After you get permanent residence

It arrives within about one to three months of landing. Confirm the mailing address IRCC has for you — a card sent to an old address is a long problem to fix.

If your Social Insurance Number starts with 9 it was issued to a temporary resident. Apply for a permanent number with your new status documents.

Update your OHIP record at a ServiceOntario centre with your COPR or PR card. If you were insured as a temporary resident, this keeps your coverage from lapsing when your old documents expire.

The Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit — the GST/HST credit's new name since July 2026 — need an application in your first year here, and a tax return every year after that, even with no income.

Ontario licenses the regulated professions and skilled trades provincially, and the process can take years. Start with the province's guide to working in your profession or trade — an ECA for immigration isn't a licence to practise.

TFSA room starts building from the year you become a resident for tax purposes, from age 18. RRSP room is different — it comes from earned income you reported the year before, so your first year here usually generates none. An RESP has no annual room, just a lifetime cap per child.

No more work permits tied to an employer, and no study permit for school. You can take any job, in any province, and move for a better one whenever you like.

As a permanent resident living in Canada you can sponsor a spouse, common-law partner or dependent children. Parents and grandparents have their own program, with a limited, invitation-based intake.

IRCC-funded language classes, job help and form help stay free for you until the day you become a citizen. Most people stop using them years too early.

You need 730 days in Canada in every rolling five-year period, or you can lose the status — not just the card. Some time abroad counts, but only in narrow cases, such as accompanying a Canadian spouse or working for a Canadian employer.

The card expires; the status doesn't. Renewal isn't automatic, and you generally can't board a flight to Canada on an expired card — you would need a permanent resident travel document instead.

Most applicants need 1,095 days physically in Canada within the five years before applying. Keep a running record of every trip out — reconstructing it years later is the hardest part of the application.

You can't vote or run for office, some jobs needing high-level security clearance stay closed, and a serious criminal conviction can end the status. Citizenship is what removes those limits.