Job Discussion Forums

[melisssssa]

Hi! after a minorly long haul, i�m heading out of mexico for good and was wondering if anyone has a checklist about this.

-i called migration and you have to give them a letter requesting to leave, return your FM3 and they give you another forma migratoria allowing you to exit the country (since i of course no longer have my original tourist card).

-clear everything tax wise with SAT/hacienda, of course

Anything else i�m missing?

-Also, with respect to taxes: I did my Declaraci�n anual in April but upon return to Canada i�ll need to file taxes there and declare all the activity and rvenue here. I�m having my Declaraci�n translated to English; but has anyone else dealt with this in Canada? I�m somewhat in the dark here.

big thanks m*

[ls650]

I moved back from Mexico to Canada last July, after teaching overseas for four years.

It was a very straight-forward process to file taxes. I went to a Liberty Tax Services office (I imagine H&R Block would work fine as well) last February with my T4s for the jobs I'd had since July. I told the person doing my taxes about my situation. I was treated similar to an immigrant: I had to disclose my income for the first six months of 2007. I just gave them an estimate of my income in dollars, and that I had paid income tax on that to the Mexican government. I only had to pay taxes on the income earned in Canada since July, but of course I lost the base tax credit for the first six months of the year since I had not been a resident in Canada at that time.

I should mention that I sent a letter to Revenue Canada back in April 2004 to declare myself a non-resident of Canada. If you didn't do that, than maybe things will be different for you.

My tax return had to be filed on paper rather than electronically - this is done for all immigrants. That was back in February, and I finally received my income tax return in mid-April. The government seemed happy with the tax return I'd submitted via Liberty, and that seems to be the end of it.

[Snowmeow]

It would be nice to be able to simply declare ourselves non-residents, unfortunately that determination is not up to us.

Welcome home

[ls650]

[hlamb]

For those of you without health insurance in Canada, do you buy some kind of coverage when you return home, just in case? I've used manulife the few times I've returned home on holiday, but wonder if you have any other experience.

[Samantha]

That's a very good idea. There is a waiting period to get back into "the system".

[ls650]

Depends on the province. When I returned to BC, I had to wait three months before I was covered.

[Snowmeow]

The waiting period can potentially be avoided if some paperwork is done prior to leaving

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/ohip/travel.html

http://www.forms.ssb.gov.on.ca/mbs/ssb/forms/ssbforms.nsf/TierResults?Openform&SRT=T&MAX=5&ENV=WWE&STR=1&TAB=TIERFORM&TTYP=1&TIER1=7&TIER2=1&TIER3=1

[Samantha]

As LS650 says, each province does it's own thing when it comes to health care coverages and they are quite different. Obviously OHIP is only for Ontario residents.

[hlamb]

I did look into this before leaving and the only way I could keep my eligibility for BC was to keep substantial property or belongings in the province (a bunch of junk stored at my parents' place doesn't count) and to keep paying the premiums. Even with all that, I would receive no coverage while out of the country so I decided to drop it and deal with the three month wait whenever I decide to return.

[Oreen Scott]

I did some investigating on this matter - the key words are "residential ties." For me, I've decided to keep residential ties in Canada. I believe this is a personal decision.

Every month my CPP and company pensions will be deposited into my Canadian bank account. I intend to leave my investments in a Canadian bank. I will maintain a Canadian residential address, it is simply a place to store a few possession and a place that gives me a permanent address.


I'm also going to keep a fairly large sum in an emergency fund, just in case an earthquake, tornado, war. . .whatever occurrs wherever I happen to be and I need money to get home fast.

Home will remain Canada, although when I leave I have no idea when I will return. I will be, very shortly, a Canadian expat.

All of this means paying taxes in two countries.

[Oreen Scott]

Thought I should add, as I've mentioned a few times on this forum, my personal choice is to buy ex-pat health insurance, it's expensive, but in my opinion, worth it.

Larger centres, such as Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary will have insurance agents with expertise regarding ex-pat health insurance.