Travel

What to Know Before Moving to Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is among eastern Canada’s maritime regions, off to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The Island is notable for red sand beaches, farmland, lighthouses, seafood, and a simple lifestyle.

Prince Edward Island is the least populated region in Canada, making it a province where new immigrants are considerably prevented by the busy setting of Canada’s metropolitan municipalities. Prince Edward Island is notable for its peaceful and more private societies, and the region possesses a significantly reduced crime rate, making it a perfect location to live.

If you intend to live in Prince Edward Island or seek additional details concerning settling in the region, this article will summarize subjects from accommodation to taxation.

Accommodation

Because of the more significant aspect of Prince Edward Island’s small population of only 170,000+, the accommodation market in Prince Edward Island is relatively small. There are more than 64,000 accommodation assets all over the region.

Even though new immigrants to Canada often live in a province’s two or three most extensive Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs), Prince Edward Island has yet to have any Census Metropolitan Areas. Instead, Prince Edward Island possesses two census aggregations (CAs): the capital city of Charlottetown, with a population of more than 86,000, and Summerside, with a population a bit above 18,000.

In February 2022, the average lease for a one-bedroom flat in Charlottetown was $1,205. Most resources to assist you in discovering accommodation on Prince Edward Island have to do with the following:

  • The Government of Prince Edward Island
  • Immigrant and Refugees Services Association

Transportation

Statistics Canada demonstrates that more than 90 percent of residents in Prince Edward’s Island Census Agglomerations use a car, bus, or truck as their primary method of transportation. In Charlottetown, over 29,000 residents mainly use private vehicles to commute around the region. In Summerside, that number is more than 6,000 individuals.

You must acquire a Prince Edward Island driver certification to ride on Prince Edward Island. For your first four months as a new immigrant to Prince Edward Island, you may handle a motor car using your driver’s license acquired in your home nation. It is essential to understand that the provincial administration of Prince Edward Island and the national government of Canada recommend new immigrants to Canada to acquire an International Driving Permit while using their home nation’s driving permit in Canada.

After this month, new immigrants to Prince Edward Island are demanded to obtain a provincial driver’s certification. The procedures of acquiring a driver’s license in Prince Edward Island for the first period involve following the region’s three-year Graduated Driver Licensing Program, a condition before you will be allocated a Class 5 driver’s certification. Hence, the first stage in this procedure is obtaining an Instruction Driver’s Permit.

Prince Edward Island has fewer public transportation choices than other regions; hence, it still offers some public transportation choices to their societies. Public transportation in Prince Edward Island functions via T3 Transit, a bus system.

Employment

In Prince Edward Island, the three industries that hire the most individuals include:

  • The Healthcare and Social Assistance unit employs more than 9,000 individuals.
  • The Trade industry employs more than 12,000 residents of Prince Edward Island.
  • The Public Administration industry hires more than 9,000 individuals.

The Trade industry falls under a significant class of service-producing job sectors, which includes employment in retail trade and wholesale trade. The individuals operating in the public administration unit tend to get employed in jobs of a governmental nature at the national, regional, local, city, or provincial administrative level. Lastly, the healthcare and social assistance industry hires physicians, nurses, private care employees, and other cognitive and physical health professionals.

Healthcare

Healthcare all over Canada is financed via the universal healthcare structure, using public tax dollars. Once a new immigrant has settled in Prince Edward Island for over three months, they can obtain free healthcare with an accurate regional health card. The procedures for applying for a health card in Prince Edward Island involve using the online form or presenting a request, and all demanded documents to Prince Edward Island Medicare or any access PEI center.

An authentic provincial health card permits Canadians settling in any region or territory to access public health services in their province of residence for free while using. Hence, some drugs and therapies will need the recipient to make payment for the item or service out of pocket.

Education

In Prince Edward Island, children enter the compulsory aspect of the Canadian school system around the age of six when they start kindergarten. Your child may attend school for free by attending public schools from kindergarten to 12th grade.

Parents may send their kids to a private or independent boarding school, where tuition will be reimbursed out of pocket. The regional administration has offered this online resource to the masses, summarizing the region’s sketched curriculum for kindergarten students until grade 12.

Regarding post-graduation schools in Prince Edward Island, the region is a dwelling place for over 20 designated learning institutions in 13 varied municipalities all over the area.

Many of the designated learning institutions in Prince Edward Island provide programs that would permit a new immigrant to qualify for a post-graduation Work Permit. A post-graduation work permit is good for non-permanent residents, as it allows the holder of the permit to obtain work experience in Canada, which is beneficial when applying for permanent residence in Canada.

Taxation

Prince Edward Island’s sales surcharge on items and services is 15 percent. This is the region’s Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which merges Prince Edward Island’s Provincial Sales Tax (PST) of 10 percent with a Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5 percent.

Comparable to other regions and territories in Canada, revenue taxes in Prince Edward Island are based on the amount you earn in a provided tax year. Naturally, individuals with an increased yearly revenue will be reimbursed more in taxes to the administration during the tax period.

Newcomer Services

New immigrants in Prince Edward Island can use the region’s Immigrant and Refugees Services Association (IRSA), which offers new immigrant settlement services from pre-arrival until the new immigrant is prepared to take the Canadian citizenship exams.

211PEI is another service that supports new immigrants to Prince Edward Island to discover regional settlement resources. Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada offers residents administrative financed settlement services all over Canada. These services can support employment hunts, understanding English and French, or registering your kid in school.