Yesterday I went to scotia bank and opened a power chequing account. The reason why i opened an account with scotia is that they have a global ATM alliance with Bank of America and i have a bank of america account in U.S. The power chequing account is available to all new immigrants to alberta. For the first year scotia will not charge any fee for any number of transactions a month. Transactions can be any ATM withdrawal, Debit/Credit card transactions, Online bill payments etc. From second year onwards if you exceed more than 15 transactions they charge you $3.95, if you fail to maintain an average balance of $ 1500 every month. Since I am a provisional Nominee, the bank manager approved a credit card for $ 1000.
My next stop was at Registries plus Inc where i filled in paperwork for my Alberta Health Insurance and for Alberta Driver insurance. The lady at Registry told me that she will issue me a Class 5 GDL probationary driver licence only, since my driving record from florida is less 2 years. I told her that i am driving for the last 6 years ( in different U.S States) but she was adamant and asked me to bring a certified copy of my virginia driving record (which has 3 years record on it) and get a regular Class 5 driving licence. So folks, make sure you have more than 2 years driving record before you exchange U.S driver licence for Alberta driver licence.
srini