Rich_London

Quick question... I've been told that allot of people have used "CanadaSure" to cover them for the period between landing and being eligible for provincial medical care. My question is, why wouldn't a person just take out normal travel insurance? Like single long-trip or backpacker insurance? They last allot longer than three months and on average cost about the same... Canadasure came out at about £360 for me and my partner...

Has anyone done or is anyone thinking of doing it this way?

Thanks,

Rich

christmasoompa

Because travel insurance is not for people that are emigrating i.e. you can only use it for a holiday and you are supposed to still be resident in the UK.

Zoe Bell

also because if you do get taken ill , the repatriation bit of it would return you back to the UK.

dbd33

Where they could bill you for treatment because you don't live there no more.

Zoe Bell

exunctly

Rich_London

We're going on "holiday" to pick up PR cards etc. IF we find decent work in the 3 or so months we are there on holiday then we will stay, if we dont we're going to turn the short trip into a long one and set off to New Zealand, Australia and around the world...

So you're saying it's best to buy proper emigration insurance anyway and then buy normal "travel" insurance if/when we leave there?

iaink

Once you land, no insurance company will honour a claim for "travel" insurance Im afraid, so yes, for three months of job seeking etc, you need OHIP replacement or equivalent "newcomers" insurance.

There is a list of providers in the wiki health insurance area.

Rich_London

Thanks Iaink, makes sense...

Rich_London

Sorry but i've just been reading the policy documents from Canadasure and i still dont think this is going to fit what we are doing...

We're going over to Vancouver on March 4th with some friends and spending the first three weeks with them on proper holiday. We're staying in Vancouver, snowbaording in whistler, Kayaking off Vancouver island etc... Proper holiday stuff. During this three weeks we may we start applying for work but wont be interviewing until April IF anything comes up. We'll also be staying in hotels/B&B the whole time. This sounds like we need travel insurance. We need to cover winter sports including off piste etc.

IF we get work i understand that we will need OHIP replacement.

IF we don't we'll be buying a ticket from Vancouver round the world where we certainly wont be working!!!

I've tried to speak to an advisor at Insure&Go and that was no help at all... I'm not expecting anyone to know what to do in this situation but if you have any ideas i'd love to hear them... Perhaps we're going to have to buy backpacker insurance for if we dont get a job AND an OHIP replacement for if we do?

Sooooooo Confused!!!

iaink

I dont see the confusion, once you activate the visa you could be considered resident. What you do as a resident doesnt really matter, ski, kayak, desk monkey, whatever.

Because you are here on a resident visa, not a visitor visa, travel insurance, backpack insurance etc are unlikely to pay up in the event of a claim. They will take your premium of course, but the small print will likely exclude you from any coverage due to the fact you activated the resident visa.

Provincial coverage generally doesnt kick in for three months in most provinces, so you want the option to take out equivalent coverage (provincial coverage doesnt typically cover ambulances, prescription drugs, dental etc), and perhaps something on top of that more equivalent to employee benefits.

Whether you work or not makes no difference as far as the provincial (OHIP etc) coverage is concerned.

pennyhp

After you have been here in Canada for three months and have your Medicare card, if you still havn't got jobs and choose to travel, you can take out backpacker insurance for 6 months and your medicare back here will still be valid.

www.worldnomads.com

This is a good company that my son uses as he spends a few months a year down in Mexico. It is more than just medical cover as many of the travel insurance policies here are.

rubberduckofdeath

Good thread!