My question is: Canadian-specific
QUESTION: I'm a U.S. citizen who wants to buy a house in Ontario to retire.
What are the requirements regarding; taxes?, length of stay?, can I use my
own US health insurance in Canada?
Thanks.
RXXXXXXXX
===================================
david ingram replies
This has been the most popular question asked lately and I hate to answer it
again but it bears repeating.
You can NOT - I repeat can NOT just retire to Canada and conversely, a
Canadian can NOT just retire to the US.
If you maintain a home in the USA, you can buy a place in Ontario and use it
as a seasonal residence. i.e you could spend six months in Canada in the
summer and six months in the USA in the winter. If you wanted to come as a
business investor and have a net worth of $1,000,000 free of any
encumbrances, you could likely come as an investor but you are "supposed" to
be coming to work and that route is taking 12 to 18 months right now.
If you have contributed to US Social Security for the past ten years, most
of your US medical would work in Canada. If you have not contributed for
all of the last ten years, your US medical will NOT work in Canada.
(looking for any help a US consultant wants to add here by the way because I
get conflicting reports of can and can't).
I am including a reply from former Canadian Consul in Seattle, Don Cameron.
([email protected]) His comments are relevant.
---------------------
David,
When I was the Consul & Immigration Program Manager of the Canadian
Consulate General in Seattle this was the most common inquiry from
Americans - but usually not until they had had a rude reception at the truck
crossing when they pulled up with all their worldly goods in a Ryder truck!
My American locally-engaged employees were even more shocked than we
Canadians at the assumption on the part of many of their fellow citizens
that they could move to Canada as simply as they could to Arkansas.
One of our most successful ripostes in the spirited debate that often took
place during these inquiries was that U.S. immigration law did not permit
Canadians to do in the U.S. what these Americans wanted to do in Canada.
As a consultant I have also handled this inquiry and it has been my
experience that the enthusiasm for living in Canada among wealthy Americans
usually does NOT extend to spending the money required to qualify in the
Investor class. I had the same observation as a Consul.
Cheers,
Don
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