What you set up in your first month in Canada keeps running after you stop looking at it.

A SIN, a bank account, a first credit card, government benefits and money sent home. Each one has a cost or a delay that shows up later, and each has a check you can do in the first weeks.

That the first month is a checklist, and once every box is ticked you are finished.

Each item on the list keeps running after you set it up. A fee waiver has an end date. A credit limit shapes your score every month. Benefits you are entitled to wait for an application. A transfer service keeps using the exchange rate you accepted the first time.

None of these is hard to fix. The difficulty is that the cost arrives later, when nothing is prompting you to look.

Service Canada describes the Social Insurance Number as a 9-digit number you need to work in Canada or to access government programs and benefits. There is no fee to apply.

You can apply online, by mail or in person. Service Canada gives processing times for two of those: about 5 business days online and about 20 business days by mail, if everything is complete. It recommends applying online for faster processing.

The video on this page says to go in person, because you typically leave with the number that day, while online can take up to 15 business days. Service Canada’s pages, read on 25 September 2026, now give about 5 business days for online and do not give a time for in person. The advice to apply early stands. Which way is faster for you is worth checking on Service Canada’s own page on the day you apply.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada says you have the right to open a bank account even if you do not have a job or money to put in it right away, and that you may be able to open one with proper identification even if you are not a Canadian citizen. The bank must confirm your identity. One way is two original documents, and a foreign passport is on FCAC’s list of documents that count.

A newcomer package may waive the monthly fee for a set time. Ask two questions when you open the account: on what date does the waiver end, and what will the account cost after it. Put that date in your calendar a month early, so you decide whether to stay before you start paying.

The video says nobody tells you when the free period is over. FCAC says a bank must give you information about fees when you open the account, and must give you written information when it increases a fee or introduces a new charge. FCAC’s page does not say whether the end of a newcomer waiver counts as either. Ask your bank whether it will tell you, and set the reminder anyway. What happens when the free period ends goes further.

If you are declined for a regular card, FCAC says a secured credit card may be an option if you do not have a credit history, and names newcomers to Canada with no credit history among the people who may want to consider one. You give the issuer a security deposit, and the limit is normally equal to or higher than that deposit.

Whatever the card, the limit matters every month. FCAC suggests using less than 30% of your total credit limit, and keeping that rate low even when you pay the full balance. On a small first limit, ordinary spending can take you past it. You may ask your issuer for a higher limit, and it must have your permission before it raises it. What a thin file costs works through the numbers.

The Canada Revenue Agency says that in most cases you do not need to apply for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit: it checks your eligibility when it assesses your tax return. CRA says this benefit replaced the GST/HST credit in July 2026, with the same eligibility, and that it is paid in tax-free quarterly payments. The Canada child benefit is a tax-free monthly payment for eligible families with children under 18.

A new resident does not have to wait for a first tax return. CRA says that before you file it, you can apply for the benefit for your first year as a resident. With no children, you use form RC151, which can be done online. With children under 19, you download and print RC151 and form RC66, the Canada child benefit application, attach proof of birth for each child, and mail them to your tax centre. RC66 also covers the groceries and essentials benefit.

The video on this page names the right forms and makes the right point: apply the week you arrive. Two things in it have changed or were wrong. It calls the benefit the GST/HST credit, which was its name when the video was published and was replaced in July 2026. And it says the form covers the Canada Carbon Rebate. CRA says the rebate for individuals stopped on 15 March 2025, with no payments after April 2025, which was before the video was published.

The video also says benefit months you do not claim in your first year do not come back. CRA’s page on the benefit says that if you file late and amounts you were entitled to were missed, they are paid as retroactive payments. It does not say how far back that reaches. Applying early still means the money arrives sooner.

FCAC says some businesses make a profit on money transfers by charging a higher than usual exchange rate. A transfer advertised with no fee can still cost you, because the cost is inside the rate. FCAC’s advice is to ask about the exchange rate and compare it with other currency exchange businesses, and to ask whether the amount received depends on the rate when you pay or when the money is collected. It also says the person receiving the money may have to pay a fee or tax to collect it, on top of what you paid.

So compare what arrives, not what is advertised. If you send money every month, this is a cost you pay every month.

The video gives a size for the gap, two to four percent, and says transfers of ten thousand dollars or more are reported automatically. This page does not repeat either. No source checked for this page gives a size for the gap, and the reporting rule was not checked against its source for this page.

What is the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit

It is the new name for the GST/HST credit. The Canada Revenue Agency says it replaced the GST/HST credit in July 2026, that eligibility, payment calculation and structure are the same, and that it is paid quarterly to individuals and families with low and modest incomes. If you see either name, it is the same benefit.

Can I apply for benefits before my first tax return

Yes, as a new resident. CRA says that before you file your first tax return you can apply for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit for your first year as a resident, with form RC151, or with RC151 and RC66 if you have children under 19. Only one application per household is needed. After that, filing a tax return every year keeps the payments going.

Every claim on this page was checked against these documents on 25 September 2026.

• Service Canada: Apply for a SIN · Application status and receiving your SIN
• Financial Consumer Agency of Canada: Opening a bank account · Choosing a credit card · How credit cards work · Improving your credit score · Sending money to someone in another country
• Canada Revenue Agency: How to get the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit · Canada child benefit · Canada Carbon Rebate for individuals

Watch · 11:36

Moving to Canada in 2026? The 5 Money Mistakes That Cost You for Years. Published 22 May 2026. Loads on click. Nothing is requested from YouTube until you ask.

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