📋 Checklist: moving to Victoria

📋 1. Before You Move

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• Get a job (optional). Some people have enough savings to live on for 1-3 months and plan on finding a job once they move here. Here’s how to find a job in Victoria.

• Get a visa. Only if you’re not a Canadian citizen or a Canadian permanent resident. Here’s how to get a visa to Canada.

• Contact a local immigration lawyer if you need one. If you need a visa, often a lawyer can help make the process smoother and faster to get one. Here’s a list of all immigration lawyers practicing in Victoria, BC.

• Find an apartment (optional). You can stay in an Airbnb, hotel or sublet a room when you get here instead. Here’s how to find housing in Victoria.

• Do you have a dog? Here’s a list of apartments that accept dogs in Victoria.

• Sign up for childcare waitlists (optional). Start contacting childcare centers as soon as possible and get on their waitlists. On average, a family is on a waitlist for 6 months - 2 years for a spot in childcare here. We wrote a guide on how to do all this in the Finding Childcare section.

• Cancel your current apartment lease

• Get your rental deposit back from your landlord

• Cancel your utilities. Hydro (power), natural gas and/or internet.

• Get a 1 month supply of your current medications

• Cancel your dog walking service, if you have one

• Cancel your gym or yoga membership

💻 2. Do Online

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• Register for BC Health Insurance (MSP). https://my.gov.bc.ca/msp/enrolment

• Moving from another country? Get 3 months of travel health insurance, for coverage in BC. For the first 3 months here you are not covered for health insurance if you move in from another country. Pacific Blue Cross usually charges $311-$348 for the “Visitors to Canada” plan (for 1 person, for 3 months, price is more the older you are). You can buy it on their website: https://www.pac.bluecross.ca/travel-insurance.

• Moving from Alberta, Ontario or another province? Your province will cover you for medical insurance for these first 3 months after you move here.

• Get your mail forwarded through Canada Post (Optional). If you’re moving from another province to BC, it costs $70.55 for 4 months. If you’re moving from another city within BC, it’s $56.70 for 4 months. *Prices as of March 2021, canadapost.ca.

🗓️ 3. Your first day in Victoria

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• Sign up for a bank account (if you are new to Canada). RBC, TD Bank, BMO, Scotiabank or CIBC are our primary banks here. There’s more information in our Banking section.

• Buy a bus pass (Optional). Available at most grocery stores, 7-eleven, Petro Canada gas stations, etc… No, you can’t buy these online.

🚶‍♂️ 4. Your first week in Victoria

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• Exchange your driver’s licence or get a BC ID card. Go to an ICBC office to do this. See more on our Driver's licence page

• Register your car & get car insurance with ICBC.

• Register your child / children for school (optional): The school district needs either your rental lease or your purchase agreement of home (if you own the home). If you are staying at a family member’s home, they will need some sort of documentation proving you live there.

• Register for child benefits (optional): In Canada, you receive monthly payments for each child from the BC and Federal Governments. Here’s how it works in the “Child Benefits” section.

• If your new street for your home requires permits to park. Register online with the City of Victoria, to give them your license plate number. This will prevent your car from being towed for “illegal parking’” (it costs over $300 to get your car back if towed). https://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/residents/parking/residential-parking.html

• Sign up for BC Hydro (electricity) for your new home, if not included in your rental contract.

• Sign up for Fortis BC (natural gas) for your new home (if you have it) and if it’s not included in your rental contract.

• Sign up for Internet for your new home. Bell, Telus, Shaw and TekSavvy are some of the providers.

• Sign up for cell service (if you’re new to Canada). Fido, Virgin Mobile, Freedom, Telus, Shaw and Rogers are all choices. Here’s more information in our cell phones & Internet section.

🏃‍♀️ 5. Your first month in Victoria

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• Start meeting people through groups and clubs. Here’s a list on How to meet people in Victoria.

• Get to know common Vancouver Island terms like “Shaft”, “Pat Bay Highway”, “The Rock”, what “Lucky” is and more. We wrote a glossary, so you don’t have to be lost.

• Find a new GP (doctor)

• Find a daycare or childcare provider (if you have kids). We wrote a guide with prices for daycares in town.

• Find a new dentist

• Find a new hairstylist / hair salon

• Get copies made of your new house key(s). Go to Canadian Tire, Cook Street Castle or Capital Iron. This should cost $6 - $12 per key.

• Get a library card.

• Sign up for renter’s insurance (if you are renting). This is also called “tenant insurance” sometimes. Usually, your bank will offer this, for around $5 - $15/month. Try RBC, TD Bank, BMO or CIBC.

• Put together your emergency kit. We wrote an Emergency Kit Checklist - with photos!

🏔 6. Your first year in Victoria

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• Explore Victoria and Vancouver Island. Here’s a checklist of 33 things to do and places to see, which are free (or have a small fee for the park). 

🗂️ 7. Checklist: Documents

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Worth it to get before you leave, expensive to fly back home for.

• Passport

• Birth Certificate / Certificate of Citizenship (mostly for Canadians born abroad)

• Driver’s Licence: that is not expired.

• Driver History: Also sometimes called your “Driving Record” or “Driving experience letter”. This is a document listing your driver licence history. You’ll need to show you have had your driver’s licence for at least 2 years to get an unrestricted licence.

• Driver History: Moving from the USA 🇺🇸? The DMV or DOL in many states will only give you the last 5–7 years of your driving history as a printout. Take whatever you can get. There may be a fee, somewhere between $10-$25 to get the document.

• Vaccination records for your kids

• Marriage / Divorce Certificate

• SIN card / printout: If you are Canadian

• If you own your car: the paper title for your car

• If you’re still paying off your car (aka you’re American): Most of us don’t have the titles to our cars. In the US, we only get this once our loan is paid off. Get your lender to write a letter that it is ok for you to register your car in Canada (a foreign country). They will push back on this, but be firm. The auto insurance / registration agency ICBC will require that. If your lender won’t budge, ICBC can help you get it from them.

🤷‍♀️How much money do I need to live in Victoria?
We've covered that here, in $$$