Well after a crazy day flying back from Canada and finding out whilst sitting on the plane at Gatwick about the massive terrorist sting thingy, I've only been back in England a few hours and am eagerly awaiting my return to Canada!

I've a few questions I thought you wise and kind people might be able to help me with please. In no particular order:

1. What was the name of that online bank that doesn't have any fees please?
2. Can you buy and insure a car on a UK or international licence?
3. How do you get a SIN?
4. Anyone know of any good cell phone plans that include lots of daytime minutes, text messages and free incoming calls?
5. What actually happens at the airport when you 'land'? Will I need to take documents on the plane - as they might now be letting us only take plastic bags...

There were more questions but I'm so ridiculously tired I can't remember them!

Thanks for your help guys!

Hayley

1. www.pcfinancial.ca
2. Yes

3. How do you get a SIN?

You go to your local government office and apply for one. Information here:
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/asp/gateway.a...0.shtml&hs=sxn

Took me about 15 minutes - you fill in the form, they go through your paperwork. In the newest system, they give you a note of your SIN immediately, then your actual card comes a couple of weeks later in the post. I think in some offices you still just have to wait for the card to come (they told me they were upgrading all their computer systems). The official was really friendly and helpful; providing you have all your bits of paper in your passport it will be fine.

5. What actually happens at the airport when you 'land'? Will I need to take documents on the plane - as they might now be letting us only take plastic bags...

We only needed our passports (we both have 3 year work permits). I did have the letter from the Canadian High Commission telling us they were letting us in, but I didn't need it. We also had the manifest for our shipment, but in the end, we weren't asked to produce that either, and had no problem getting our shipment released later that week.

Hope that helps!

If you are "landing" as a PR you will need your Passports with visas inserted and your landing documents that the CHC send you.

You will also need a "goods to follow" list of everything you are having sent over separately, with the values in canadian dollars.

You may also require proof of sufficient "settlement" funds, but that varies according to which airport you land at.

If you travel with any animals (apart from your husband and kids), you will also need their relevant documents regarding fitness to fly and vaccination record, plus some money to pay a fee (Ca$35??) to the vet on landing.

Currently you can put all these things in a clear plastic bag, but it is not yet known how long these measures will be in place.

Thanks guys! You are stars.

Good to hear about the car! I'm VERY excited about getting a car. I haven't had one for 2 years.

Landing sounds pretty straightforward really. I had visions of them whisking me away into an office and interrogating me for hours!

Thanks for your help.

Hayley

Dont get too excited, you can do it, but your already expensive insurance will be even more expensive.

There are lots of threads about peoples landing experiences, its easy to serach for them, most are in the canadian immigration forum. In fact all your questions have been answered many times.

Cell phone plans are a common source of complaint here. there are no cheap plans if you want lots of minutes, and no free incoming calls. Welcome to Canada

I would strongly recommend the new Virgin network. It is a simple system with none of the extra hidden charges. You simply buy the phone and the register it. You buy top up cards as an when you need them. they last a good while. If you buy$100 card itdoes not run out for a year(unless you use it of course). check out the website.
I have tried rogers and bell mobility and they are both riddled with access fees and hidden charges. Virgin use bells towers so the reception is also good.

i hope this helps!

For PAYG I would also recommend Virgin, but I dont use my cell much, and have never stopped to work out at what point a monthly contract becomes more cost effective.

Some carriers also have limited coverage across the nation, Fido was a case in point, but I think its part of Rogers now, so maybe not such an issue.

Numbers are not yet transferable here, but will be from next summer some time, at which point perhaps competition will hot up.

Thanks guys.

Re the phones, I know Telus does a plan with free incoming calls (obviously you pay a bit extra for the priviledge! haha)...and I thought it was already possible to transfer your number?

I've been on Rogers for two years and I do tend to make a lot of daytime calls to meet up with people on the mountain. I think a monthly would be too expensive but I'll look into it. Thanks.

I'm going to do my driving test asap but will prob buy a car first as it takes time to get booked in for the road test. Hopefully they will change my premium once I have a BC license but I will certainly find out first.

Thanks for the tips!

Do you already have a license that you can exchange, or are you still learning? We just bought our first car, and we needed an AB license to do it. We also needed the AB license number to get insurance. That may be different in BC, as I think they have a provincially-run auto insurance program, but you may want to look into it in case you can neither buy a car nor get it insured without a provincial driver's license.

RE: Your cellphone - if you're as conscious of your mobile as most brits I'd take a handset with you (make sure it's tri-band, unlocked, and able to pick up CDMA signals if you want 3G type services) the phones available over there are usually about a year behind Europe, expensive, with little choice, and most of the affordable ones are ugly imho.

Hi Babyblue - can you give me the link for the Virgin cell phones - I used to use Orange and Virgin in the UK and would like to use Virgin again - can't find any info re PAYG on their Canadian site. Help would be appreciated....

www.virginmobile.ca (from memory...something like that anyway) Its rather a brash yoof oriented site Im afraid. Prepare to mute or quickly stop the music that it inflicts on the unwary.

All virgin mobiles here are PAYG. there are a few different types of plan option, but the basic one with the cheapo phone is what we plumped for as low minute occasional users. $100 willl last you a year. $25 lasts 90 days If you forget to top up before it expires, you will lose the balance.