Originally Posted by jamar

I don't think there's much paperwork involved if you just want a prepaid card. If you want a full bank account, it's still really not too much work- fill out the form, give them your SSN for FATCA reporting purposes, and you get a bank account with UnionPay debit card. The selling point in Canada is that it's only got a fixed foreign ATM fee whereas most banks charge a fixed fee and 2.5%+ on top.

However, the only bank that issues them charges C$4 a month if you don't maintain a minimum C$1000 balance. It used to be completely free, but they changed that last year.