Before you start

A passport valid well beyond the intended stay
A job offer, and for many employer-specific permits a Labour Market Impact Assessment obtained by the employer
For permanent residence, language test results and an Educational Credential Assessment
For federal employment, citizenship for most postings plus security screening

Step-by-step

1
Establish which permit you actually hold
An employer-specific work permit ties you to one employer and one role — changing jobs means a new permit. Open permits, including the Post-Graduation Work Permit and most spousal permits, do not. Read the conditions printed on the permit itself.
OnlineWho: You
2
Apply for a Social Insurance Number in your first week
Free, from Service Canada, with your passport and permit. In person it is usually issued on the spot. No employer can pay you without it.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
3
Be realistic about federal public service eligibility
The Public Service Employment Act gives preference to Canadian citizens, and many postings are open to citizens only. Permanent residents can apply to some. Almost all require security screening. Treat the private and contractor sector as the realistic entry point until citizenship.
OnlineWho: You
4
Enter the Express Entry pool if permanent residence is the goal
Express Entry ranks candidates on age, education, language and Canadian work experience. French ability adds points under the federal system, which is worth noting in a bilingual city. You can be in the pool while on a work permit.
OnlineWho: You
5
Check the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program streams
Ontario runs streams for skilled workers, in-demand occupations, employer job offers and international graduates. A provincial nomination adds a decisive block of points to an Express Entry profile.
OnlineWho: You
6
Keep every record of physical presence in Canada
The permanent resident residency obligation and the citizenship physical-presence requirement are counted in days across several years. In this city citizenship also unlocks a whole employment market, so the log has a second purpose here.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Work permit or Confirmation of Permanent Residence
Job offer letter and LMIA, where applicable
Language test results in English and, valuably here, French
Educational Credential Assessment
A record of every entry to and exit from Canada

Things most newcomers don’t know

In the city where government is the biggest employer, most government jobs need citizenship.

The Public Service Employment Act gives preference to Canadian citizens, and a large share of advertised positions are restricted to them outright. Permanent residents qualify for fewer than the job boards imply. Newcomers move to Ottawa expecting the public service to be the obvious employer and discover the restriction after applying. Plan around the technology sector, the contractors and the universities until citizenship.

Source: Public Service Commission of Canada

Security screening takes months, and it needs history you may not have yet.

Even the baseline Reliability status requires verifiable address, employment and background history, typically over several years. Someone who has been in Canada for eighteen months has a thin file to verify, and overseas checks slow it further. This is a real, structural barrier to federal and defence-contractor work in the first years, and it is worth knowing before turning down other offers.

Source: Government of Canada

French adds points to your Express Entry score and promotions to your Ottawa career.

The federal system awards additional points for French proficiency, and Canada has been running French-language category draws with substantially lower cut-offs than the general pool. Separately, a large proportion of federal positions here are classified bilingual imperative, tested before appointment. In no other Canadian city does the same language investment pay twice like this.

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Keep a day-by-day travel log from the moment you land.

Both the PR residency obligation and the citizenship physical-presence requirement are counted in days and assessed retrospectively. Passport stamps are incomplete and land crossings often unstamped. In Ottawa, where citizenship also unlocks the largest local employer, a delayed citizenship application because of an unprovable presence record has a career cost as well as an administrative one.

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Common mistakes to avoid

Planning a move around federal public service jobs that are restricted to citizens.
Underestimating how long security screening takes and turning down other offers.
Working for anyone other than the employer named on an employer-specific permit.
Ignoring French, which pays twice here — in points and in promotions.
Failing to log physical presence and delaying the citizenship that unlocks the job market.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.