It’s been a couple of weeks since we moved from New York City to Edmonton, Alberta, so I wanted to write things down before I forget all the annoying details.
This is not really a packing guide. There are already plenty of posts about choosing movers, packing boxes, and deciding what to ship. We used an international moving company, and once that was arranged, the physical move was actually one of the easier parts.
The harder part was everything around the move: paperwork, housing, banking, customs, vehicle import, and all the small decisions that had to happen in roughly the right order. I couldn’t find one place that covered all of these from the perspective of moving from the US to Canada on work permits, so this is my attempt to put our notes in one place.
This post is about the logistics around our move from New York City to Edmonton: documents we collected before leaving the US, things we kept open after moving, renting an apartment from abroad, importing a car, crossing the border, and the first few administrative tasks after arriving in Alberta.
Our situation was specific. Both my husband and I were working in the US on visas and moved to Canada on employer-sponsored work permits. Some details will be different if you’re a US citizen, a Canadian permanent resident, not bringing a car, or moving to another province. But I think the overall checklist is still useful if you are trying to understand the order of operations.
The first thing we worked out was the overall timeline.
If your employer is paying for relocation, they’ll usually arrange for a moving company to survey your apartment and estimate the shipment. Once everything is approved, the moving company will contact you to schedule a pickup date and give you an estimated delivery window.
Those dates end up determining most of the rest of the move.
Once we knew when our belongings would be picked up, we could start planning everything else:
Most of these decisions depend on each other. It helped to map the timeline before making reservations or signing leases.
The next thing to think about is paperwork.
Some documents are much easier to get before leaving the US. Most of them can still be requested later, but doing that from another country is usually more annoying.
For us, these fell into a few categories.
If you’re married, get an official copy of your marriage certificate. Depending on what you plan to use it for later, you may also want to have it apostilled.
Similarly, if you have children, keep certified copies of their birth certificates.
These documents often come up later for immigration or other government paperwork, and they are easier to organize before moving.
If you’re bringing a car to Canada, there is another set of paperwork to prepare.
For us, this included:
If your vehicle is financed, the process is different because you don’t actually hold the title yourself. That’s something to look into early.
I would also request your driving record before leaving.
Canadian insurance companies often ask for proof of previous driving history when calculating premiums.
This was one of the easier documents to obtain. Most states allow you to request it online.
If you currently have auto insurance in the US, ask your insurance company for a Letter of Experience.
It summarizes your insurance history, including how long you’ve been insured and whether you’ve had any claims. We ended up needing it when applying for Canadian auto insurance.
In our case it only took a few business days to receive.
If you’re moving with pets, make sure vaccinations are up to date.
For our cat, we needed proof of rabies vaccination as well as a health certificate from the veterinarian before crossing the border.
None of these documents were particularly difficult to obtain, but they all have different processing times.
For us, the driving record was available almost immediately, while the title abstract took considerably longer because it had to be requested from the DMV. The marriage certificate also took longer than we expected.
Since many of these requests involve waiting for government offices or third parties, start earlier than you think you need to. Even if you don’t use every document, collecting them while you’re still in the US is easier than doing it after the move.
Once we had the paperwork mostly sorted out, the next thing was deciding what to keep in the US and what to move over completely.
Some things are easy to close before moving. Others are useful to keep around for at least the first year.
We decided to keep our US bank accounts open after moving.
They were still useful for paying any remaining US expenses, and they also made the first few weeks easier before everything in Canada was fully set up.
We also kept a couple of US credit cards, especially those with no foreign transaction fees. Since you won’t have any Canadian credit history when you first arrive, your initial Canadian credit cards may have relatively low limits. Having existing US credit cards gives you a bit more flexibility during that transition.
If you already have an American Express card in the US, also look into their Global Transfer program. It allows you to apply for a Canadian Amex based on your US credit history, which can be helpful when you’re just getting started.
We also decided to keep our US phone numbers.
Phone numbers are tied to almost everything: banks, investment accounts, email accounts, and multi-factor authentication. Changing every account immediately after moving would have been a lot of unnecessary work.
The major US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Google Fi, etc.) are generally intended for people who primarily live in the US. Even though Canada also uses the +1 country code, these plans usually aren’t designed for permanent use outside the country.
In our case, we switched to Tello to keep our US number for SMS verification while using a Canadian number for day-to-day use. There are other options as well, but the important part is having a reliable way to receive authentication codes.
Mail is another thing that’s easy to overlook.
Even after moving, you may still receive replacement credit cards, tax documents, DMV notices, or other mail in the US.
If you don’t have friends or family who can receive mail for you, a virtual mailbox can be useful.
We set ours up before leaving the US. That was easier than trying to do it remotely later. Most providers require USPS Form 1583, and depending on the company, you may need identity verification, notarization, or even an in-person USPS visit.
If you decide to use a virtual mailbox, I’d also suggest leaving yourself a little time to test it before moving. Send yourself a piece of mail and make sure everything works as expected.
Moving countries also means going through all of your subscriptions one by one.
Some services work internationally without any changes. Others don’t.
For example, Costco memberships technically work in both countries, but we found it easier to switch everything over to Costco Canada instead of continuing to use our US membership.
Streaming services are another example. Amazon Prime is country-specific, so moving to Canada meant opening a Canadian Prime account. The same applies to some other services, where both pricing and available content depend on the country.
There are also subscriptions billed in US dollars, such as ChatGPT. Whether you keep those on a US payment method or move everything to Canada is mostly a personal decision.
Finally, don’t forget to cancel utilities tied to your old apartment.
For us this included internet, electricity, parking, and a few other building-related services.
Most companies allow you to schedule cancellation ahead of time once you know your move-out date.
Check whether any service requires advance notice. Our parking contract, for example, required us to notify them about a month before cancellation.
Housing required the most coordination before the move.
The first decision is whether you want to rent or buy.
For us, buying wasn’t really an option. We were moving on work permits, had no Canadian credit history, and hadn’t even lived in Edmonton yet. Renting made more sense.
There are a few different ways people approach this.
Some people stay in a hotel or Airbnb for a few weeks and look for an apartment after arriving. Others already know people locally who can help with apartment tours.
Since we were moving with our cat, we preferred to have a place ready before arriving instead of moving between temporary accommodations.
Before looking at apartments, it helped to write down exactly what we cared about.
For us, that meant:
Once we filtered apartments using those criteria, the number of options became much smaller.
Housing close to campus was also more competitive than I expected.
One difference compared to New York is that rental agents aren’t really part of the process.
In New York, it’s common to work with an agent who helps you search for apartments and schedule viewings.
In Canada, at least from our experience, most rentals are handled directly by the property management company. That means you’ll usually be contacting leasing offices yourself.
The process is not harder, just different.
Some buildings were easy to deal with.
Others were much harder to reach.
One apartment we were interested in rarely answered phone calls. We eventually asked a friend in Edmonton to visit the leasing office in person just to get in touch with the property manager.
Even then, we ended up on a waiting list and eventually rented somewhere else.
Depending on the city and neighborhood, start the apartment search early.
Since we weren’t in Canada yet, every apartment tour we did was virtual.
Most property managers were happy to walk through the apartment over video and answer questions.
We found those tours surprisingly useful. It’s a good opportunity to ask about things that aren’t obvious from the floor plan, such as internet providers, package delivery, visitor parking, storage, or anything else that’s important to you.
Paying the security deposit can be its own problem.
Many apartment buildings in Alberta only accept Interac e-Transfer. If you’re still outside Canada, you likely don’t have a Canadian bank account yet.
We tried a few options, including international wire transfers and Wise, but neither worked because the property manager only accepted Interac e-Transfer for business accounts.
In the end, we asked a friend in Canada to send the deposit for us and reimbursed them afterwards.
If you’re renting before arriving in Canada, check the payment method early. It may affect when you’re able to reserve the apartment.
Another issue is Canadian credit history, or more accurately, not having any.
If you’ve never lived in Canada before, you don’t have one.
Different landlords handle this differently. Some were happy with our employment letters and work permits. Others wanted a Canadian credit check, which was not possible for us.
In those cases, some landlords asked for several months’ rent in advance instead.
There doesn’t seem to be a standard practice here. It mostly depends on the property management company.
Although we couldn’t open a Canadian bank account before entering Canada, most property managers were understanding about it.
For us, they allowed us to provide our banking information after we arrived. The same applied to the void cheque for automatic rent payments.
That helped, since opening a bank account was one of the first things we planned to do after crossing the border anyway.
We hadn’t thought much about the lease start date beforehand.
Unlike some places where leases almost always begin on the first of the month, many apartments in Edmonton have more flexible start dates. Ours started in the middle of the month.
In hindsight, having the lease begin a little before we actually arrived worked out well. It gave us a few extra days in case something was delayed during the drive or at the border, and we didn’t have to worry about reaching the leasing office before it closed on the same day.
If your schedule allows it, having a small buffer between your arrival date and your lease start date can make the move much less rushed.
Once the lease was signed, we could start setting up utilities.
For us, that mainly meant electricity and tenant insurance.
We were able to set both of these up before arriving in Canada, even though we didn’t have a Canadian bank account yet. We updated the payment information after opening our Canadian account.
Having utilities ready before picking up the keys meant we could move in immediately after arriving.
If you aren’t bringing a car, you can safely skip this section.
Otherwise, there are a few additional steps to think about before the move.
The first decision is whether to sell the car in the US or bring it to Canada.
For us, bringing the car made sense. We liked the car, it was already paid off, and based on its value we weren’t expecting to pay import duty. Buying another car after arriving did not seem worthwhile.
That calculation depends on your own vehicle, so check the import rules and taxes beforehand.
If you’re bringing your vehicle, the export process starts on the US side.
Unlike people leaving the country, vehicles need to be formally exported. That means submitting export paperwork ahead of time and going through a designated export port.
Not every border crossing handles vehicle exports, so this is something to check early.
There are guides online explaining how to complete the export yourself. I initially planned to do that, but eventually decided to use a customs broker instead.
The broker mainly handled the paperwork submission. We still had to collect all of the required documents ourselves.
For us, the required documents included:
Request the recall clearance letter early. We obtained ours directly from the manufacturer.
If your vehicle still has an outstanding recall or doesn’t meet Canadian requirements, you want to find that out before you’re about to cross the border.
Some people asked why we didn’t have the moving company transport the vehicle.
The main reason is that the paperwork doesn’t really change.
Even if the moving company ships your car, you still need to prepare the export and import documents yourself. They also won’t pick up the vehicle until everything is complete.
Vehicle shipments also tend to arrive separately from household goods.
Since we were already handling the paperwork, driving the car ourselves seemed simpler. It also meant we had transportation immediately after arriving in Edmonton.
Be careful about the actual border crossing.
Normally, when you leave the US by car, you just drive across the border without talking to US Customs.
Vehicle exports are different.
Before entering Canada, you need to stop at the designated US export office so they can process the export paperwork. At our border crossing there was a sign for vehicle exports, but it wasn’t particularly obvious. Since most people are not exporting vehicles, double-check where to go before crossing.
The important part is not to drive into Canada first. Once you’ve crossed the border, sorting out the export paperwork becomes much more complicated.
The Canadian side handles the initial vehicle import when you enter the country.
This is separate from immigration. After we received our work permits, we also completed the customs paperwork for the vehicle.
That isn’t the end of the import process, though.
After arriving in Alberta, there is still the RIV (Registrar of Imported Vehicles) process, followed by inspections before the vehicle can be registered.
In other words, crossing the border is really just the beginning of the Canadian import process.
Once we arrived in Edmonton, we still needed to complete:
One small detail that is easy to miss is that the Out-of-Province Inspection requires an inspection request form from an Alberta registry office.
We didn’t realize this until later. Since we were already at the registry for our driver’s licences, we could have picked it up during the same visit.
Also check where you book the inspections. Not every inspection shop performs both the federal inspection and the Alberta Out-of-Province Inspection. If you can find one that does both, it saves an extra appointment.
Vehicle registration also requires Canadian insurance.
This is where the driving record and Letter of Experience become useful.
We first obtained a quote from AMA. Since our driving history was entirely in the US, they told us additional review was needed, and the quoted premium was relatively high.
We then contacted TD. After providing the same documents, we were able to get insurance much more quickly.
I don’t think this means one company is better than another. Different companies seem to handle previous US driving history differently, so get more than one quote.
Once the insurance was in place, registering the vehicle was simple.
One last thing to remember is that importing the vehicle into Canada doesn’t automatically finish everything on the US side.
For us, New York required the license plates to be surrendered before we could cancel the insurance policy.
This varies by state, so check what your own state requires before moving.
After all of that preparation, the actual border crossing was not too complicated, but it took time.
We drove from New York to Alberta over several days and crossed the border by car.
Since we were entering Canada on work permits, we already expected to spend some time there. Between immigration, customs, and the vehicle paperwork, I would not plan an ambitious driving day afterwards.
Our first stop was the immigration office. The officers reviewed our documents and issued our work permits there.
This can be quick or slow depending on the situation and how busy the office is, so I would leave some buffer in the schedule.
After immigration came customs.
Besides declaring the items we had in the car, we also had to declare our goods to follow, meaning the household shipment that would arrive later with the moving company.
One point I almost mixed up: the moving company’s inventory is not the same thing as the customs declaration.
The movers prepare an inventory for shipping, but you still need your own customs forms for what you are bringing with you, what will arrive later, and anything else being imported, such as a vehicle.
For the goods to follow, we referenced the moving company’s inventory instead of rewriting the entire list.
Having the forms ready before we arrived made this part easier.
We carried multiple copies of almost every important document.
We did not need all of them, but it was convenient whenever someone wanted to keep a copy instead of just looking at the original.
For anything related to immigration, customs, or the car, I would bring a few extra copies.
After arriving in Edmonton, we still had a list of administrative things to finish.
Several of them depended on each other, so we tried to do the important ones in the first few days.
The first thing we did was apply for a Social Insurance Number (SIN).
The application can be completed online using a scan or photo of your work permit.
Processing times seem to vary. My husband’s application was approved almost immediately; mine took longer.
If your application does not move, contact Service Canada and check whether they need anything else.
Once it is approved, remember to retrieve the confirmation before the application number expires.
Opening a bank account was also urgent because our apartment needed Canadian banking information for rent payments.
Different bank branches handled appointments differently.
Some accepted walk-ins. Others only took customers with appointments.
If you need the account on the same day you arrive, check this before going. Otherwise it is easy to lose a day just because the branch you picked does not take walk-ins.
Our goal was to move directly into the apartment after arriving in Edmonton.
Beforehand, we had already arranged:
Once the bank account was opened and we provided the remaining banking information, we picked up the keys and moved in.
Since we were traveling with our cat, having the apartment ready before arrival was easier than staying in temporary accommodation first.
After move-in, most of the remaining paperwork was provincial.
The exact process depends on the province. In Alberta, quite a few things go through registry offices.
It took me a little while to get used to the fact that many services are handled through private registry offices rather than directly through a government office.
This is where we went to:
If you’re moving to Alberta, you may end up visiting a registry office more than once in the first couple of weeks.
Since we already had AAA membership in the US, we transferred it to AMA after arriving.
Some AMA locations also provide registry services, so we were able to do several things in the same place.
Whether that matters depends on your situation, but if you already have AAA, check whether you can transfer it.
Exchanging the driver’s licence itself was simple for us.
We brought passports, work permits, current driver’s licences, driving records, and the other documents the registry asked for. Different situations may require different documents, so check before going.
For us, the whole process only took one visit.
Once the inspections and insurance were done, registering the car was easy compared with everything before it.
That was the point where the vehicle import process finally felt complete.
The first couple of weeks were not only paperwork. We also had to figure out normal life again: where to shop, what stores exist here, which brands are different, and how the city works day to day.
A few observations:
If you’re coming from the US, the grocery stores will not map exactly.
There isn’t really an equivalent to Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods is much less common depending on where you live. We ended up switching to local grocery chains fairly quickly.
The brands are also not exactly the same. A lot of products are available, but often under different brands or slightly different packaging.
We noticed grocery prices quickly.
Chicken and dairy products generally cost more than what we were used to in the US. Other things were roughly comparable, and some items were actually cheaper.
It is not better or worse, just different enough that you notice it during the first few trips.
Driving also takes a little adjustment.
The speed limits are generally lower than what we were used to, so for the first few days we had to pay more attention than usual.
There are quite a few stores that do not exist here, or at least not in the same way.
At the same time, some Canadian stores become part of your routine pretty quickly.
After a couple of weeks, grocery shopping and running errands already felt normal.
That is the list I wish I had before we started planning. None of the individual steps were impossible, but many of them depended on another step being done first, and that was the part that took the most attention.