Essentials - Start Here

Canada may have many similarities to where you are from. Read these top tips and don't get tripped up when you arrive! Please note that this information can rapidly change so best to check official sources before making any decisions.

 

• Time zones & darkness: 'Pacific Time GMT-7' is aligned throughout the West Coast of North America. The clocks get adjusted forward by an hour at 0200 in early March to start daylight savings and then backwards in early November. This means it suddenly gets dark very early in the start of winter with maximum darkness by around 1545 in mid-December. You will have blissfully light evenings until 2200 in Summer.

• Travel insurance before you arrive: if you are on work permit be sure to purchase travel insurance for the maximum length of stay before you arrive into Canada. Most people with two year working holiday visa should buy the full two years of travel insurance as a work permit is only issued for the length of your insurance policy. 

• First things to do when you arrive:

  • Make sure your travel documents are up to date, check your work permit details very carefully when the migration officer issues it to you for mistakes or restrictions​

  • When you are ready bring your work permit and ID to Service Canada to apply for your SIN number. This is a national tax identification number akin to a NI number in the UK, social security in the USA and Tax File Number in Australia. If you are on a work permit you will be issued a 'temporary' one starting with a '9'. If you have PR it will start with a '7'.

• Driver license & auto insurance: ICBC manages all things auto in BC. Unfortunately there is no competition and insurance prices can be super high for newcomers, although getting better. You will need to surrender your old license (yep they take it off you and cut it up in front of you!) and take a 5 question oral licensing test. Arrive early as this can take up to 2 hours, you will need an address to post the license to. They will issue you an interim drivers license which takes the form of a dinky yellow piece of paper! Once you have this you can begin applying for other things. You will have to setup a password/key word with ICBC which you will verbally give to agents in the future to make changes to your account, remember this!

• Healthcare: upon arrival you will not be covered under the local government-run health insurance called 'MSP' until you have been a BC resident for 12 weeks. Applying online is easy and takes only 15 minutes, you used to have to pay a monthly $35 fee but this was dissolved in 2019. The health system is great and most services are 100% free meaning you don't pay any out of pocket expenses at all.

  • Private insurance: many professional jobs provide employees with private coverage which can be used to pay for services not provided by MSP (dental, physio, massage, chiro, optometrist, non-covered medications).

  • Finding a family doctor/GP: hardly any family doctors are taking on new patients, in the lower mainland this means you may need to use 'Walk In Clinics'. Expect to spend around 5 minutes only with the doctor on one issue. If you have more complex health needs I suggest connecting with the 'Division of Family Practice' in your area to arrange matching with a provider.

  • STI screening, PrEP & youth clinics: there are specific clinics setup to provide these services free of charge. Youth clinics serve patients aged up to 24 and HIM will do PrEP for the LGBTQI2+ community.

  • Virtual care: a number of services now offer virtual health via a video call from your phone. Babylon is run by a local communications company Telus and is the market leader.

  • Dental care: Yep this isn't covered at all by MSP, prices are really variable from $150-400! The quality of care is generally higher than in the UK.

  • Urgent care centres: have sprung up recently to take the pressure of hospitals. They are a great, entirely free option for minor illnesses and accidents like sporting injuries. Find more here.

  • Hospitals & specialists: you will need a referral from a GP to access specialist services, you may be on a wait list for months. Hospitals have difference departments/services and there is a specialist women's and children's hospital. ED wait times can be much longer than what you are used to.

• Mobile phones: yuk Canadian plans are terrible. There are a host of Reddit  threads explaining the poor competition in this sector and data is severely limited on most plans. This explains why there is a proliferation of free wifi in public places. Expect to pay roughly double what you normally would.

• Waterproof boots & jacket: you will need a pair of waterproof boots if you move to Vancouver! Trust me. Go buy some and make your life easier and much more comfortable. Best to get a hardy rain jacket too.

• Rain & weather: expect it to rain any time of the year, many days in a row and by early December you will have experienced the many different types of 'Rain City' precipitation. It officially rains 165 days a year but don't believe it because of micro climates, you may leave the house in the sunshine and then a tremendous downpour ensues two hours later.

• What is a province? Canadian provinces (10, 3 territories) are akin to US states, Australian states, UK regions, South African provinces and New Zealand regions. They maintain more influence than other countries to make their own laws and collect revenue, for this reason it is interesting to recognise your lived experience in Canada is highly variable compared to those in other provinces.

• Fashion layering: everyone wears at least three layers to cope with the fickle weather. Get used to carrying a few extra things around. Active wear and luxury accessories are key themes around town.. neither come cheap. Lululemon sweatpants are for winter and shorts with sneakers seem to be a summer standard. 

• Crampons: are unattractive but essential cleats that you connect to the bottom of your shoes/boots when hiking or walking on snow and ice in winter. If you plan on doing outdoor adventuring (including hikes above 500m near the city) in winter you will need to buy a pair (about $30). Don't risk a broken wrist!

• Groceries vs eating out: fresh food is about 30% more expensive than in other countries and of highly variable quality (massive generalisation). Be prepared to pay more for groceries than you are used to and less to eat out (although with tax/tip the price can escalate quickly). There are a few major supermarket chains with the usual rewards points. Local produce providers are generally better and hypermarkets (Superstore, Costco, Walmart) will offer much better deals than supermarkets.

• Food delivery: Meal delivery kits are very popular with some of the more popular ones include Hello Fresh, FreshPrep (local BC) and Good Food (Canadian specific). Only one major chain offering home delivery. There are other local options including Spud (local and organic) and Fresh Direct (wholesale). Other meal delivery services include:

  • Ritual: order and pickup for others, great points and specials

  • DoorDash

  • Skip the Dishes

  • Uber Eats

• Tipping: people arrive thinking 'I don't need to tip' but you gotta do it! The reason why is server staff are often required to make a 'tip out' contribution at the end of their shift of a fixed percentage of their sales. This allows for any tips to be shared to staff who are not customer-facing. If you do not tip then they have to pay this amount out of their often-low hourly wage. Imagine turning up to work and having to pay money you earn back to your colleagues... ouch. 

  • Standard tipping: 18%​

  • Takeaway tipping: is a controversial recent addition for minor items like coffees. Lots of locals refuse to do this but it is generally accepted that a low 10% tip is decent enough. You can decide based on your personal circumstances.

• WiFi & TV: home wireless internet plans are really affordable and interestingly the prices vary with speed rather than just data limits. A lot of providers will also supply cable TV, there are no traditional free-to-air stations which is annoying. Your best bet is to buy a chromecast and stream the local news channels directly.

• Sales tax of 12%: consistent across North America, sales tax is never included in advertised pricing so everything costs more than advertised. There are two types of taxes added to your bill, sometimes these are combined as 'HST' (harmonised sales tax) rather than split.

  • GST: 5%, collected for the federal government​

  • PST: 7%, collected for the provincial government (provincial sales tax)

• Snow: it will likely snow 1 or 2 weeks a year in the city. As exciting as it may be Vancouver is unprepared and transport chaos ensues! The roads are rarely snowplowed and public transport often stops due to train doors freezing shut.

• Language: despite Canada being officially bilingual you wont find many native French speakers in BC. All packaging printed with both languages which is novel at first. At the airport you will get a nice friendly 'Hello-bonjour' dual greeting!

• Legal drinking age and cannabis purchasing age: 19

• Cost of living: to be able to budget effectively and work out what you can afford Numbeo is a fantastic website with accurate living costs for cities around the world. The Vancouver link can be found here.

• More information: check out 'About Here' on YouTube for some fascinating insights into the urban landscape of Vancouver

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