We arrived in Canada on Wednesday, having moved over with 4 suitcases and pretty much nothing else (we sold our house, car, furniture, etc. the contents of the house mainly to various family members). We actually flew to South Carolina and spent 2 and a half weeks staying with my parents in shorts and t-shirts getting a bit of a tan before driving for a day and a half up to Canada.

We crossed the border at Lewiston - we'd definitely recommend doing it there if you are going by car. We crossed at about 11:30am, and the whole process took about 15 minutes. First we had to go to immigration, where our paperwork was approved, but we were admonished by the Scottish immigration officer for fed-exing my husband's PR card to England - apparently this is against the law...oops! We then went to customs, where we gave them my husband's goods to follow list from when he landed in May, and my new returning resident form. They didn't ask to check the car or anything else, but just wanted to make sure that this is it, we're not bringing anything in later, they then stamped the forms, gave us a copy, and sent us on our way.

We drove straight to the RBC branch in Milton where we opened an account last October. To open an account with them, you need either proof of citizenship (which, as a returning resident I had back in October), or a COPR/PR card (which my husband received when he landed in May), so we were able to make the account joint in May. We were taken away by the branch manager, who had emigrated from China as a student. She completely understood the complications of starting over in Canada, particularly when it came to credit, so she got both of us signed up for a pre-approved credit card with a $1000 dollar limit, unsecured with no proof of employment (neither of us have jobs lined up), to be delivered in about a week. She also set something up on the system to waive all withdrawal fees etc. for the first 3 months while we find our feet and decide what package we want to have.

From there, we drove to the Ontario Driver's Licence Testing Center in Oakville. We went to the information desk, explained that we wanted to change our UK licenses for Ontario ones. The guy at the desk asked to see our licences, so we gave him the photo cards. He then asked for the paper part as well (we'd tried to hold those back, but since we'd been rumbled we handed them over). Within 2 minutes, we were each standing in front of a desk having our various ID checked. There was a bit of a problem, because they were not willing to accept my marriage certificate from South Carolina as proof of legal name change, luckily there was an endorsement in my passport saying my name had changed, and they accepted that. About 15 minutes later, after a quick eye test and a few signatures, we walked out with our temporary licences, "real" ones to follow in 4-6 weeks.

From there we went to my brother's house in Acton, where we'll be living until we sort ourselves out. So that was day 1 of entering Canada!

Day 2, we went to Mississauga and signed up for OHIP. Again, very straightforward. I forgot my marriage certificate, so again, the endorsement in my passport helped a lot! Our OHIP cards kick in on the 5th of January, and we have forms to show we've signed up, but are not covered yet.

We then went car-hunting. We'd narrowed it down to either a Kia Sportage or a Hyundai Tucson, preferring the Sportage due to the fact that side curtain airbags are a standard feature rather than an optional extra. We went to 401 Dixie Kia in Mississauga, where we were shown 2 2006 models that were ex-company cars from the Kia head office (also in Mississauga) with less than 15000km on them. We started the negotiating process (which I HATE), we asked for a flat fee, all-inclusive of tax etc. since we'd be paying cash and needed to budget pretty closely. They came down with $32,000. We said it was too high, the maximum we could pay was $26000. They went away and came back with £29500. We said $26000. They then tried a bait and switch, agreeing $26000, then it turned out it was on a beat up 2005 model. We called them on it, they went away and started to phone around for a 2006 model with higher mileage to match our price. We then went to another Kia dealer, and got a quote for $32000 (sound familiar?). We said much too high, we'd been offered lower. They went away and came back with $31500, and a cruise for two! At that point, the first dealer called back and said they'd found two for us, black or champagne, with just under 25,000km, for $27000. We threw that offer at the second dealer, he advised us to take it. So we did.

Edit: according to the dealership, in Ontario, your oil and filters should be changed every 3 months or 5000km, whichever comes first. This is because the severe range of temperatures deteriorates the oil faster.

Day 3, we went and sorted our insurance out. I had a life policy with State Farm, so we went to an agent in Milton for an auto quote. They took our driving history and past insurance into consideration, and classed us both as 2*, which means a driver with 2 years Canadian driving experience (we technically have 2 days, I'd never driven in Canada prior to May of this year). So take photo copies of your British licences and your last insurance schedule/renewal notice. We also opted to take out renter's insurance while staying at my brother's place, and to cover us when we move to an apartment later on (this also gets you a 4% discount on auto). Our auto insurance came to $1290 for 6 months, and our renters was $220 annually. We'd budgeted $4000 for insurance, so we were pretty happy with this.

We then took our proof of insurance back to the dealership, inspected the car, they needed copies of our Canadian temp licences, proof of insurance, and a deposit, and we signed the bill of sale, which we asked them to fax to State Farm for us. We then went to the bank to get a bankers draft for the balance, and we pick the car up today after it's been valeted, had the oil and filters changed, and a small scratch repaired on the wing.

In the afternoon I arranged travel insurance to cover the 3 month gap with Manulife, which was $615 for the two of us for the three months, but they also had different policies starting from about $280.

We'd accomplished a hell of a lot in the last 3 days, and the main advice I can give is to make plans, do your research, have all of your documentation with you and easily found, and just be honest with your situation. Half the people we dealt with were immigrants themselves, the other half were more than happy to "hold our hands" through the process to make sure we understood fully what was going on. All in all...very smooth! Now on to the job hunt!

Wow, congratulations on getting there, and thanks for a really helpful post. We'll be dealing with all this in a couple of months! Good luck with the job hunting

A huge drive from South Carolina to Canada! How long did that take? We love Myrtle Beach! Hope you settle in quickly and find a job. Good luck!

It's not against the law.

She must have been mistaken. I did check before we did it and it seemed ok, so we went ahead...oh, well!

Conragulations Cov thats awesome news, ive seen your posts right from when you sent in your paperwork, its nice to see you finally here and getting settled.

Good luck for the future.