US-based applicants, let's connect here

[moose17]

Hey, the reason I have a US checking account with TD Bank is because they were offering some nice account opening bonuses last year.

Yes, I have facebook friends who are not to know about my Canada plans until after I am settled there. So for me, the more cryptic the title the better.

Jealous! I tried so hard to get that offer too. It would have about compensated for the cost of an IELTS!

The group will be secret so it won't show to anyone but I'll choose a vague name to be safe/in case we decide to change its privacy setting from secret to closed.

edit: It won't let me start the group without adding someone else. I can add by name (but seemingly only names I'm already friends with) or email. Any volunteers? You can PM me your email. Really, anyone who wants to join may as well go ahead and do so since that'll be the way to add people unless we change the privacy to closed, which I don't think will be as good (besides avoiding showing anyone that we've joined the group, I'm also considering the risk of trolls, so even with a closed group we'd probably want to cross-check people here and on fb to make sure they were active here and actually that person).

 

[trumprefugee]

Jealous! I tried so hard to get that offer too. It would have about compensated for the cost of an IELTS!

The group will be secret so it won't show to anyone but I'll choose a vague name to be safe/in case we decide to change its privacy setting from secret to closed.

Yes, that was a nice offer. I got $300, more than enough to cover IELTS fee. I also got the TD Cash credit card with the $150 bonus offer, which is still going on if you want to get it. There is no foreign transaction fee. I used it for my ECA. Those two bonuses were enough to cover IELTS, ECA, and passport photos.

Secret group sounds good, although note that it can be hard to add people to a secret group. I think you can only add people on your friends list. Perhaps you could make it Closed at first (which doesn't show up in our profiles, but people who come across the link or group will be able to send requests to join and see the membership list) and then turn it to Secret after most of us have joined.

 

[moose17]

Yes, that was a nice offer. I got $300, more than enough to cover IELTS fee. I also got the TD Cash credit card with the $150 bonus offer, which is still going on if you want to get it. There is no foreign transaction fee. I used it for my ECA. Those two bonuses were enough to cover IELTS, ECA, and passport photos.

Secret group sounds good, although note that it can be hard to add people to a secret group. I think you can only add people on your friends list. Perhaps you could make it Closed at first (which doesn't show up in our profiles, but people who come across the link or group will be able to send requests to join and see the membership list) and then turn it to Secret after most of us have joined.

Awww those numbers hurt

I checked and I can add non-friends by email (I'm an idiot, I could make it create the group by inviting my other profile by email lol) so as long as people are okay with PMing emails we can stick to that, or if others indicate they're okay with a closed group at least initially, I can change it to that, but I would want to confirm who's who by PM to keep trolls out.

 

[trumprefugee]

Awww those numbers hurt

I checked and I can add non-friends by email (I'm an idiot, I could make it create the group by inviting my other profile by email lol) so as long as people are okay with PMing emails we can stick to that, or if others indicate they're okay with a closed group at least initially, I can change it to that, but I would want to confirm who's who by PM to keep trolls out.

Sounds good. I wonder if you have to be a friend's friend to be invited by email though? I tried it with someone on the Toronto housing group and they weren't able to add me by email or name or facebook URL to a Secret group. So that group has remained Closed for now (at least it's big enough that it's somewhat hard to find people by name on the member list).

 

[moose17]

Sounds good. I wonder if you have to be a friend's friend to be invited by email though? I tried it with someone on the Toronto housing group and they weren't able to add me by email or name or facebook URL to a Secret group. So that group has remained Closed for now (at least it's big enough that it's somewhat hard to find people by name on the member list).

Oh weird. My alt profile is very separate from my real one (and my husband's, who I was also able to invite) so I don't know what facebook's up to with that.

 

[kynno]

TD Bank has that "American's most convenient Bank" slogan and yet, they don't have a location in Texas. Are there any other banks that have presence in both the US and Canada?

@moose17 I'm interested in the facebook and/or whatsapp group as well. Let me know what I need to do

 

[moose17]

TD Bank has that "American's most convenient Bank" slogan and yet, they don't have a location in Texas. Are there any other banks that have presence in both the US and Canada?

@moose17 I'm interested in the facebook and/or whatsapp group as well. Let me know what I need to do

RBC is in both countries too, though for TD and I believe RBC too, they're officially two separate companies so you have to open an account in each country separately. For TD, since they're not in your state you have to call them to set up the account. It's not bad at all, just don't waste your time like I did trying to get that special offer!

I tried the WhatsApp group and it didn't work for me either. Hopefully whoever started it can fix it (@oldenuf , do you know the situation with it?). For the facebook group, just PM me an email address and I can send an invite to it.

 

[mgnlky]

RBC is in both countries too, though for TD and I believe RBC too, they're officially two separate companies so you have to open an account in each country separately. For TD, since they're not in your state you have to call them to set up the account. It's not bad at all, just don't waste your time like I did trying to get that special offer!

I tried the WhatsApp group and it didn't work for me either. Hopefully whoever started it can fix it (@oldenuf , do you know the situation with it?). For the facebook group, just PM me an email address and I can send an invite to it.

RBC uses PNC branches for ATM deposits. RBC in the USA is known as RBC Georgia and sold their brick and mortar branches a few years ago (from what the Vancouver RBC branch explained to me). I've had RBC for 1 1/2 years now and like them. My only complaint is it seems they lock me out of my online account once a month and can't explain why.

 

[tjsecondtry]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Do let us know how it goes tomorrow. I also wonder what the interest rates are like on savings accounts (they are terrible in the US so I have online savings accounts) and if you can open Canadian bank accounts online. TD Bank also has a US presence, and I have a US checking account here. I wonder if it is easy to transfer funds between US and Canadian accounts if you have both at TD Bank and if they give you a good exchange rate?

I use the TD cross border banking. I can look up the rate they gave me a couple of days ago if you'd like. The convenience is incredible.

 

[tjsecondtry]

I use the TD cross border banking. I can look up the rate they gave me a couple of days ago if you'd like. The convenience is incredible.

The biggest downside I can see is that TD Canada doesn't offer free checking. They implied that banks in Canada don't. However, they do offer free student checking. So I'm covered for a while at least.

 

[sindhu.ari]

Hey everyone, glad I found this thread. Just love going through some of the posts here, especially since I can relate to it having gone through the same process. (think - FBI PCC and employment letter )
Me and my wife just received our passports last week from the NYC VAC office.
It has been an amazing journey, since we decided to go for the Express Entry program back Mid March.
I started using this forum once we submitted our documents on Sept 26th. Luckily, everything moved quickly for us.
Now I am here in the forum at least every other day, trying to answer questions and possibly helping out.

We are targeting to visit Toronto around Feb/Mar 2018 and thinking we'll go from there.

Hi, How were you able to change your visa office from Ottawa to NYC to send your passport? According to the PPR email, I am supposed to send my passport to Ottawa.

 

[moose17]

@tjsecondtry , what sites and facebook groups are you using for housing? I found a realtor who's promising but their listings seem to be pricier than some other places I've seen (but they include more so ? but it's intimidating possibly/probably not having jobs initially).

 

[trumprefugee]

@tjsecondtry , what sites and facebook groups are you using for housing? I found a realtor who's promising but their listings seem to be pricier than some other places I've seen (but they include more so ? but it's intimidating possibly/probably not having jobs initially).

I have heard that many Canadians use kijiji a lot, as well as craigslist and viewit. I have also heard that it is easier to find a sublet situation in the beginning when we don't have jobs or credit. I also recently joined a Toronto housing facebook group. You can PM me for the link. It would be nice to have some house hunting discussions.

 

[moose17]

I have heard that many Canadians use kijiji a lot, as well as craigslist and viewit. I have also heard that it is easier to find a sublet situation in the beginning when we don't have jobs or credit. I also recently joined a Toronto housing facebook group. You can PM me for the link. It would be nice to have some house hunting discussions.

Will do! I think I just need more info and feedback right now from more people familiar with the situation.

 

[trumprefugee]

FYI TD Bank is now offering a $200 bonus on its Cash Rewards credit card, better than the $150 I got last year:
https://www.tdbank.com/personalcreditcard/cashrewardscard.html?cm_sp=b000-00-3241-TNT

Not sure how long it will take to find and get approved for a Canadian credit card or get a bonus offer on one, but at least this one and a couple other US ones I got (with bonus offers) don't have foreign transaction fees. I'm thinking it's best to use a US credit card with no foreign transaction fee until I get a good Canadian credit card.