IEC permit to Canada: Travelling as a couple and/or with kids

Whether it’s a planned pregnancy or a surprise side effect of living in Canada, here’s what you should know if you’re going to give birth away from home.

Insurance, pregnancy costs and hospital birth fees

IEC permit health insurance

As an IEC permit holder, you must have purchased health insurance coverage before coming to Canada to have gained your permit.

The bad news is most travel health insurance does not cover prenatal care and childbirth. If, by any chance, yours does, read the fine print carefully to see what your plan includes. Coverage is often very limited—for instance, emergency medical care arising from complications may be covered but a typical childbirth may not be.

So, the first thing on your list should be to find proper health insurance coverage. “Regular” childbirth is expensive and any complications could lead to bills that would take hundreds of years to pay off—an Australian couple without insurance coverage faced a CA$1-million hospital bill after their baby was born in British Columbia.

Health insurance plans for pregnant women are generally much more expensive. Watch for waiting periods—maternity-related expenses are sometimes only covered for six or nine months after the effective date of the policy.

Note that you will often have to pay all bills upfront and then submit a claim for reimbursement.

Provincial or territorial health insurance

Don’t expect to be covered by the Canadian provincial or territorial healthcare system. In some provinces (e.g. Quebec), you’re ineligible as a temporary resident. In the best-case scenario, there’s a mandatory waiting period for coverage, or you must have been working in Canada for a certain period of time to be eligible.

If you do have health coverage in Canada, prenatal and childbirth will be “free” (or mostly free) as long as care is provided by eligible practitioners in a public hospital.

Note that it’s still a good idea to have a separate health insurance plan covering repatriation, even if you have provincial or territorial coverage.

Prenatal care: an example

Provinces and territories have exclusive jurisdiction over health matters, so expect differences throughout Canada. We’re using Ontario as one example.

Prenatal care in Ontario

Prenatal and birth care may be provided by an obstetrician, family physician or registered midwife. Some nurse practitioners and registered nurses do prenatal and postnatal care, also.

Working Holiday permit holders aren’t usually covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Good news: midwifery services throughout pregnancy, birth, and postnatal (up to six weeks) are provided free to residents of Ontario, whether or not they have OHIP. However, without OHIP, some medical services aren’t covered (e.g., hospital stay, lab tests, ambulance, etc.). For more info, see Ontario Prenatal Education. Routine urine and blood tests can be done by midwives, who send them to a laboratory. Each test costs around CA$30.

Midwives can handle prenatal care and birth and labour for low-risk pregnancies. However, high-risk pregnancies are referred to an ob-gyn. In this case, unless you’re covered under OHIP, you will have to pay for all expenses.

Settlement.org has a lot of relevant information, including:

• How do I find a midwife?
• How much does it cost to get care from a midwife?
• Giving Birth in a New Land — A Guide for Women New to Canada and Their Families

Giving birth

Don’t freak out, it will be okay!

Choosing a birth place in Ontario

Choosing where to give birth is an important decision during pregnancy… ideally, before labour starts!

These are your options in Ontario:

• Birth centre, i.e. a free-standing, community-based, regulated healthcare facility attended by midwives.
• Home birth, a fairly common option for regular pregnancies (i.e. not high-risk pregnancies) in Canada, also attended by midwives. Home birth is a safe and cheaper solution (you will only pay for medical equipment needed, a few hundred dollars). In case of complications, you will be transferred immediately to the nearest hospital under the care of an ob-gyn (which will lead to a higher bill…).
• Hospital birth, usually the closest one to the midwife clinic (if prenatal care was provided by a midwife). Labour and delivery fees vary for patients not covered under OHIP—budget minimum CA$5,000-$10,000 for a regular birth, and much more for a C-section or other medical care.

Some midwives may help you negotiate the costs and payment plans for hospital and doctor care.

For more information, read Midwifery in Ontario.

Citizenship, health coverage, birth certificate and passport

Canadian nationality law

Canada is one of the few countries that gives automatic citizenship to a kid born in Canada, even if the parents aren’t Canadian citizens.

However, having a new Canadian family member doesn’t give you any special immigration rights. It doesn’t make it easier or faster to apply for permanent residence, for instance. And you still have to leave Canada (… with your child!) at the end of your IEC permit.

Health coverage

Your newborn may not be covered by the provincial or territorial healthcare system, e.g. Quebec doesn’t cover newborns if the parents aren’t eligible under the RAMQ, but Ontario and Alberta may offer coverage under certain conditions. Check with your provincial or territorial healthcare system.

Registering a birth in your home country

Contact your local embassy or consulate.

Registering a birth in Canada

Birth registration is essential. The process is fairly straightforward but it varies depending on the province or territory. Follow the links in the table below for detailed info.

The following step is to ask for a birth certificate. You usually have to pay a fee (around CA$25-$30) and it takes up to a month to receive it. Keep it in a safe place! It’s difficult and costly to get another copy. The document looks like the one that will be given to you at the hospital, but on thicker paper with an official seal. This is your proof that your baby is a Canadian citizen.

Getting a passport

Taking the baby on a trip to meet the grandparents? You need a passport! Chances are a Canadian passport will be faster to get than a passport from your home country.

However, getting a Canadian passport isn’t that easy either. For instance, you must find a guarantor to sign the application and one of the passport photos. The guarantor must have known you (the parent or legal guardian who is applying on behalf of the child) personally for at least two years and must have knowledge of the child. This can be tricky for newcomers who haven’t been in Canada that long. If you give the name of foreign guarantors, expect a long delay (i.e. several months).

Read How to apply for a child’s passport for more info.