There was a time when one could accomplish a lot of local government and necessary registrations, during a destination service.  Classic destination service bundles might reserve 1 or 2 days for home finding and 1 day for settling / local registrations.

In these good old days, it was possible (if planned well) to assist an assignee with Social Insurance Number registration, bank account opening, driver’s license exchange and health insurance registration. It would be tight and a busy day, but it was possible. This day was usually split in half: a half day was given to Social Insurance Number registration and bank account opening and later, after the home was selected, All Points could move onto health registration and driver’s license exchange (Note: we specifically note exchange here, as there are many countries that do not have reciprocal relationships with each destination province, so driver’s licensing is more cumbersome and complex than a straight exchange).

Well the days of a one day settling-in / local registration is no longer possible in much of Canada.  Services Canada offices are regularly having up to 6 hour waiting lines just to be able to process an assignee’s Social Insurance Number. All Points is warning assignees to be prepared for long wait times.

We should also say that since the pandemic wait times at all provincial government offices have gone up as well, although that situation has moderated somewhat lately.

However, something has to give. What we are requesting, under such circumstances is that clients give their DSP’s more time to complete settling-in.  We really only need another half-day to bring us back to the days of being able to help assignee get all critical local registration complete, so they can be productive at their job.