Hi, I'm Wendy Huang.

I moved to Vancouver in 2025 on a work permit and settled in Richmond, and I lived through every confusing step of a Canadian first year: lining up for a SIN at the Sinclair Centre, opening a bank account with no Canadian credit history (and learning the hard way which banks handle incoming transfers well and which don't), exchanging my Taiwan driver's licence for a BC one, bridging the MSP coverage gap with private insurance, and filing my first tax return in a system I didn't fully understand yet.

Canadian Newcomer Hub exists because the existing resources fall into two buckets: glossy government PDFs that don't answer real questions, and bank landing pages that just want you to sign up. Neither tells you the order to do things in, what nobody warns you about, or how to avoid the mistakes I made.

What I write about

• First 30 days: SIN, bank, phone, health card, driver's licence — the right order matters.
• Credit & banking for newcomers: from zero Canadian credit history to 750+.
• Vancouver-specific: renting without credit, ICBC, MSP, neighborhoods, settlement agencies.
• Your first tax year: T1 returns as a newcomer, TFSA/RRSP rules, CCB, GST/HST credit.
• 繁中內容: 中文新移民專屬主題(中港台稅務、海外資產申報、文化適應)。

How this site is funded

Reader-first, always. When I recommend a bank or credit card, it's because I've compared the alternatives — not because of an affiliate kickback. Some links on the site are affiliate links (which earn this site a small commission at no cost to you), and they're all disclosed. Read the full disclosure.

You'll never see display ads on our comparison or recommendation pages — those stay clean so the advice is never shaped by ad revenue. Some informational guides may carry a small number of ads to help keep the site running.

Get in touch

Question, correction, or topic request? Email me directly: wendy.huang.0813@gmail.com, or connect with me on LinkedIn.