PMM & Experts, please help! Pregnancy during PRV process

[annieann13]

Hello,

My husband and I have already submitted our PR application (Family Class: Spouse, outside Canada)from Sydney, Australia to Missisauga since last week, and we have just checked on e-Cas, CIC has not filed our case on the system yet. The PRV timeline is between 3-9 months in Sydney. Once I get my PR, my husband and I will return to Ontario, Canada in Jan 2011 together. That will be the house of my husband's parents during our search for housing in another province such as BC or AB.

I have asked my husband who hardly knows much about this as he's been working outside Canada for many years, and I read many old threads but confusing, so I would like to know things clearly from the experts. Here are my below questions:

1) In Ontario, the new immigrants will receive healthcare card by 3 months from the date of landing. Is it true? I understand that the pregnant women need to see the doctor to check their pregnancy monthly. Should we contact the insurrance company to cover this and delivery cost as well in case if we have not received OHIP card by the time I deliver baby?

2) During our stay in his parent's house while waiting for the OHIP card but we may have to move to settle in another province such as BC/AB, how can I register and get a new healthcare card from the new province? Do I have to wait for OHIP card received in his parents's house firstly then I can use its card to be replaced in the new province where we are resident? Can I just go directly and redo it without OHIP card showing proof to them in that new province? Should I inform the change of address if we still have not received the healthcare card by that time?

3) I know that the immigrants should get a family doctor where they settle in, especially if they are pregnant or have kids, could you please advise/refer some for us? We can be referred by his parents in ON only but not in BC/AB. Should we get a referral letter from the family doctor in ON if he knows any from BC/AB? What if the family doctor may not know anyone from there, where should we get infos?

Thank you

 

[fallenstar831]

I'm not an expert... but these are pretty standard questions...

In Ontario, the new immigrants will receive healthcare card by 3 months from the date of landing. Is it true? I understand that the pregnant women need to see the doctor to check their pregnancy monthly. Should we contact the insurrance company to cover this and delivery cost as well in case if we have not received OHIP card by the time I deliver baby?

There is a 3 month waiting period, when I was pregnant I had to go about once a month so this is accurate as well. You will need some sort of insurance for sure, however I believe that most insurance companies ony cover for unexpected emergencies - not certain expenditures. You will have to look into this but you will more than likely be paying for that out of pocket.

During our stay in his parent's house while waiting for the OHIP card but we may have to move to settle in another province such as BC/AB, how can I register and get a new healthcare card from the new province? Do I have to wait for OHIP card received in his parents's house firstly then I can use its card to be replaced in the new province where we are resident? Can I just go directly and redo it without OHIP card showing proof to them in that new province? Should I inform the change of address if we still have not received the healthcare card by that time?

You can not get a BC/AB health card if you do not live there. Here is some info about using OHIP across Canada - http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ohip/canada.html

I know that the immigrants should get a family doctor where they settle in, especially if they are pregnant or have kids, could you please advise/refer some for us? We can be referred by his parents in ON only but not in BC/AB. Should we get a referral letter from the family doctor in ON if he knows any from BC/AB? What if the family doctor may not know anyone from there, where should we get infos?

Until you know what community you are moving to this is impossible to answer... Canada is a big place with a LOT of doctors. Each province has a listing of doctors on thier websites.

Good luck

 

[annieann13]

Thank you for your reply.

 

[AllisonVSC]

Isn't it true that when you settle in some provinces (not Ontario, I know, this province has a 3 month waiting period) you get health insurance coverage starting on day one? Is it possible for you to land/settle officially in a province where you will eventually live (hopefully one with no waiting period), then visit/stay with the parents?

 

[diddagirl]

Isn't it true that when you settle in some provinces (not Ontario, I know, this province has a 3 month waiting period) you get health insurance coverage starting on day one? Is it possible for you to land/settle officially in a province where you will eventually live (hopefully one with no waiting period), then visit/stay with the parents?

Yes, some provinces such as Alberta, you are qualified for Health Care from Day 1.

 

[bobshynoswife]

Please don't do that. It is wrong to pretend to 'settle' in Alberta and then go have your baby in Ontario and have the Alberta Government pay for the birth and subsequent baby related charges.

I was quite sure I read somewhere that Ontario waives the 3 month waiting period for pregnant women. Anyone know anything about this?

 

[annieann13]

Those are good questions, and I would like to know as well.

AllisonVSC, thanks for your suggestion. I don't want to do that even though some people may pretend. What I have asked earlier is we have to land and stay in his parent's house in ON for the first few months or a bit longer only (maybe until I deliver the baby) while looking for houses in other provinces such as BC or AB.

I would like to know if my pregnancy check-up cost can be covered under OHIP card and baby delivery/baby's immunisation can be covered in another province immediately once we settle in permanently either in AB or BC.


bobshynoswife, thanks for your reply. As I know there is no ON waive waiting period, all immigrants in ON have to wait for OHIP card. If anyone is pregant, they need to pay for a private insurrance to cover all these expenditures, espcially the baby delivery costs a lot like $5000-10,000. I would expect/say that we may get the OHIP card before I deliver the baby if we still wait/search for the houses . In the first 3 months, we would get a private insurrance to cover up my pregnancy check-up costs, does anyone knows how much it costs the pregnancy check-up monthly in ON?


If we have to move out and live in another province after my baby delivery, we are unsure if we may have to show/give the OHIP card given to the new province in order to get a new healthcare card? Are there any other documents to show/give to the new provinces? We have tried to look at the healthcare websites in ON, AB or BC, they did not say about the transferring of healthcare card from province to province. Thus,we are not sure the transferable system of healthcare from ON to AB/BC, would you please advise?

Thank you

 

[cowtown gal]

You don't 'transfer' your healthcare card between provinces. Each province runs their own health care system. If you move to Alberta (for example) from Ontario or any other Canadian province you will be covered after three months in the province (there is an expectation of the health care plan of the province you left to cover you for those first three months).

If you go the Alberta health services website, there are details about arriving in the province from either inside or outside Canada (I am a native Albertan and was checking this for husband's arrival later this year). I've put the address below (don't know how to create links)
http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/Q-moving.html

I would imagine it would be difficult to pretend to settle in Alberta (I know you're not planning on doing this - just providing info) because they will want to see evidence of you actually living there (bills, etc set up and received at an Alberta address, provincial driver's licence, etc).

Also, depending on where you eventually settle, there may be little point in trying to find a doctor before you get there. Calgary, for example, has a shortage of family doctors and most new arrivals to the city use the walk-in centres where there will be a staff of doctors to see.
Good luck!

ETA: the link worked automatically - hurrah!

 

[heatherusa]

If you go the Alberta health services website, there are details about arriving in the province from either inside or outside Canada (I am a native Albertan and was checking this for husband's arrival later this year). I've put the address below (don't know how to create links)
http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/Q-moving.html

I would imagine it would be difficult to pretend to settle in Alberta (I know you're not plan
Good luck!

ETA: the link worked automatically - hurrah!

That is extremely helpful - thank you so much for the link!

 

[annieann13]

You don't 'transfer' your healthcare card between provinces. Each province runs their own health care system. If you move to Alberta (for example) from Ontario or any other Canadian province you will be covered after three months in the province (there is an expectation of the health care plan of the province you left to cover you for those first three months).

If you go the Alberta health services website, there are details about arriving in the province from either inside or outside Canada (I am a native Albertan and was checking this for husband's arrival later this year). I've put the address below (don't know how to create links)
http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/Q-moving.html

I would imagine it would be difficult to pretend to settle in Alberta (I know you're not planning on doing this - just providing info) because they will want to see evidence of you actually living there (bills, etc set up and received at an Alberta address, provincial driver's licence, etc).

Also, depending on where you eventually settle, there may be little point in trying to find a doctor before you get there. Calgary, for example, has a shortage of family doctors and most new arrivals to the city use the walk-in centres where there will be a staff of doctors to see.
Good luck!

ETA: the link worked automatically - hurrah!

Thank you, cowtown gal. After looking at the AB link, it is very useful, but I have more questions please if you could know/reply. What if we have to move to AB immediately after we land/live in ON prior to 3 months during my healthcare card's arrival? That means I may not obtain the driving license at that time yet. I have no wonder if my husband could change all ON services switched to AB services easier than PR's moving province to province.

The proof of identity and AB residency that I could provide would be only the housing address because the utility bills will be under my husband's name only or should it be better to register our both names on utility bills? If that is the case, that means I may be able to provide the proofs of PR card, passport and Canadian bank under my name at that time only, do you think those are enough to proof the residency and have all AB services instead of ON services when we move to AB?

Thank you

 

[cowtown gal]

Thank you, cowtown gal. After looking at the AB link, it is very useful, but I have more questions please if you could know/reply. What if we have to move to AB immediately after we land/live in ON prior to 3 months during my healthcare card's arrival? That means I may not obtain the driving license at that time yet. I have no wonder if my husband could change all ON services switched to AB services easier than PR's moving province to province.

The proof of identity and AB residency that I could provide would be only the housing address because the utility bills will be under my husband's name only or should it be better to register our both names on utility bills? If that is the case, that means I may be able to provide the proofs of PR card, passport and Canadian bank under my name at that time only, do you think those are enough to proof the residency and have all AB services instead of ON services when we move to AB?

Thank you

I'm not sure exactly but I would imagine that if you just landed in Ontario and then moved to Alberta you would be fine. If you are moving to Alberta from outside of Canada you need to register asap when you arrive in Alberta but you will be covered from the day of arrival. I think there are some links on the website as to what they accept as forms of ID/proof of residency. Even if you have a bank statement or something showing that you are living in Alberta that would be good. And they need to see your visa/record of landing, etc to show that you are legally allowed to stay in Canada. I think if you went to Ontario first, registered for OHIP and then moved to Alberta you still wouldn't be covered until three months in the province.

I'm not back in Canada yet and was worried about health care for the same sorts of reasons you were. We are hoping that I may be pregnant by the time we move back permanantly and I wanted to make sure that all my check-ups, etc would be covered.

I'm no expert, though, so it might be worthwhile phoning the OHIP people and/or the Alberta Health Insurance Plan people for more details about how it would work and what happens if you are pregnant - they may have a system in place to deal with situations like that. If you definitely need to settle in Ontario first, you could get some travel insurace to cover you for the first three months or see if your Australian insurance would cover you for a few months after moving?

I'm not sure how the Australian system works, but when I moved to the UK from Alberta, I could pay a fee for my healthcare that meant that I was covered for three months after I left Canada until my NHS cover kicked in (which wasn't for 6 months after I arrived, so I was left for three months without any cover). That might be a strategy to look into, though - see if your Australian cover might be extended for a short while?

 

[annieann13]

I'm not sure exactly but I would imagine that if you just landed in Ontario and then moved to Alberta you would be fine. If you are moving to Alberta from outside of Canada you need to register asap when you arrive in Alberta but you will be covered from the day of arrival. I think there are some links on the website as to what they accept as forms of ID/proof of residency. Even if you have a bank statement or something showing that you are living in Alberta that would be good. And they need to see your visa/record of landing, etc to show that you are legally allowed to stay in Canada. I think if you went to Ontario first, registered for OHIP and then moved to Alberta you still wouldn't be covered until three months in the province.

I'm not back in Canada yet and was worried about health care for the same sorts of reasons you were. We are hoping that I may be pregnant by the time we move back permanantly and I wanted to make sure that all my check-ups, etc would be covered.

I'm no expert, though, so it might be worthwhile phoning the OHIP people and/or the Alberta Health Insurance Plan people for more details about how it would work and what happens if you are pregnant - they may have a system in place to deal with situations like that. If you definitely need to settle in Ontario first, you could get some travel insurace to cover you for the first three months or see if your Australian insurance would cover you for a few months after moving?

I'm not sure how the Australian system works, but when I moved to the UK from Alberta, I could pay a fee for my healthcare that meant that I was covered for three months after I left Canada until my NHS cover kicked in (which wasn't for 6 months after I arrived, so I was left for three months without any cover). That might be a strategy to look into, though - see if your Australian cover might be extended for a short while?

Thanks, that sounds good to me. We may try to ask the Aus insurrance company here. If that does not work, we may have to contact the private insurrance company in Canada once we land. We are still unsure where to settle in as we need to see my husband's location firstly. For our PR app, we just want to be sure that we want to settle in ON first but with the costs of healthcare would be a lot for us, especially the pregnancy check-up/delivery costs. Unless we know where to settle in after knowing my husband's location, we will probably land where we settle in at the first place and may have a hard time to find the house (maybe 3-4 months) as he has to fly around due to his works, which would take time for us to make a decision where to get the house and live. Maybe this way seems better but that would make me to think back of the disadvantage of not having the certain address when we first land in Canada.

Scenario I: As I know the IO will ask me to fill in the form where to send PR card and other infos/letters from CIC. Even though we put the address of my husband's parents, where to settle in firstly on PR app once we arrive in Canada, do you think the address of his parent's address given on PR app will be contradictory to where we would give IO a blank address when we land in BC/AB instead of ON? What is the timeline of letting the IO/CIC knows the address in Canada if we cannot give them the address for sending PR card or other relevant cards when we first land?

My understanding is if we cannot tell them firstly once we land, we may have to contact them at the office in person, and they may send the PR card later, which will be slower than telling them at the first place. Do you have any idea?

Scenario II: Unless we fix with the first plan and land in ON, it will be slower for the heath care card but will be complicated and redo all the cards again once moving out to another province ???.

 

[cowtown gal]

Hmmm...I'm not too sure about the CIC timelines for PR cards and all that - I'm sure someone more knowledgable will come along soon. Don't forget though, that you don't have to land where you are going to live! Me and Mr. Cowtown had toyed with the idea of landing in Quebec so he could watch the Canadian Grand Prix before we went over to Alberta. It shouldn't matter where you land and where you live. And I think you can give the IO your husband's parent's address for the PR cards anyway, I don't think that should be a problem. That just means you have somewhere to stay/get your cards. Many people who land and then leave Canada (to return and settle permanantly later) get their cards sent to family/friends and have no intention of living with them - they just need to be sent to a Canadian address.

If you landed in Alberta, decided to live there, etc but gave your in-law's address, etc for your PR cards and then found a place to live before they arrived, I believe you can just change your mailing address. Or you can get your in-laws to send them to you when they get them in the post. I don't think it will make a difference if you said on your PR application that you said you will live at one address and then decided to live somewhere else. For example, on ours, we said we will be living with my parents (and we will) but hypothetically if we both got jobs in Vancouver or somewhere, we could just go there instead. Unless you were sponsored by a provincial program you can live anywhere I believe!

Good luck!

 

[annieann13]

That makes sense. Thank you so much for your replies. Enjoy Canadian Grand Prix in Quebec

 

[cowtown gal]

That makes sense. Thank you so much for your replies. Enjoy Canadian Grand Prix in Quebec

No problem - I hope it was of some help anyway!! Sadly, we're not actually going to the Grand Prix. We couldn't get away for very long to land (I'm finishing up my PhD) so we'll be visiting my mom and dad for my birthday instead. Oh well!! I keep telling Mr. that we'll have plenty of chances once we're in Canada to go to Montreal to watch it!!

Good luck with everything!!