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YOUR FIRST STEPS IN CANADA

A few days ago I arrived in Toronto with my Working Holiday Visa to spend a year here studying, working and enjoying the country... Today I am going to tell you what are the first steps you will have to take once you set foot on Canadian soil.

1. Get your mobile phone line In your first few days you will need an Internet connection to be able to move around the city easily and stay in touch with your friends and family. We bought the SIM cards online from Spain from the company Public Mobile and we put the address of our accommodation so that we could have them from day 1. With this company you can have a prepaid card and a tariff of about 30/40 dollars that includes calls, SMS and 2 or 4 gb of internet.

2. Public transport You'll have to get around the city, right? Then it's time to buy your Presto card. You can buy it at the machines in the stations or apply online through their website. Each trip costs 3 dollars and you have 2 hours to transfer between metro, bus and streetcar. You can add your monthly pass to the card, which is about $140 CAD. You can still buy TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) passes but it looks like they will switch completely to Presto in 2019.

3. Get your Social Insurance Number To start looking for a job, you will need your social insurance number. Just go to your nearest Service Canada Office and you'll be up and running in no time. You can search here for the one nearest you. This number represents you for tax purposes within the country and is essential for you to be able to work.

4. Open a bank account Keep in mind that you will need to open a bank account in Canada, either because you need it to rent a flat or to receive your salary. This way, you will never have problems with your card not being accepted. Besides, it is much more convenient to forget about commissions. In my case, I opened an account with CIBC. Normally the first year is free at most banks, just go to the one closest to you and they will inform you of the options available.

5. Start looking for a job Have your CV ready in both digital and physical versions. You will notice NOW HIRING posters in many places, especially in shops and cafés, take advantage of these opportunities! You will also see many offers on platforms such as Indeed. It is also important to have your LinkedIn profile set up properly so that you can start building your network in Canada.

6. Find your accommodation This is going to be a tough time because you will start to panic because of the prices, but you have to stay calm. The cheapest way is to look for a room in a shared flat (around 600/800 CAD per month). If there are two of you, you may want a flat to yourself. In that case a basement might be the cheapest. Go and ask at the rental offices of the buildings that catch your eye and do a lot of research. Always look for one that is more or less well connected to the metro so that you can move around easily.

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