set up a new account either. So what do you suggest?!

Any help with any point would definitely be appreciated - I have trawled the Wiki and the forums a fair amount but haven't found the answers to the particular problems - apologies if I've just missed something!

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Hello and welcome to BE! :welcome:

It's 2nd hand value, on the goods - https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Goods_To_Follow-Canada :D

Health cover: https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Medical_Insurance-Canada with covid most provinces are excluding the 1st 3 months https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/h...ge-wait-period

If you need cover -see:https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Medical_Insurance-Canada

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

(Tried to quote you to reply but it said I wasn't allowed to post links, lol)

:wave: Thanks for the welcome!

Ah, I missed the bit about second hand value. Thanks, I will adjust accordingly.

Following the link from the BC site it seems they're only covering COVID-19 related illness in the first three months, so we'll still need to take out private I think. Thanks for the link though!

Ah, I had found the Medical Insurance page on the Wiki and looked at most of the providers there. Wondered if there were any recent ones people had used as only Blue Cross seemed reasonable/would actually give the necessary cover - just wanted to check we weren't missing something, but maybe that's just how it is!

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Welcome to BE.

New members cannot post links in their first few posts. This is to prevent spammers from joining and advertising.

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Hi!

Yes, definitely makes sense! Wasn't trying to make fun of the rules - just though it was humorous that I couldn't quote the reply because of links I didn't write!

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

No problem. Confusing I know. ;)

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

I signed up for the beta launch of Revolut in Canada but they cancelled my account last spring because they pulled out of the country due to the complex banking rules. They couldn't get a full banking license and had to operate as a fintech payments firm so your money isn't insured etc. I only ever used it for small payments. I don't know about Monzo. Wealthsimple and Tangerine are similar Canadian online bank you might want to look at.

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Pacific Blue Cross is thought to be a good site for people needing to buy health insurance privately, and you may want to also consider them for an Extended Medical Insurance and/or Dental Insurance in addition to the MSP. Extended Health is what it implies, extra coverage for things that MSP does not cover, such as prescription costs. MSP does not cover Dental costs.

Their ads show they offer some interesting programmes in their policies.

In saying this, I have to say that MSP does cover much of the latter 2 items for low income people, or someone will correct me!

We have our Extended Health and Dental insurances with Sun Life, because that is the one that OH's employer was linked with when he worked, we just transferred it to private when he retired. I don't know whether they offer the 3 month insurance, or what the cost is for private insurance as we pay a retirees rate.

Do note that some of these insurers require that you pay up front and then claim back from the insurance company, and most have a deductible which depends largely on your income.

Re: About to move to Vancouver - final questions!
 

Ah! Good to know, thank you. I saw they had a presence in Canada and assumed it would work the same. I'll look at the two you mentioned, thanks!

Thanks for the pointers! We got a quote from AXA in the end which we went with, but I'll see if/what my work provides when I get there for Extended Cover. Thanks!