Before You Land

Money

Start earliest

Ask three banks what their newcomer student account actually includes

Most major banks run a newcomer or international student program. What differs is whether you can start the application from outside Canada, what they waive, and for how long. Don't assume — the answer changes by bank and sometimes by branch.

Ask each one: can I start this from abroad, what's waived, for how long, and what do I bring on arrival?

Find out what "no fees" leaves out

A waived monthly fee is not a free account. Incoming wires, out-of-network ATM withdrawals, transfer limits and currency conversion are usually charged separately, and that's where the money actually goes in your first term.

Get the fee schedule in writing before you pick.

Decide how your first big transfer arrives

You'll need tuition or a housing deposit moved early. Bank wires, transfer services and student payment platforms differ on cost, speed and limits — and some take days you won't have.

Pick your method, test it with a small amount, and know the arrival time.

Know the currency declaration threshold verify

Canada requires you to declare cash and monetary instruments at or above a set amount when you enter. It applies to the total being carried, and failing to declare is a serious problem at the border, not a formality.

Confirm the current threshold on the CBSA declaration page before you pack cash.

Get an eSIM live before you fly

Every account you open in your first week wants a phone number for verification. Landing without one means doing your bank, your SIN and your school portal out of order, or over airport wifi.

Activate it before departure and confirm it connects when you land.

Tell your home bank you're leaving

Foreign activity on a card with no travel notice gets frozen, usually at the worst possible moment. You also want to know your daily withdrawal limit in Canadian dollars before you're standing at an ATM.

Set a travel notice and save the emergency number that works from abroad.

Documents

Week before

Build the carry-on set

Passport, your Port of Entry Letter of Introduction, your Letter of Acceptance, proof of funds, and any custodianship or financial documents. You don't receive your study permit before you fly — a border officer issues it when you arrive, based on these.

One envelope. In your carry-on. Never in checked baggage.

Build the cloud set

Scan everything in the envelope, plus transcripts, medical records and any visa correspondence. Name the files properly — you will be searching this folder on your phone, in a queue, under pressure.

Cloud folder plus an offline copy on your phone, in case there's no signal.

Get certified translations while you're still home

Anything not in English or French may need a certified translation — for your school, for a licence exchange, sometimes for a bank. Arranging this from another continent is slow and expensive.

Translate and certify now, then scan into the cloud set.

Order sealed transcripts and degree certificates

You'll need official copies for graduate applications, some employers, and later immigration steps. Once you've left, chasing sealed copies out of your old institution becomes a months-long remote fight with someone who doesn't answer email.

Order two sealed sets before you leave. Keep them unopened.

Know what you'll be asked at the border

Expect questions about your school, your program, how long you're staying and how you're funding it. None of it is a trick. The only thing that causes problems is answers that don't line up with the documents in your hand.

Read your own application again on the plane. Confirm arrival steps on IRCC's study-in-Canada page.

Health

Before booking

Find out which plan actually covers you verify

Health coverage in Canada is provincial, and international students sit differently in every province. Some are covered by the provincial plan, some by a mandatory university plan, some need private cover for a gap. It is not automatic anywhere.

Ask your school's international office which plan applies to you specifically.

Check for a waiting period

Some provinces don't cover you from day one. If yours has a gap, you need interim private coverage for exactly that window — and the time to buy it is before you fly, not after something happens.

Confirm the date your coverage starts, then fill the gap if there is one.

Put the enrolment deadline in your calendar

Where a university plan applies, enrolling or opting out is usually a hard deadline in your first weeks. Miss it and you can be uninsured for a term, or charged for a plan you didn't want.

Get the exact date from your school and set the reminder now.

Sort prescriptions with your doctor at home

A Canadian pharmacy will not fill a foreign prescription, and getting a family doctor here takes far longer than most people expect. Your doctor at home is the only person who can bridge that gap, and only while you're still there.

Ask for a supply, a written prescription, and a signed letter naming the medication and dosage.

Pack medication correctly verify

Bringing medication into Canada for personal use has rules about original labelled packaging, documentation, and how much you can carry. Some things sold freely at home are controlled here.

Check the current personal import rules (GUI-0116), and keep everything in original packaging in your carry-on.

Handle dental and vision before you leave

Neither is usually included in basic coverage. A cleaning, a check-up or new glasses at home is almost always cheaper than the same thing here, uninsured, in your first month.

Book both before you fly and bring your current prescription.

Housing

6–8 weeks out

Book temporary first, permanent later

Signing a year-long lease for a place you've never seen, in a neighbourhood you don't know, from a country you're about to leave, is how most first-year regret happens. Two to four weeks of temporary housing buys you the ability to walk through places in person.

Book short-term for your first weeks. Treat it as the cost of not getting trapped.

Never send money for a place nobody has stood inside

This is the most common way international students lose money before they even arrive. The listing looks real and the photos are real — they're just someone else's photos.

You, or someone you actually know, sees it in person. No exceptions, however good the price is.

Learn the scam pattern

Rent well below market. A landlord who is conveniently abroad. Pressure to decide today because someone else is interested. Refusal to do a live video call. Payment by wire, crypto or gift card. Any two of these together and you walk away.

Ask for a live video walkthrough where they open the front door and say your name.

Know what a legitimate lease looks like where you're going verify

Tenancy law is provincial. Some provinces mandate a standard lease form, and the rules on deposits, rent increases and what a landlord can ask you for differ significantly between them.

Read your province's tenancy board page before you sign anything.

Ask which utilities "utilities included" includes

It rarely means all of them. Heat, hydro, water and internet are billed differently, and through a Canadian winter, heat is not a small line item.

Get the list in writing, and ask what last winter's bills looked like.

The first 72 hours

On arrival

Understand the order things unlock in

Your study permit comes from the border officer. Your SIN application needs that permit. Getting paid needs the SIN. Bank activation needs ID and usually an address. A phone plan may want a credit history you don't have yet. Done out of order, each step blocks the next.

Permit → SIN → bank activation → everything else.

Check what needs an appointment verify

Some of this can be done online and some in person, and availability in September is worse than any other month of the year, because every international student in the country is doing the same thing in the same week.

Check the current SIN process for temporary residents and book anything bookable before you land.

Register with your school's international office

They are the only people whose entire job is this exact situation, they've seen your problem a thousand times, and most students never speak to them until something has already gone wrong.

Introduce yourself in week one, before you need anything.

Where to check the things marked "verify"

Rules, thresholds and processes change, and they change without anyone telling you. Anything with a date, a dollar figure or an hour limit should come from the source — including from this page.

canada.ca — study in Canada — study permits, work rules, PGWP
cbsa-asfc.gc.ca — declare currency — CAN$10,000+ cash and monetary instruments
cbsa-asfc.gc.ca — what you can bring — personal goods, food, gifts
Health Canada GUI-0116 — bringing medication for personal use
canada.ca — SIN for temporary residents — apply for a SIN after you have your permit
Your school's international office — coverage, deadlines, anything specific to you

The list doesn't stop at the airport

Banking, credit, health, your first job — the part after you land is longer than the part before it. That's what I post.

Follow on Instagram