Retiring in Canada as a US citizen

[mauserfan]

Hi all,
My question is this: Can my wife and I permanently reside in Ontario after we retire? We would purchase a home and have no US residence. Is it best to do this as a US resident (and keep US health care) or look at other options? Our retirement account worth would be in the range of $750,000 USD. Planning for about 7 years down the road. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi all,
My question is this: Can my wife and I permanently reside in Ontario after we retire? We would purchase a home and have no US residence. Is it best to do this as a US resident (and keep US health care) or look at other options? Our retirement account worth would be in the range of $750,000 USD. Planning for about 7 years down the road. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Quick answer is no, you can't permanently reside in Canada if you are US citizens and don't hold PR in Canada. You can only "visit" Canada. Usually each time you cross the border you get a 6-month visitor status. When that is up, you can apply to extend the status for another 6 or 12 months.

At any renewal application, if an immigration officer thinks you are living in Canada even though you only have visitor status, they can deny your extension and deport you from the country. Similarly if you try to cross the border, a border officer can deny you entry and ban you from Canada for 1 year if they think you are trying to live here.

In order to truly retire here, you will need to get PR status first. If you don't have a family member that can sponsor you, or if you don't qualify as a skilled worker, there is really nothing you could do.

Else you can do what many Canadians do in retirement... which is split time each year between Canada and someplace like Florida.

 

[mauserfan]

Thank you very much for the clarification. It is appreciated. Mauser

 

[Leon]

You could call yourself seasonal residents and spend up to 6 months a year in Canada. Immigration can refuse to let you enter if they think you are going to overstay but many older people do this. You would however never qualify for health care in Canada. You would have to keep your insurance in the US.

One couple on the forum decided for one of them to apply for a student visa in order to legally live in Canada. They even found a college in BC that caters to older students. If one were to do a 2 year course and then work for 1 year in a skilled position, they would qualify to apply for PR for themselves and their spouse.

There are of course other ways to immigrate too. You can look into it. However, if you get PR now, you would have to meet the residency obligation of staying in Canada at least 730 days in any 5 year period.