# Driving Licence, Health Card, SIN, etc.



## dannyx (May 26, 2010)

I have a general question regarding the initial arrival in Canada. I am moving to Ontario with my family. Where applicable plese include advice for registering our children as well.

My wife and I will need to swap our UK driving licences for Ontarion Driving Licences. Where do we do this? What is the cost?

We will need Social Insurance Numbers, where do we get these from and what do we need to take with us?

Where do we register for a Health Card and what paperwork do we need?

We will need to buy two cars. How do we get a licence plate and register the cars?

How much "Sales Tax" will we pay on the cars we buy?

Do we need to insure the cars before we register them?

Is there anything else we will need to do imediately?

Sorry there are a few questions here but I thought it better to have a general question.

Thanks.


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## Auld Yin (Mar 10, 2009)

dannyx said:


> I have a general question regarding the initial arrival in Canada. I am moving to Ontario with my family. Where applicable plese include advice for registering our children as well.
> 
> My wife and I will need to swap our UK driving licences for Ontarion Driving Licences. Where do we do this? What is the cost?
> The following website will tell you everything you need to know. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/driver/drvlicen.shtmlThere's a link to Service Ontario Centres on the left of the page
> ...


Much good luck.


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## telcoman (Feb 11, 2010)

No rush on drivers licenses, in most provinces your existing UK one will do for a few months, unless the insurance company you use says otherwise. One addition re cars, the car dealer will usually call in an insurance agent & take care of that on the spot. For anyone going to BC, it should be noted that car insurance & licensing is all handled by one agency ICBC. This is not the case in Ontario.

You shoudl get as much documentation as you can from the police, your UK insurance, etc regarding your driving record, record of tickets, etc. This can make a huge difference in the rates you will pay if you can prove you have a good record.


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## LyndsayB (May 4, 2010)

My husband and I moved to Ontario just over 2 weeks ago from the UK and so have very recently done most of these things. My advise would be to get the SIN first as you will need this to do most of the others. That said, I wasn't eligable as I am only on a visitors permit (my husband has a work permit) and it hasn't actually prevented me from doing anything - just created various blank stares from people when I tell them I don't have one!

To answer your questions:

1. My wife and I will need to swap our UK driving licences for Ontarion Driving Licences. Where do we do this? What is the cost?

If you have a UK licence and have had it for more than a couple of years this is really easy - just go to the local driving test centre and be prepared to wait for a while. You don't need to make an appointment in advice. Once you finally get seen they just take your UK licence from you, take a photo and charge you $70. You will also need your passport for ID.

2. We will need Social Insurance Numbers, where do we get these from and what do we need to take with us?

Find your local Service Canada office and take your passport and visa/work permit. Again you don't need an appointment. There's no charge and once you get seen (again be prepared to sit around for a while) its very quick and painless. You will need a home address and contact phone number to give them too. 

3. Where do we register for a Health Card and what paperwork do we need?

Not actually done this yet as you're not elligable for an OHIP card until you've been living in Ontario for 3 months although you can apply immediately if you want to. As I understand it though it is again not complicated and you just need to go along to your local OHIP office and apply. I have seen a copy of the application form and it's all basic stuff. I don't believe that there is a charge for this. You need 2 forms of ID and proof of address such as a utilty bill (hence why we haven't done this - we haven't had a bill yet!) It may be worth making sure you have private health insurance to cover you for the first 3 months as you're entitled to very little without an OHIP card.

4. We will need to buy two cars. How do we get a licence plate and register the cars?

The licence plate and registration are easy as this is done for you. However buying a car was by far the most difficult and time consuming thing we have tried to do so far. Your overseas credit history means absolutely nothing here but the dozens of adverts telling us "no credit - no problem" or that their financing catered specially for new-comers made us think that getting a car on finance would be a good way of building up a credit-score in canada. So after finding a car we liked we applied for credit. It took 2 days for us to be told we had been approved (this from a place that promised to approve everyone!) and then the figures just kept rising. From an initial quote of $3k down and $200 a month it increased to $8k down and $600 a month for the same car. This whole process took the better part of a week! In the end we walked away and bought a car cash. Thi still took 2 days from finding the car and its older than we would have liked but it will do for a year until our credit rating is up! Having since asked around this seems to be a pretty familiar story.

Our dealer also said we must have our Ontario drivers licences before he could sell the car to us. I'm not sure if this is a legal requirement or just him being overzealous as we already had them and so didn't question it but it is worth bearing in mind.

5. How much "Sales Tax" will we pay on the cars we buy?

13%

6. Do we need to insure the cars before we register them?

Yes and you will probably need to actually visit your insurers office before ahnd to sign up the paperwork. This took us by suprise as we expected to be able to do it all instantly online as in the UK or at least over the phone. The insurer will want to take a photo of the car before you buy it too so once you have found the cars for you it makes sense to tell the insurer the same day so that they can arrange to take a photo in the same time as the dealer is sorting out the licence plate.

7. Is there anything else we will need to do imediately?

Whilst you don't need it life will be much easier if you sort out a home phone pretty quick as everything requires your phone number. A Canadian mobile will do just as well if you don't have a permanent address straight away but overseas mobiles will not.

Generally it is fairly simple to do everything but very time consuming. One thing we worked out pretty quickly is that Canadians have a very different sense of time-keeping and urgency to the British. We have had a few trades-people round to the house to set up the phones, wireless, gas etc and the closest any have come to the 3-4 hour time slot they say they will come in is 2.5 hours late. One didn't even turn up until the next day. All this is normal and perfectly acceptable as far as Canadians are concerned so its not worth getting upset over - just worth remembering oif you are booking too many things to happen on the same day!

Anyways, good luck with the move. if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask and I'll be more than happy to share my very recent experiences!


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