Can a US citizen retire in Montreal?

Question

Also who are the T&CS Immigration Professionals?

My husband is retired but I am not. We have considered Montreal as a place for retirement. When we visited earlier this year, we feel in love with all of the culture and beauty of the city. We both know that french is the spoken language as well as english. We are both prepared to learn the language and culture and plan to adapt to it. We are both from the east coast but have found a move back (from the west coast) would be very expensive move due to the cost of living in the places we have considered in the states on the east coast.

Answer 1

Yes, you can. Some of these responses make it out to be harder than it really is. Becoming a permanent resident of Canada does NOT affect your US pensions or IRA's or 401k's or your money period. No it doesn't affect your social security either if you live in Canada. Look on http://cic.gc.ca
to answer all your questions.

Answer 2

As long as you remain a US citizen (without acquiring Candian citizenship) you can retire anywhere there is a comparable tax treaty in effect.

Note that you will be taxed at the CANADIAN rate on WORLDWIDE income (which happens to run about 50% for incomes over 50k in Canadian dollars). There will be NO 'tax refund' issued becuase you are a citizen of another country ... in effect, you are expecting to utilize the Canadian hospital system for health issues.

The reason you cannot change your citizenship is that you would then lose all rights to your US pensions - including anything coming out of a 401k other than a single one-time lump sum payment. Roth plans cannot be drawn from if you are not in the US and are not a US citizen. Social Security will not be paid to non-US citizens (including those with dual citizenship) ... and MAY not be available to those outside the country.

You would need to show that you have sufficient funds ALREADY in a Canadian bank to cover the costs of your stay in Canada ... since you're staying indefinitely, this means your total retirement package as a lump sum.

In short - you can do it, but be sure to check out all the potential tax and health care issues (from BOTH sides of the border!) before making up your mind. You may find it better to retire somewhere on the US side where you can still make the trip to Montreal fairly easily.

Answer 3

I believe CanTexan is completely wrong about losing one's pension rights. I have a plus 65 American lover and he has no trouble getting his money, although it is sent to an American P.O. Box.

The main problem for you (and it is not much of one) is that Canada in general and Quebec (which must independently approve any immigrants to that province) do not look kindly on older Americans applying for permanent residency or citizenship lest they use our free health system without having paid into it.
This is overcome by your becoming "seasonal residents" which requires your return to the States at least once every 6 months, and by keeping your American health insurance policies.

Yes Montreal is a wonderful place and exciting and vibrant and lacking for the most part

Answer 4

if you can show that you can support yuorself on your pension/IRA/SS/whatever, then yes. But expect to show a lot of proof and to fill out a lot of paperwork.