Transfering money
 

Me and my wife are on count down before we land in Canada. Everything has been processed and I am just waiting for my passport to be returned with the visa inside.

The only other thing left to finalise is the house sale. Hopefully this is almost complete. Once we have that sold and the money in the bank we will be ready to go.

My question is how have people transfered their money in the past. Do you take it all as a bankers cheque (or something similar) or have people set up bank accounts while still in England ready to have the money transfered? We are basically looking for the best way to carry on with our lives once we move and be able to have access to our money straight away.

Also, on a completely different note, does anyone know if in Ontario I would have to re-take a driving test again or is my English driving licence recognised?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Re: Transfering money
 

HIFX or Moneycorp or such.

Re: Transfering money
 

Hi there. Firstly, good luck with the house sale and all. Stressful times!

People seem to work in different ways RE taking their money over from house sales etc. Some people like to keep money (or have to) in the UK to either hedge against the CAD dropping against the £, even small changes in which can make a huge difference when you're talking about 100s of 1000's of pounds, or need to pay off credit cards here etc.

Most people I think, whether taking every penny they own or not, use the services of an electronic transfer co (you see their advert banners here on the site, HIFX etc) which gives them better exchange rates than bankers drafts do and also means that you can complete the transfer before leaving rather than physically hand in your banker's draft once in Canada and then have to wait for it to clear (which takes a couple of days I believe.) Worth bearing in mind that if you enter Canada with more than $10,000 CAD on you then you have to report as much to Canadian officials. See why here : - http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/E/pub/cp/...321-05-12e.pdf

Do a quick search on the forums for exchange/transferring £'s or similar - there are a number of threads debating which of the transfer co's are best. A little googling and phoning around will mean you can find out who's offering the most attractive rates/lowest fees.

Another search on here for Canadian bank accounts will net you plenty of useful info. Some people have managed to open accounts before leaving the UK, but you'll find info about credit cards, credit ratings, which institutions are more expensive (you'll probably start paying for your banking when you arrive in Canada if you didn't already know!) etc etc etc. There's loads of info that you will probably find enlightening.

Happy searching!

edit: Your driver's license will be valid for a short while but you're better off swapping it ASAP for an Ontario one. Unless you just qualified recently then it's a straight swap and no tests are needed. You're not surrendering your UK license btw - just losing your bit 'o plastic. You can get another back home if you ever need to.

Re: Transfering money
 

We opened a Canadian bank account (HSBC) before we moved there are used HIFX to transfer our money - they were very fast and knowledgeable.

And no you won't have to retake your driving test on Ontario if you have held it for over two years.

We came over in July and simply went into the local test centre, handed in our UK licences (you loose them) and they gave us temporary ones until the real ones came through. The only test you take is a sight test by looking down a binocular type gadget and saying which side you can see a light flashing - all very simple. You also have a photo taken.

We got our real licences (credit card type photo licence) a couple of weeks later.

Good luck
Jane