Apply online, by mail, or in person at a Service Canada Centre; in person, if everything is in order you leave with your SIN the same visit. You need it before starting work, so it is correctly the first stop.
Landing Month One — Canada
The PR-landing / work-permit sequence. Canada's version of the ordering problem is gentler — the SIN is same-visit and account opening is a protected right — but the health-cover gap and the driving clock are real, and one benefits myth costs new families months.
Ontario removed OHIP's 3-month wait in March 2020 and has not reinstated it (enrolment is effectively immediate — though the removal was framed as temporary, so confirm at enrolment). BC's MSP still waits the balance of the arrival month plus two months; carry private interim cover for that gap.
At a federally regulated bank you may open a personal account with acceptable ID even with no job, no money to deposit yet, and no Canadian credit history; refusal is allowed only on narrow grounds and you can demand the reason in writing. No newcomer should be turned away quietly.
The common myth is that filing taxes unlocks benefits. It sustains them; the unlock is a form filed on arrival — RC151 (or CRA's online newcomer form) for the GST/HST credit, RC66 for the Canada Child Benefit. Note: temporary residents need 18 consecutive months in Canada before CCB eligibility.
A new Ontario resident may drive on a valid foreign licence for 60 days. India is not on Ontario's exchange list, so after that it is graduated licensing — with foreign experience creditable via an authentication letter. A rule change effective 1 July 2026 reportedly caps experience credit at 12 months; confirm the current text before planning around it.
Secured or newcomer-program cards reporting to Equifax/TransUnion start the file, and on-time payment history weighs heaviest (FCAC guidance). Since 2025, Scotiabank's onboarding can read home-country credit history through Nova Credit's Credit Passport — a newcomer with Indian history does not have to start from zero there.
We already computed the public version — it is complete and stays free. Add three facts and the runbook becomes standing: Join DesiSquare and the Square remembers your dates, re-runs this when the rules change, and puts a credentialed human one message away.