Dear Bird Talk, Inadvertently, I have done something really stupid. I made an honest mistake muddling up my days spent in the U.S. for 2013 and only now realize that I was in the U.S. for more than my allotted 182 days…by six days (188). Am I the first idiot to have ever done this? […]

Dear Bird Talk, I recently read a newspaper article supposedly written by a U.S. immigration lawyer that states that, when snowbirds like ourselves spend time in the U.S., if we take a trip to another country from the U.S. and are gone for fewer than 30 days, when we calculate our six months’ time period, […]

Dear Bird Talk, I wish to warn our fellow travellers about the “speed trap” just before the Canadian border at Gananoque in New York state. The speed sign shows 65 mph then, very soon after, it drops to 40 mph with no warning (i.e. “reduced speed ahead”). I was pulled over last year and given […]

Dear Bird Talk, With the new Canada/U.S. border-crossing procedures, the issue of days spent in the U.S. is becoming more and more troublesome for many of us. It recently occurred to me that if you have used up most of your 182 days’ entitlement and you are still in the U.S., and a medical problem […]

Dear Bird Talk, My wife and I go to Florida each year; I have a question concerning owning a weapon in the United States. Over the years, we have made a lot of good American friends and all of them own guns for their personal protection. (Stand your Ground) They are very surprised that we […]

Dear Bird Talk, Recently, the Financial Post printed an article about the plan, as of June of this year, to share information as to when Canadians enter the United States and when we return to Canada. “As of June 30, travellers will be required to swipe passports both when they enter and when they depart […]

Dear Bird Talk, On page 50 of “The CSA Travel Information Guide” 2011 Edition, it says, “Typical work that may not be performed includes: In a condominium, mobile home or manufactured home community, receiving “cash” or reduced/free rent and/or maintenance fees for the season in exchange for: Park office clerical duties Park grounds maintenance Park […]

Dear Bird Talk, I recently received a newsletter from Moody’s Gartner stating that the proposed “snowbird visa” legislation to increase the amount of time which snowbirds can spend in the U.S. is a potential “tax bomb,” as the “day count” for the purposes of the snowbird visa is different than the day count for tax […]

Dear Bird Talk, Each of the provincial health plans, even the “generous ones,” threaten their citizens with cancellation of their provincial health-care plan should they dare absent themselves from the province for longer than some bureaucratically set period of time. I suggest that such a draconian punishment for temporarily abandoning one’s province of residence for […]

Dear Bird Talk, I am pleased to inform you that we have received a full refund of the extra tax we had to pay because CRA originally rejected our Medipac travel insurance premium cost for the 2010 tax year. Thank you for all your help and good luck helping snowbirds in the future. Ann and […]