CANUCK CONSIDERATIONS?

[Scott7022]

Hello my northern snow monkey brethren, and sisters. (notice how English plurals make little sense?) 

While I have not yet returned to my homeland I will be, hopefully, sooner than later,  and setting off on the next adventure. What concerns or issues do we as Canadian van dwellers face? 

It has been a while but I think the longest we can stay in country is six months? After that there is a tax issue? Has anything changed? Russian newspapers are all over deportation and ICE stuff here. How much of it is reality I don't know. 

Medical Insurance? 

Does anybody store their rig, leave the country, (reseting time in country) and then return and carry on? Is this possible legally? I have family in California so I was thinking about flying out of LAX and parking the rig, coming back through Vancouver and reinsure the rig return with fresh plates and carry on with the adventure. 

I know we are a small minority here, and I wanted to make a space for us to share. NON CANUCKs can join in as well. 

Welcome, and pass the Maple Syrup, and back bacon eh?

 

[bullfrog]

It amazes me people let so many laws be made then fear they will be enforced which with so many laws they seldom are.

 

[TrainChaser]

Any law that makes money tends to be enforced.

 

[eoewan]

I've done the research as a Canadian. We can leave Canada and not change our residency as long as it is 6 months less a day. We must be in Canada for 6 months plus a day. Taxation does not change, health care does not change, etc. All you have to have in Canada to state it as your residency is a vehicle which can be considered your residency.

Come next spring I will be full timing in an RV. I will head south into Arizona every October and return every April. I keep my residency as Canada. I will get extra medical insurance here in Canada under the travel insurance.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

The Border Guide by Keats. Worth its weight in gold.
Slightly better than heresay on a forum.

 

[slynne]

How does that Border Guide go?

La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
By Keats
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.

O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The Canadian immigration system,
May not be too much fun.

I see a maple leaf on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever-dew,
And over thy cheeks a fading touque
Fast withereth too.

I met a lady in the customs line,
Full beautiful—a Trudeau’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild because as always it was freaking “Hockey Night”.

I made single payer health insurance for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan

I set her on my pacing steed/van,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.

 

[Willy]

Traveling to the USA from Canada also necessitates buying medical insurance (at least in BC). ..Willy.

 

[Almost There]

As a senior I have to spend 6 months in Canada to keep my OAS (Old Age Security) intact. I also must stay in BC for 5 months of the year to keep my BC Health Care intact. Each province sets their own time limit, Ontario was 6 months for example. What each province pays for emergency health care out of province and out of country differs so premiums vary by province and your health status (also by company). Ontario, quite truthfullysucked in that they would only pay $400. Cdn towards ANY hospital bed in the US. I choose to carry out of country health insurance to top up the difference. I was also advised to increase my liability limits on my auto insurance for the time I am in the US because 1 million Cdn only translates to less than $800 G in the US and would expose me unnecessarily to a larger risk if I caused an accident in the US.

If I didn't want to collect OAS and could afford to live off my own private pension and what Canada Pension I'm entitled to, I could go live on a beach in Costa Rica or anywhere else for that matter. CPP is payable anywhere in the world with some qualifications You would not qualify for any provinces' health insurance so you would either have to do without or find insurance in the country of residency - cost unknown. I would also be subject to visitor regulations of whatever country I want to live in or visit. Some you're only welcome for 6 months of a year and some like you to stay and spend your money in their country.

Since you've been absent from Canada from what I gather is extensive periods of time you  may not be able to qualify for OAS anyways. I barely squeaked through after being absent for 14 years. If you were employed by a Cdn firm you may be exempt from some of their rules. you'd have to ask them, the rule book doesn't seem to be available anywhere...

As for income taxes, the US wants to tax based on worldwide income. As a Cdn who spends 5 to 6 months a year there I have to file a 'Closer Connection to Country of Origin' form with the IRS detailing, well, my closer connection to Canada... Where I get my income, where I bank, where my place of residency is, if I own US property, where my vehicles are registered all goes to prove to them that I am not having to pay the US anything. I wouldn't owe them anything anyways because Cdn taxes are higher than the US but it's easier to just fill out their damned form than it is to argue with them!

Just ask if they're anything I've forgotten...been at this a long time and mostly  have it figured out.

 

[Scott7022]

Thanks for the words of advice. Kinda, connects with what I already knew.Still good stuff. Yeah BC over insurance is a scam. I don't why people put up with it. Quebecers don't. They are a little more feisty. OAS I will never see as a Retired Fed. LEO I am pensioned already and will get CCP when old enough but not OAS. Still a good thread for info not just for me. But other SNOW BIRDS in rigs atypical of a snow bird.