Moving to Canada from the US - question about renting an apartment

TD Canada Trust has branches in the US. Is there one nearby that you can open an account? Here we have the option of having a US dollar account, I assume you would also have the option the the States to have a Canadian dollar account. You can then write a cheque from that account (landlords would recognise the TD name on the cheque as we only have four or five banks up here). Cheques are becoming old-fashioned, interact email transfers are relatively common, so that is another option. You could also get a money order from a bank for a small fee (you would need to know the landlords name and the amount first). Can he set up a bank account while he is there? Do you have friends you can use as a mail drop? You need to bring the permit/proof of status and a passport to open the account.

We dealt with this a while ago, so things may have changed. It's normal in Canada (or at least it was normal in Ontario several years ago) for renters to give their landlords the whole year of rent in post-dated checks at the start of the term. Just a heads up on that, since it was astonishing to me. (On preview, "Interac" is Canadian for "debit card" and it is much more widely used than in the US.) When we moved, it wasn't possible to open a Canadian bank account until you had your SIN number, which we couldn't get until we had an address in the country. So, paradox. I think in our case our landlord was willing to work with us, but I think the second option is cash (or cashier's check or money order) and a signed receipt from the landlord saying they have accepted the cash from you. The receipt is your way of tracing it. Also, side notes that may prove useful: the border guards don't all know what a "post doc" is, so be sure you bring a letter from the new university describing the job as one that requires a PhD and be sure you bring documentation that you have a PhD. (It makes a difference to which immigration category you're in, and eg what kind of work visa your husband will be eligible for.) If they mess up, get your university to intervene to correct it. Also when we moved, they expected that when entering the country with our moving truck, we would have an itemized list of everything we were bringing into the country (itemized like "tv worth $x, ten boxes of books worth $y") nominally so they could check we were bringing it all back out again - so we could avoid paying import duties on everything. They checked on the way in but not on the way out IIRC.

About 10 years ago I had a long-distance girlfriend in Canada. I was sick of paying exchange fees and foreign ATM fees and the likes. I opened up a US resident account (in Canadian dollars -- it's possible to open a US dollar account) at Royal Bank of Canada, using my US address. No SIN required, but I did have to give my SSN. I'd bring American cash to an RBC branch in Canada, deposit it in my account, put my ATM card into the ATM just outside, and out popped Canadian dollars. I closed the account in 2006 when the relationship ended, so things may be different now up there in Canada. Pro Tip: TD Bank has many branches in the US and is based in Canada (it stands for Toronto Dominion).

I can't help with the rental market (other than suggest subletting?), but for the bank problem, would a cashiers check go over better?

I moved money the other way and my lack of planning made it a nightmare. Even wire-transfer charges are downright usurious and can take weeks to clear. Open a bank account.

It's tricky but not impossible to open a bank account before you have an address. You can get a mail box from somewhere like a UPS store and use that as your address to open up the bank account. I moved to Canada from the US in 2005 and got opened bank account before I had an address. (But if possible use a credit union instead of one of the big national banks, they're better in just about every way) You could always just give one of the banks a call now and see exactly what you need to do to open up an account. Beyond that, there's not really any reason not to use cash for a security deposit. You don't give the landlord a deposit before you've signed the lease and signing the lease indicates you gave them the deposit. So once you signed the lease, what are they really going to do? Take the cash and then claim you didn't give it to them and ask for another deposit? If they're really going to do that, you sure as hell don't want them as your landlord. Heh, I'm guessing you're moving to Vancouver, aren't you? If so, the rental scene isn't as bad as it sounds like it's been made out to be. It ain't a breeze by any means, but it's not crazy. Do learn to refresh Craigslist like mad though that (that applies to Toronto as well, maybe less so with Montreal)

Is there some reason you can't ask the landlord to provide a receipt proving that you paid them? In my experience someone doing legitimate business is usually happy to provide a receipt (and understands that you have a perfectly reasonable motivation for asking for one.) Someone who can't, or won't, provide a paper trail for that kind of exchange is probably someone with whom you should think twice about dealing.

One thing to note: In Canada, rental law varies from province to province, so you'll want to research your rights and obligations as a tenant for the specific city you're moving to. In Quebec, for instance, deposits are illegal, although out-of-province students at McGill often get conned into paying them.

Thanks everyone for the help. I'll look into both TD and RBC and try to get accounts in US and Canadian funds. When I was researching this before, every bank I looked at required an SIN and a Canadian address both of which I don't have yet. Also, my husband is going to continue to be paid in US funds, so having an account where we can access that money easily in Canada will come in very handy. I feel a bit scared to give someone around $4000 in cash for a deposit and first month rent (Alberta allows deposits, but that is good to know that some provinces don't allow them!) and perhaps get screwed out of our place. I don't want something like http://globalnews.ca/news/893238/rental-scam-leaves-dozens-homeless/ to happen to us. Thank you again!