The paperwork of a first month in Quebec has an order to it. Get it right and everything unlocks in about three weeks. Get it wrong — apply for the health card before you have an address, say — and you spend the month starting things over.
Here is the sequence that works, with what each step really costs and how long it really takes.
Week one: the social insurance number
Nothing happens without it. You cannot be paid, you cannot get financial help with French courses, and most government files use it as the key.
It is free. There is no fee to apply for a SIN, and anyone charging you for one is running a scam.
You can apply online, by mail, or in person at a Service Canada Centre. Online takes about five business days. In person you walk out with the number the same visit, and you keep your documents rather than mailing them — which is usually the better choice if a job is waiting.
- Permanent residents: PR card, or the confirmation of permanent residence if you landed within the year
- Temporary residents: a work or study permit that says you may work, plus a second piece of ID
- There is no plastic card any more — you get a confirmation letter, and you can print it again from My Service Canada Account
Week one: the health card, and the three-month wait
Quebec's public health insurance has a waiting period of up to three months for anyone arriving from outside Canada. It applies to permanent residents, to eligible temporary workers, and to returning Canadian citizens alike.
One route out is a social security agreement between Quebec and your country. That list is Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Sweden — Iran is not on it.
But the agreement list is not the main exemption, and this is the part most guides get wrong. The waiting period does not apply at all to children under 18, to refugees and protected persons in Canada, to people receiving last-resort financial assistance, to Canadians repatriated by the government, or to certain scholarship holders. Check whether you or your children fall into one of these before assuming you must wait.
If none of them applies to you, plan for the full three months with no public cover and take out private insurance before you fly. RAMQ itself recommends this.
Register as soon as you are physically in Quebec and have a Quebec mailing address — the wait runs from your arrival, not from the day you register, so registering late only delays the card. Each family member needs their own form; the first person to register gets a reference number by email that the rest of the family then uses.
Week one: a bank account
You have a legal right to one. A bank in Canada cannot refuse you an account because you have no job, because you have no money to put in it that day, or because you have been bankrupt.
A foreign passport counts as valid identification. In most cases you bring two documents — one showing your name and address, one showing your name and date of birth — or one reliable document confirmed by an existing customer in good standing.
Bring the originals, not photocopies — that is the one thing that sends people home for a second trip.
A bank may only refuse for narrow reasons: a reasonable belief the account would be used illegally or fraudulently, fraud with a financial institution in the past seven years, a knowingly false statement, or a risk to staff or customers. If you are turned away for any other reason, ask for it in writing.
Week two: getting around
An OPUS card costs $6 without a photo and lasts four years. With a photo it is $15, and you need the photo version to get reduced fares — students and anyone 65 or older.
Fares changed on 1 July 2026. If you live on the island of Montreal you need Zone A only:
- Monthly pass, Zone A: $110.00 — reduced $66.00
- Single trip, Zone A: $3.75 — reduced $2.75
- Zone AB (adds Laval and Longueuil): $170.00 monthly
- Zone ABC (northern and southern suburbs): $206.00 monthly
Older guides describe a different zone system. The whole structure was rebuilt on 1 July 2025 — if a guide talks about STM zones 1 and 2, it is out of date.
Week two: put your name down for French
Do this in month one even if you are not ready to start, because the queue is the slow part. A full-time course generally begins within 50 working days of your application. Part-time is about 70.
The courses are free. Full-time students also get a participation allowance of $230 a week. You need your social insurance number to claim it, which is the other reason to do that first.
We have written the francisation process up separately — who qualifies, what the allowances actually pay, and the trade-off between full-time and part-time.
Free help most people never use
Accompagnement Québec is a free government service that assigns you an actual person to help with settling — French courses, credential recognition, finding work. You are eligible with a CSQ, a CAQ, or an IRCC client number, and you register through the Arrima platform. Agents even meet eligible arrivals at Montréal-Trudeau.
The city has its own list of free community organisations for housing and job help, and its libraries, parks and recreation programmes are open regardless of your immigration status. 211 reaches community services; 811 is the health line for anything that is not an emergency.
One thing to remember
Almost nothing on this list is urgent in the way it feels urgent. The two that genuinely are: apply for the social insurance number in your first week, and get private health insurance before you land. Everything else can be done in the order that suits your week.
