Things to Do AFTER you Land in Montreal [Newcomers to CANADA]

Things to Do AFTER you Land in Montreal [Newcomers to CANADA]

1 )- Airport to Montreal Downtown
If you are a single person, getting a $10 day pass will work just fine for you. You can take Bus 747 towards Centre Ville (transit time is around 45 to 60 min). If you have a family with loads of luggage, I would advise you book a Taxi/Cab. You can find almost all taxi cabs on Yellow Pages website. Make sure you tell them that you need a large transport. If you don't have an active sim card, use a free wifi at airport and Google Hangout app to call numbers (it's free).

2 )- Renting Property- Temporary Accommodation
In Montreal, if you are looking for a good property, there are few things you need to take into account:
- Location : it is vital as you are new and it will take time for you to settle, so my advice is to take anything which is available near Metro train station. If you are looking for a place where 'Desi' people live, there are places where you can easily find them. There are many places where you can rent and I would be happy to tell you according to your location.
- Lease : Most good premises have their leasing period starting on 1st of July and ending on 30th Jun next year. This is quite strange but that's how most of the properties work here. Good Properties have minimum lease of 1 year. You may also find premises such as vacational apartments, short term rentals or sublets where you can get a good deal if you look a bit harder.
- Credit Check : This is done by landlord/agency who are going to rent you the place. This would basically tell landlord if you are financially stable and are able to pay rent on time. For more detailed information, CLICK HERE
- Walkscore : Walk Score helps you find a walkable place to live. Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100 that measures the walkability of any address. This is very helpful if you are looking for a place. For more information, CLICK HERE
- Safety : Since most of the houses are made of wood, you must understand the fact that there has to be proper safety management procedures set in place where you live. Stoves are mostly electric, however in my less than a month of stay, I have seen so many premises being burnt and cordoned off. So, you must also keep this in mind when looking for a new place.
- Size : Quebec is a French dominant area. Here, properties are listed as 4 ½ which is equal to 2 Bedroom House/Apartment. MORE INFO would give you are better understanding of size and description of apartment.

My View : For a family of 4, go for vacational apartment in downtown (for a month) by looking at Airbnb or HomeAway websites. Make sure to choose the right number of guests and dates. Book it for around 10 days or so and make sure it is near Berri-UQAM metro station. Once you are here, look for a nice unfurnished, 4 ½ (2 bedroom) apartment with a min. 1 year lease. If you are looking for anything cheap, you can get a 5 ½ (3 bedroom) apartment for $700 - $800 however it would be away from Metro train stations. If you want near stations, you can find Flats for $850 and above. Short-term rentals do not require credit checks however they can be expensive.

3 )- Visit Service Canada

Location : 200 Boulevard René-Lévesque O #034 Montréal, QC H2Z 1X4
Nearest Metro Station : Place-des-Arts
Time : Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Documents Needed : Passport, CoPR, CSQ, Address in Montreal

Although there are around 10 Service Canada Offices in Montreal area, the downtown one is the main one. Always make sure you reach there exactly at 8:30am and you will not have to wait long. You need to get your Social Insurance Number to basically do anything in Canada. This must be secured and not to be given to anyone (except for banks, employer, etc). They will ask you to read data privacy T&C's. Your SIN might start from either 2 or 3 (reserved for Quebec residents). Officer will call family members in pairs and assist them with their SIN registration. They will also inform you that even if you change address, you don't have to inform them. You can walk straight from Metro station to Service Canada building, without coming out on the street. 

4 )- Bank Account 
You will find many banks all over Montreal area, however finding the right bank suitable for your banking needs is not easy. Many banks offer special packages for New immigrants, such as RBC Welcome to Canada, BMO NewStart Banking Plan, TD Canada New to Canada, Scotiabank's StartRight for Landed Immigrants and many other regional banks. Building and maintaining credit history is very important. Most banks also offer two types of credit cards.Secured and Unsecured. Most credit cards are unsecured, which means they don’t require a deposit as collateral in case cardholders can’t pay off their debt. Secured credit cards are designed for people with bad credit or no credit. Since these customers are considered a bigger risk for card issuers, they’re required to make a deposit. The deposit amount varies, but it’s typically equal to the credit card’s credit limit. For example, if the credit limit were $500, the deposit would also be $500. Most banks also offer safety deposit boxes free of cost for one year.


5 )- Quebec Medical Registration 

At the Quebec Office in Airport, you were given appointment date & time for Regie De l'Assurance Maladie du Quebec (RAMQ). Make sure you arrive there on time. Over here, officer will make sure all applicants are present. You will be asked series of questions and given information regarding Quebec Health Insurance. Each applicant have to pay $10.35 for their health card. You will be given Reçu (meaning receipt) and Consentement Au Don D'Organes E De Tissus. You can keep the organ donation consent form with you and if you want, you can sign and send them later. There's a waiting period of 3 months before your Quebec Health insurance start. If you want private insurance, you can go on Association Canadienne Des Compagnies D'Assurances De Personnes Inc's website and find the registered institutions who can give you cover for 3 months. Generally speaking, if you arrive in Québec from outside Canada, even if you are a Canadian citizen, you will be eligible for the Québec Health Insurance Plan after a waiting period of up to 3 months following yourregistration. Apart from certain exceptions the Régie does not reimburse the cost of the healthcare received during the waiting period.

6 )- Driving in Quebec - Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec]SAAQ

(English: Quebec Automobile Insurance Corporation), is a Quebec crown corporation responsible for licensing drivers and vehicles in the province. They also have a license exchange program where you can just exchange your foreign country's full (Class 5) license with Quebec's License (but only with 12 countries listed under Quebec Foreign License Exchange Program). If not, you can drive for 6 months on foreign license, and then you have to apply for Quebec's License.

7 )- Virtual Address - If you really are not sure if you have an address in Canada, there are two types of addresses which are available here. One is a Canada Post's POSTAL BOXES. The other is UPS Mailbox Services. Your PR Card cannot be delivered to Canada Post's Postal Boxes. However, I have spoken to UPS and they have told me that unlike Canada Post, UPS issue mailboxes in form of Apartment numbers and many people use it for receiving government ID's and PR cards. Since, it is generally taking PR cards 67 days to process, you will need to give an address in Quebec to Visa Officer which you have available for more than that date. You can also give a friend's or relative's address in Quebec.

8 )- FREE French Courses for New Immigrants

Immigration Quebec offer opportunity to new immigrants to take FREE french courses.Their programme, LEARN FRENCH IN QUEBEC offer landed immigrants to apply online at their website. Basically, you will need to submit a new application for admission. The processes involved are as follow:

a) Opening a file
b) Personalized request for supporting documents (document attached)
c) Acknowledgment of receipt of your application (document attached)
e) Request for supporting documents (document attached)
d) Waiting for Immigration documents
f) Documents received
g) Confirmation of admission (document attached)
h) Manual admission
i) Notice of interview
j) Notice of appointment (document attached)
k) Confirmation of admission (document attached)
l) Registration pending
m) Confirmation of Registration (document attached)



BANKS (updated)
You can always go on Wednesday (1st June) to any of the banks with your relevant documents, but you'll need to go to Service Canada first to get your SIN. That is more important. Banks do open accounts without SIN, but they would need to have that ASAP to offer you anything else.

SIN
Yes, you can go the very next day. Arrive at Service Canada centre at 8:15am. They open at 8:30am. Be the first ones to enter and you'll get your SIN in no time. Otherwise, you'll have to wait and people would start coming in. For more information, go through my thread and you'll find information in much detail.

MONEY PER PERSON
You are allowed to bring as much cash as you can, but if you are bringing $10K or more / person, you must declare the actual amount you are bringing (including Canadian Dollars as well as any other currencies). Your total in Canadian Dollars must also include any other non-canadian currencies, if you are bringing any. You'll need to convert ₹ in CAD and add it to the total. Don't worry, you will not be taxed on this money. They just want to make sure you are bringing legitimate funds. You can also bring funds in other forms, such as bank drafts, cheques, money orders, securities in bearer form, etc). If you are in India, you can open a Canadian bank account before arriving in Canada. Banks like RBC, BMO and ScotiaBank offer such facilities. They allow one transfer of around $50K or so. That way, your money will be in Canada when you arrive. You'll have to visit branch to activate your account and access to your funds. It's always advisable to keep cash with you at all times until you have a bank card.

Use Proof of funds table to calculate how much of minimum funds you would require according to your family members.

Some countries, like Pakistan, have put limits of exporting of foreign currencies (cannot take out of Pakistan US$10K or more per person). You may have up to 3 years to import goods purchased with this money in your former country. However, you must show CBSA proof that you faced restrictions. (source)

PRIVATE INSURANCE
As for private insurance in your home country, you must make sure your insurance plan is covering Canada too (and not just India).

What you are looking for is Visitors to Canada insurance plans. To get private insurance, you can use the OmbudService Insurance Finder (can choose from 30 of them) or look in the Yellow Pages (look for insurance brokers. Brokers represent several different insurance companies and can tell you about your choices). Get quotes from them online or via Phone. You can use Google Hangout to call anywhere in Canada and USA for free, so use it to calls these companies to get accurate quotes.

SIM / MOBILE PHONE / CELLPHONE
Unfortunately, it's not that easy in Canada to get a sim card. Sims are usually available from their own stores. It's always advisable to bring your own cellphone. North American GSM uses 850/1900 MHz , UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900Mhz, LTE 1700/2600, AWS 1700/2100 frequencies. As far as I know, you won't be able to find sim card at Montreal airport.

You can get Canadian prepaid sim before you arrive in Canada by buying it on eBay and find the ones you want. Some sellers even activate sim for you after you have made successful purchase, ask seller first before making purchase and inquire about delivery time too. Also make sure the sim you are ordering have coverage in your chosen province. Most sim cards alone would cost from 0$ to $10. 

7Eleven is selling their own prepaid sim, SPEAKOUT 7-ELEVEN PREPAID SERVICE. So, you may be able to get sim at Toronto Pearson Airport. There are 2 7Elevens there. (Before-Security Level 1 Arrivals & Terminal 1, Before-Security (International), Located in 6B, Value Park Garage, Level 4). They are open 24/7. You can call 9056712875 & 9056737953 respectively to verify if they have it over there or not. They also sell long-distance phone cards as well. Sorry, but I couldn't find any shop selling prepaid sims at Aéroports de Montréal.

You can find suitable packages for yourself using comparison websites, such as Whistleout


I'll try to update this guide accordingly. This guide is specific to immigrants landing in Montreal. This guide is made as per my personal experience. You can have difference of opinion.