Documents and IDs: what to get and what to protect
Steps, in order
- Keep your passport, confirmation of permanent residence or permits, and any letters from IRCC together. Do not send originals to anyone who asks by email or phone.
- Apply for a SIN (see the first-two-weeks section) and, if you need one, a provincial photo ID card.
- If you plan to drive, check your province's rules on exchanging a foreign licence and on the graduated licensing system. Some provinces exchange licences from certain countries directly; others require a road test.
- Never share your SIN, bank login details, or photos of your identity documents with people who contact you first. Government agencies in Canada do not ask for these by text message or by threatening phone calls.
Rules differ by province: Driver's licences and photo ID cards are provincial or territorial. The steps are similar everywhere — an application, identity documents, and a test for driving — but fees, classes, and exchange rules for foreign licences differ by province. Start at your province's official site (below), then follow its links to health, driving, tenancy or schools — never assume one national rule.
Province official sites — start here
- British Columbia — official site
- Alberta — official site
- Saskatchewan — official site
- Manitoba — official site
- Ontario — official site
- Quebec — official site
- New Brunswick — official site
- Nova Scotia — official site
- Prince Edward Island — official site
- Newfoundland and Labrador — official site
- Yukon — official site
- Northwest Territories — official site
- Nunavut — official site
Official & finder links
Check before you act: No single national URL for driver's licence exchange was verified for this draft; the page must link to each province's licensing authority at build time, or to a single verified provincial index page.
General information only — not legal or financial advice. Rules, benefit amounts and local services change. Use the official or finder links above to confirm details before acting. No local addresses or phone numbers are listed here on purpose — use the national finders above for your area.