bigreduk

Hello everyone in this great community ,which is a mine of help and informaion . With the help of these boards i found how to get my Canadian working holiday visa and to decided on which part of canada would be best suited to me and my wife . As it is getting near time to going ( april /may ) I would like some information on the nitty gritty of ariving in Canada .
As anyone who seen or remembered any of my past posts might will remember i need to change my uk truck lisence to a Manitoba drivers lisence so i can then do my Canadian class 1 to get a trucking job . I will be paying for lisence my self so not to be tied to a company etc .

My question really is what is the order to do things on arrival

get bank account in Canada
get house and address
get car
autopac car insurance
social security number so i can work
get HGV lisence


The above are the basic things i need not sure of the order i need to get them in .. maby social security number should be first as i might need this to get a bank account . just not sure of the order .

any any advice on the order would be good to save me running around like a headless chickel when i arrive in steinbach . lol

Thanks to everyone on here and hope the question is not to long winded .

rivingtonpike

Have you both got IEC Holiday Visas or is your wife coming as a visitor? You should probably go to a Service Canada office to get your Social Insurance Number (SIN Card). I seem to remember this helps with bank accounts and the like.

rivingtonpike

Sorry, just seen your previous post. I guess your wife is coming as a 2 year visitor. I guess accommodation would likely be high up the list too. Is it Craigslist that has rentals? Not sure for Manitoba, but probably the same.

bigreduk

I was not sure if i could open a bank account untill i got SIN card , probaby services Canada might be best first stop unless anyone else any any different information .

Thanks for your information

might be kajing or something maby , probbly have craigslist to .

bc2015

You should get your SIN on your first day, imo. Note that you don't get a card anymore, just a print out of the number but they do it on the spot.

Siouxie

Hello and welcome to BE!

You might find the list on the wiki helpful - ignore the parts you don't need!

Arrival To Do List-Canada : British Expat Wiki

Apartments for Rent - PadMapper Apartment Search for Oodle, PadLister, Airbnb, Kijiji, and other Apartments is good for rentals - and we have a wiki for that too! Renting-Canada : British Expat Wiki

Do feel free to post any questions you might have

Juggernaut1064

S.I.N. Number is the first thing you need as stated, rentals, well Kijiji is great, used that a lot when i lived Winnipeg. If its an apartment as a rule anything over $1000 per month should include most utilities. Or they used to.
Try at least to get heat and water included, heat being your biggest bill here specially in Manitoba lol
I passed my class 1 in Steinbach, ive posted about this before and to a point the googlers on here said i was wrong but hey i went through getting my class 1, Google hasn't.
DO NOT surrender you UK driving license until you have passed your class one, Don't be rude at MPI but be firm that you want to hold onto your UK licenses until you have passed not just your written air test but the actual class 1 driving test. The reason being if your on a Canadian class 1 learners and you happen to fail the driving test you have to wait 14 days to take it again, If you still have your UK licenses you can retake your class 1 the next day. I did that and every driver i know in MB including Steinbach did the same. Your biggest issue with your class 1 is your on the wrong side of the road and Cab shifting with the wrong hand with a crash (standard) transmission in a truck that is way bigger than anything you have likely driven with a totally different wheel base ! If you fail once thats two weeks without pay, fail a second time on a Canadian Class 1 learners and basically a month !
There were two schools in Steinbach to choose from for training and last i heard they are still in business.
Oh and theres an online practise test for the written test i'll find the link for that.

Heres the link to practise with.

http://apps.mpi.mb.ca/dr_quiz/StartDrivingQuiz.asp?L=E

Driving Schools:
http://www.freeeagle.ca/

http://uniteddrivertraining.ca/

Oh as an FYI i got my class 1 in five days so unlikely you'll need a long course, those are for guys who are new to trucking.