Get an Ontario health card (OHIP)
Apply in person at ServiceOntario with three original documents. There's no longer a waiting period: if you're eligible, coverage starts right away.
When you add it, it asks one thing: Whose card. Your answers only go into your copy.
The steps
- 10 min
Step 1: Check Whose card can get OHIP
Ontario has to be the main home, with at least 153 days in Ontario in any 12 months and 153 of the first 183 days after moving here. Citizens, permanent residents and some work-permit holders qualify; the page lists the rest.
- 20 min
Step 2: Gather three original documents for Whose card
One for citizenship or immigration status (PR card, for example), one for living in Ontario (a lease, or an Ontario driver's licence), one for identity (a passport). Originals only: photocopies aren't accepted.
- 45 min
Step 3: Go to a ServiceOntario centre with Whose card
OHIP applications are in person only.
Step 4: Wait for the card in the mail
Coverage doesn't wait for the card: if you're eligible, it starts when you're approved.
Written by people who have done it, not by Helg or any government. Check the official sites before you pay for anything.