Best way to settle

[qwerbilzak]

Hi all,

My wife is going up to Ontario to try to pave the way for us settling up there.

First priority: find an apartment.

But I assume that a landlord will need a check drawn on a Canadian bank, right?

But can you open a bank account without an SIN?

And can you get an SIN without being physically in Canada?

Also, they haven't sent us our PR cards yet because we're not physically in Canada yet.

So you see the problems!

So my question: what's the best way to do all this? What should we do first, second, etc?

Thanks very much!

 

[steaky]

Can't you pay your rent and deposit by cash or inter-bank transfer? After you have a Canadian address, you can apply a SIN card, bank account and driver licence, etc...

Besides HSBC Canada does not require SIN to open a bank account. You can open an account with any HSBC branches outside Canada.

 

[Leon]

You can open an account with any bank without a SIN. You can just not open an interest bearing account. Besides, you don't need a PR card to get a SIN. She can drop by Service Canada and apply for her SIN as soon as she arrives in Canada. She can get the SIN instantly and the SIN card will be mailed within a couple of weeks. However, as she doesn't have an address yet, she might want to set up a P.O. Box or something to receive it.

As soon as she has the apartment, she should call the CIC call centre and tell them that you have an address in Canada now and that they can mail your PR cards to you. As long as this happens within 6 months of your landing, you will get your PR cards in the mail. If you don't give them an address within 6 months, you would have to apply for your PR cards as if it were a renewal which means you'd have to fill out a form, pay $50, get new photos, wait longer and you would have to pick the cards up in person instead of getting them in the mail.