Opening Wealthsimple as a newcomer or international student.

Who can open an account, in the provider’s own words

The eligibility page lists four conditions. You must live in Canada “as a Canadian citizen or with a valid Canadian visa.” You must be the age of majority where you live: 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan; 19 in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut and Yukon. You need a valid Social Insurance Number, which Wealthsimple says it requires for CRA tax reporting and for a soft credit check used in identity verification. And you must verify a phone number; Canadian and U.S. numbers are accepted at signup.

Nothing in that list names a permit type. A study permit holder, a work permit holder and a permanent resident all fit “valid Canadian visa” as long as they live here. The page is equally clear about the opposite case: Wealthsimple is not licensed to hold accounts for people living outside Canada, including Canadian citizens abroad. Residency is about where you live, not where you were born or where you travel.

Two practical wrinkles. The Chequing account page asks for a Canadian phone number specifically, and since July 2025 the referral bonus is only paid into a Chequing account, so a U.S. number that works for signup is not enough for the payout. And the referral terms add that an invitation to the promotion “does not provide assurance that you will be accepted as a customer.” Eligibility and acceptance are different steps.

The SIN that starts with a 9

Service Canada issues temporary residents a SIN that always begins with 9 and expires on the same date as the work permit, study permit or visitor record. When a new permit arrives with a new expiry date, or when status changes, say from temporary resident to permanent resident, the SIN record has to be updated. If the permit extension is still pending, you keep working on the expired number under maintained status. Service Canada’s update page says the number stays the same unless your status changes.

What does Wealthsimple say about a 9-series SIN? Nothing specific, and that is the honest answer. The eligibility page asks for a valid SIN and stops there. Its SIN troubleshooting article says that because the number is tied to tax reporting, a changed SIN will prompt a request for supporting documents, and the profile update page lists what counts: a T4, a notice of assessment, the SIN letter, a CRA document or a My Service Canada Account PDF. Third-party blogs claim Wealthsimple accepts 9-series numbers and later asks for a permit; those reports are anecdotal and are not repeated here as fact. If your number is about to expire, the practical move is to extend it with Service Canada first and keep the confirmation.

One CRA note belongs here. If Service Canada cannot issue a SIN, the CRA can issue a temporary tax number for filing. The CRA newcomers page describes it, but Wealthsimple’s page asks for a SIN, so a temporary tax number is a filing tool rather than an account-opening substitute.

Identity checks when you have no credit file yet

The first identity check is invisible: a soft inquiry with a credit reporting agency. The verification article explains that when your credit history is too short, or there is no file at all, which is normal for someone who arrived this year, the app asks for a selfie and a photo of government ID. Accepted Canadian documents include a driver’s licence, passport, permanent resident card, Secure Certificate of Indian Status, certain provincial health cards and provincial photo ID, none of them expired.

Newcomers often hold none of those yet. The same article offers an alternative route: a clear picture of a foreign passport or a U.S. driver’s licence, plus one supporting document as a PDF dated within six months that shows your name and the address on your profile, such as a Canadian bank or credit card statement, a CRA notice of assessment, a T4 or a Canadian utility bill. Study and work permits are not on either list, so plan around the passport.

There is a catch that matters for this website’s topic. The verification page says that for crypto withdrawals, credit card applications and promotional payouts, verification via alternative documents is not applicable; a selfie and government-issued photo ID are required. A referral bonus is a promotional payout. Opening with a foreign passport and a bank statement may be fine; receiving the $25 may still need Canadian photo ID. A provincial photo ID card is usually the quickest document to obtain.

Registered-account room starts when you do

Opening a TFSA takes a minute. Knowing how much you can put in takes a date. The CRA’s TFSA opening page requires residency for income tax purposes, age 18 or older and a valid SIN, and says a new resident’s room “only begins to accumulate in your year of residency.” Years before arrival do not count, and neither do years before you turned 18. In provinces where the contract age is 19, the room for the year you turned 18 is kept; you simply open the account a year later.

Residency for tax purposes is the key phrase, and the CRA newcomers page separates it from immigration status: for most people it starts the first day they live in Canada, and holders of study and work permits can be tax residents. That is good news for room, and it also means the obligations arrive with it.

The FHSA rules add a first-time-buyer test: no principal residence owned in Canada this year or the previous four, age 18 to 71, resident, SIN on file. Wealthsimple’s marketing copy says “anywhere in the world,” but the CRA’s test is a qualifying home located in Canada, so a flat you still own abroad does not disqualify you on that page. The RRSP deduction limit is 18 per cent of the previous year’s earned income up to the annual cap, and the CRA only knows your figure from a filed Canadian return. In your first year the RRSP room on record is usually zero.

A fictional first year

Dev arrives in Halifax on a study permit in August, receives a 9-series SIN in September, opens a Wealthsimple Chequing account and funds it from a Canadian bank account in October. He is 20, so Nova Scotia’s age of 19 is met. His TFSA room for this year is the full annual limit, because he became a resident this year and is over 18, but nothing from earlier years. He has no RRSP room until he files a return showing earned income. The referral funding and the TFSA room are two separate counts; $100 of external money satisfies the first, and the annual limit governs the second.

If you leave Canada later

Students and temporary workers often do. Wealthsimple’s travel and residency article follows CIRO guidance: residency is based on where you live, not where you travel, and if you move outside Canada you must notify them, which may mean closing the account. A summer at home is travel; a permanent move is not.

The CRA side is specific for a TFSA. On the non-resident TFSA page, you can keep an existing TFSA and withdraw from it without Canadian tax, but no new room accrues in non-resident years, and any contribution made while non-resident is taxed at one per cent for each month it stays in the account. An FHSA cannot make a qualifying home withdrawal while you are non-resident. None of that changes a referral bonus already paid, but the 180-day hold on the bonus is still a provider condition to keep in mind before closing anything.

U.S. citizens and green-card holders living in Canada can open accounts, sign a W-9 and, as Wealthsimple’s dual-citizenship article notes, are often advised to avoid TFSAs because of U.S. tax treatment. That is a cross-border question for a professional, not for a referral guide.

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