Six months vs seven months outside the province
Posted date : Dec 15, 2017.
Dear Bird Talk,
I recently heard that the six-month rule was changed to seven months. Is this true? I also heard that nine months is in the works. Is this true?
Also, for how long can I winter in the U.S. and not lose my Canadian pension?
Winston Sharkey
Cambridge, ON
Response:
Ed: Just to recap, most Canadian provinces now allow you to be outside of the province for seven months without losing your health-care benefits; Ontario is one of them. Newfoundland currently allows you to travel for nine months…the only province to do so. Unfortunately, the United States will only allow you to stay for six months, so you just can’t go to Florida or Arizona for the full seven months. CSA is very close to having the U.S. extend our stays to EIGHT months with a Snowbird Visa, but that is not yet fully resolved.
As to losing your pension because you travel – I have never heard of that in Canada and highly doubt that it is correct. This assumes that it is a Canadian pension. You should be able to live in the U.S. forever and still maintain your Canadian pension. There would be some withholding taxes applied, usually 15%. Other countries can have very different rules for what we call “ex-pats.”
