SIM card for newcomers to Canada
Order a Canadian SIM or eSIM before you fly and your number is live when you land — no credit check, no contract, and no deposit. For a move measured in years rather than weeks, that number is the one you will still be handing out long after you have unpacked.
- No credit check to order
- No contract or setup fee
- Keep the same number
- eSIM or posted SIM
Is this page for you?
- You have confirmation of permanent residence, or a family or PR-track visa, and a flight booked in the next few months
- You are moving for good, not visiting — so you want a number you can still be using in three years
- You want to give a Canadian number to a bank, a landlord, or an employer while you are still overseas
- You have no Canadian credit history and no Canadian address yet
- You would rather sort your phone out before you fly than on your first jet-lagged morning
If this is not you: visiting for under a month? A 30-day prepaid plan is cheaper and simpler — see SIM cards for tourists. Already living in Canada with a credit history? A regular Canadian carrier contract will usually beat these pre-arrival rates over a long term, and you should compare in-market offers instead.
What actually goes wrong without a Canadian number
The problem is not being offline for a few hours. It is that a permanent move front-loads a stack of appointments into your first two weeks, and most of them want a phone number they can call back.
Appointments stall
Banks, landlords, and licence offices generally want a local callback number on the form. Giving a foreign number tends to mean a follow-up you never receive.
Codes go to the wrong SIM
Every account you open starts sending verification texts. If they are going to a number you are about to stop paying for, you will be locked out later.
You start over in a month
A temporary tourist SIM means re-giving a new number to every bank, employer, and school you already told — the exact admin you were trying to avoid.
Which plan is right for a newcomer to Canada
Choose a monthly postpaid plan. You are staying for years, and the prepaid plans run out after 30 or 90 days and have to be bought again — which is fine for a trip and wrong for a move. Of the two monthly plans, take the Rogers one if you will not have home internet immediately, and the Fido one if you will.
Unlimited Data · 5G
Rogers · Postpaid
$40
Monthly · postpaid — $80/mo if purchased in Canada
- 100 GB at up to 250 Mbps, then unlimited at reduced speed
- Hotspot included — covers a laptop before home internet arrives
- Unlimited Canada-wide calling and texts
- 1,000 minutes to Bangladesh, China, India, Mexico and the UK
- Postpaid, no contract — payment due 20 days after activation
50GB · 5G
Fido · Postpaid
$30
Monthly · postpaid — $60/mo if purchased in Canada
- 50 GB on Fido 5G
- No hotspot — fine once you have home broadband
- Unlimited Canada-wide calling and texts
- 1,000 minutes to the same five countries
- Postpaid, no contract — $10/mo less than the Rogers plan
Prepaid or postpaid — what the words mean here
Prepaid means you pay for a fixed block of time up front — 30 or 90 days — and when it runs out, service stops until you buy another. Nothing can surprise you on a bill, but nothing continues on its own either.
Postpaid means you use the plan first and pay afterwards, month after month, with no end date. In Canada this normally involves a credit check, and newcomers without a credit file are often asked for a deposit. That is the part worth knowing: these postpaid plans require no credit check and no Canadian credit history, and payment is not due until 20 days after your line activates. There is no contract, so leaving costs nothing — you contact support and stop.
We do not publish a claim about these plans building a Canadian credit history, because we have not confirmed whether payments are reported to Canadian credit bureaus. If building credit matters to you, ask a bank about a secured credit card instead — that is the route newcomers are usually pointed to.
| Your situation | Take this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Staying in a hotel or with family first | Rogers, 100 GB | Hotspot covers your laptop until home internet is installed. |
| Moving straight into a place with broadband | Fido, 50 GB | Most of your data moves to wifi, so you are paying for headroom you will not use. |
| Calling family in India, the UK, Mexico, China or Bangladesh | Either monthly plan | Both include the same 1,000 international minutes to those five countries. |
| Arriving alone, then bringing family in later | Rogers, 100 GB | Hotspot and the larger allowance carry the video calls until they arrive. |
| Not sure yet | Rogers, 100 GB | Neither plan has a contract, so starting larger and moving down later costs nothing. |
Plans available to newcomers, side by side
The 90-day prepaid plan is included for completeness. It is the only prepaid option long enough to be worth a newcomer's attention, and it is still a worse fit than either monthly plan for a permanent move.
| Unlimited Data (Rogers) | 50 GB (Fido) | 150 GB (chatr) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data | 100 GB at up to 250 Mbps, then reduced speed | 50 GB | 150 GB, then reduced speed |
| Network | Rogers 5G | Fido 5G | chatr 4G LTE |
| Calls | Unlimited Canada-wide | Unlimited Canada-wide | Unlimited Canada-wide |
| Texts | Unlimited local and international SMS | Unlimited local and international SMS | Unlimited Canada, US and international |
| International minutes | 1,000 min to 5 countries | 1,000 min to 5 countries | Not included |
| Canadian number | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hotspot | Included | Not included | Not included |
| Term | Monthly, no contract | Monthly, no contract | 90 days, then re-buy |
| Billing | Postpaid | Postpaid | Prepaid |
| Activation | Up to 24 h before you land | Up to 24 h before you land | Up to 24 h before you land |
| Price | $40/mo | $30/mo | $75 per 90 days |
Your four honest options, compared
Ordering before you fly is not automatically the right answer. Here is what each route actually costs you.
Ordering before you fly
GoodYour number is live when you land, at pre-arrival pricing, with no credit check and no deposit.
CatchYou have to decide a few days early, and you need a device that is carrier unlocked.
Roaming on your home plan
GoodNothing to set up. Your existing number keeps working the day you arrive.
CatchYou have a foreign number, so Canadian banks and landlords cannot easily reach you, and daily roaming rates add up fast over a move.
Buying at the airport
GoodYou can walk up without planning ahead, and you leave with a Canadian number the same day.
CatchYou queue after a long flight, pay walk-up prices, and cannot give anyone your number in advance.
A data-only travel eSIM
GoodCheap, instant, and fine for maps and messaging apps in your first days.
CatchNo Canadian phone number at all, so no SMS codes from Canadian services and nobody can call you.
How it works, start to finish
Pick a monthly plan
For a settlement stay, choose one of the two monthly postpaid plans. You can change plans later at any time — there is no contract to break.
Order with your passport and PR document
Fill in the order form and upload your passport and your permanent residence document. No payment is taken at this stage.
Choose eSIM or a posted SIM
An eSIM QR code is emailed to you once your documents are checked. A physical SIM is posted to a Canadian address you give us — your own, a relative's, or the place you are staying first.
Your line activates before you land
We activate the number up to 24 hours before the arrival date you gave us, so it is generally working when you switch your phone off airplane mode. Postpaid billing does not start until activation, and payment is not due until 20 days after that.
One timing rule matters more than the rest: activation is tied to the arrival date you enter at checkout, not to the day you order. Give us the right flight date and your number goes live around 24 hours before you touch down. If your flight changes, tell support before the old date passes.
Will my phone work in Canada?
Two things have to be true. First, your phone must be carrier unlocked — not tied to the operator you bought it from at home. If you bought it outright it probably is; if it came with a contract or an instalment plan, it may not be, and your home carrier is the only one who can unlock it. Do that before you fly, because it is far harder from another continent.
Second, if you want the eSIM rather than a posted card, your phone has to support eSIM. Most flagship and mid-range phones from the last few years do. The quickest check on iPhone is Settings → General → About, looking for an EID number; on Android, look for “Add eSIM” or “Download SIM” under mobile network settings. Our guide to eSIM in Canada walks through installation screen by screen.
If your phone is dual-SIM, you can keep your home number active alongside the Canadian one for a while. Newcomers usually want that for the first month or two, while banks and family back home are still texting the old number.
Your first month of Canadian phone admin
A new number is not the goal — getting through the settlement paperwork is. Here is roughly how the phone side of a first month plays out, and what to do at each stage. For the official checklist of what else to arrange, the Government of Canada publishes settlement guidance for new immigrants.
Week one — get reachable
Put your Canadian number on the forms you will be filling in constantly: bank appointment, driver licence exchange, health card, school registration. A local number saves you re-explaining a foreign country code at every counter.
Week two — hook up two-factor
Once accounts start opening, SMS codes start arriving. Switch two-factor authentication over from your old number before you stop using your home SIM, not after.
Week three — check your real data use
Home internet usually lands around now, and your mobile data use drops. That is the moment to see whether 100 GB was right or whether the 50 GB plan covers you.
Week four — decide what stays
Keep your home-country SIM only if you still need it for a bank or a family account. Dual-SIM phones let you run both without carrying two handsets.
On keeping the number: there is no fixed term on either monthly plan, so the number does not expire on a renewal date. If you later move to a different Canadian carrier entirely, number portability between carriers is a right protected under the CRTC Wireless Code— but confirm the mechanics with our support team before you order if you already know you plan to switch.
On family lines: there is no published multi-line discount, so partners and older children each need their own plan. That is worth budgeting for now rather than discovering at checkout.
If something goes wrong on arrival
The realistic failure case is landing and finding no signal — usually an unlocked-phone problem or an arrival date that changed. Both are fixable, and both are faster to fix if you contact us before you fly rather than from the arrivals hall.
Canada office
+1 778-682-3771
Surrey, British Columbia
Bangladesh office
+880 1410 611690
Dhaka
Email reaches the same team as either phone line. If you are arriving outside our office hours, send the email before you board — it will be waiting when the team opens rather than starting the clock when you land.
Newcomer SIM questions
Can I keep this Canadian number long term?
Yes. The number stays yours for as long as your plan is active, and there is no fixed term to expire. Both monthly plans are postpaid with no contract, so you keep the same number month after month without re-buying anything or being pushed onto a new number.
What happens when my first month ends?
Nothing changes automatically. A postpaid monthly plan simply continues into the next month at the same price, and your number stays live. There is no fixed term, so there is no renewal date to miss and no penalty for stopping — you cancel by contacting support whenever you want.
Do I need a Canadian address to order?
Not for an eSIM. The QR code goes to your email, so you can order and install it from your home country. You only need a Canadian address if you want a physical SIM posted, and it does not have to be your own — a relative's home or the address you are staying at first both work.
Can I get a plan without Canadian credit history?
Yes. No credit check is run and no Canadian credit history is required to order, including on the monthly postpaid plans. That is the main practical difference from walking into a carrier store after you land, where a deposit is often asked for from customers with no credit file.
Can I add lines for my family?
Each line is ordered separately, and there is no published multi-line or family discount. If you are moving with a partner or children who need their own numbers, order a plan per person — or contact support first and ask what can be done for several lines at once.
What if I move to another city after I arrive?
Your number and plan move with you. Canadian mobile numbers are not tied to a city, and both monthly plans include unlimited Canada-wide calling, so moving from one province to another does not change your bill or require a new SIM. Check coverage for the specific area you are moving to before you rely on it.
Can I port my Canadian number to another carrier later?
Number portability between Canadian carriers is a regulated right, but the practical steps and timing for a number issued through us are worth confirming with support before you order if you already know you will switch. We would rather you ask than assume.
Is the price on this page the price forever?
The monthly price is the pre-arrival rate confirmed with you at checkout, and it is what applies to your order. Prices published on the site can change for new orders, so treat the figure you are given at checkout as the one that counts, not the one you saw weeks earlier.
What if I want to switch from Rogers to the cheaper Fido plan?
You can change plans at any time by contacting support, because neither plan has a contract. Newcomers commonly start on the larger plan while they have no home internet, then move down once broadband is installed. Ask before your next billing month starts so the change lines up cleanly.
Do I have to pay when I place the order?
No. The order form collects your details and documents only — no payment is taken at that point. For the monthly postpaid plans, payment is not due until 20 days after your line is activated, which means you have landed and used the service before anything is owed.