Can you be a non-resident permanent resident/citizen.

[Sandy]

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is a Canadian permanent resident. We are currently living and working in the China. We have no physical ties to Canada - we don't maintain a residence, no income, no property, no children living in Canada, etc.

I have a 3 part question.

a. Is it possible for me to be a non-resident citizen, will that affect my wife's permanent resident issue.

b. If so, do I need to pay Canadian taxes?

If we were non-resident Canadian citizens, I know we would not pay Canadian taxes, but the issue is confused by the permanent resident issue. Above all else, we don't want my wife to lose her permanent residency.


Thanks in advance.

[kene]

Hello,

you will find that it's Time dependant. I too am a Canadian Citizen, born in BC, however when i returned for a 1 month visit, i was told to change my embarkation card from Resident to Visitor, which of course - changed my customs allowance. This was because i was actually "visiting" canada, would not be working in Canada, and had return tickets to Bangladesh. What's ironic is that i DID have an apartment and had been paying rent the entire time i was away - i was out of the country for 21 months.

You need to be a non-resident for 2 years before you are tax free, and then you will be tax free from the time you left the country. But double check! i've found it extremely difficult to get any help with my taxes while living abroad, and getting confirmed, accurate information about my current tax situation from Revenue Canada is harder than getting grape juice from a mango. In fact, i spoke with the High commissioner in Bangladesh and she too finds it difficult to get her taxes sorted out. Honestly, i have no idea what to do about the whole situation, i have contacted Revenue Canada by phone, and spoken to them, and they don't even know what to do, and to speak to a tax accountant, which hasn't been much help either. H&R block are totally hopeless, so if you find a decent tax accountant to help you, please let me know!

From everything we've been told, permanent residence means exactly that - permanent. You do not need to be in the country to keep your status. My wife is applying for permanent residence, but the problem is, we need to prove that we intend to reside in Canada, since we don't - it's difficult to prove. Thus our plan is to live in Canada after getting her PR status for 2 years (hopefully then she can apply for citizenship. both our countries recognize dual citizenship) then return to Bangladesh, it will actually make travel elsewhere easier for my wife to have a Canadian passport, as sadly, a Bangladesh passport isn't well received anywhere.

She will probably need to have a "Canadian Residence Card" to get back into Canada, so if you don't have that, you might want to go talk to the Canadian embassy in China and get that sorted out, i know people who have lived in Canada most of their lives, are married in Canada, have Canadian children, and have been told NOT to leave the country without that card.

most of what i know is from personal experience, and not official. Double check everything to be on the safe side. And i would love to know what you learn, as it'll help me too.

[synthette]

Hi Guys.
The tax situation is complex! Try to get an expat accountant in Toronto or Vancouver - an ordinary CPA won't "get it" at all - plus, you'll get clobbered with tax on your income from anywhere in the world (unless the country you live/work in has a reciprocal agreement.

Re Residency and Citizenship - you need to have been a Permanent Resident for 3 yrs out of the previous 4 before you are eligible for citizenship (unless things changed in the past few months) - also, citizenship can take between 4 months and 2 years for processing - took me 16 months, and I'm a Brit, but that was when they had a huge backlog last year.
You should be able to travel anywhere on a Permanent Resident card, so long as your country of origin passport is in order. The only difference between a PR and a Citizen basically is that you can't vote. Whoopee doo. A PR card can't be 'removed' in the same way that a 'green card' can.

[Bradish]

Taxes.as long as you have no significant ties (house, dependant kids etc) then you can have the tax department declare you as a non-resident for taxation purposes. You would have to minimize your social (clubs etc) and financial ties but some accounts are ok, international/national medical insurance from an insurance company adds to the evidence that you have severed your ties to Canada. There is a form available from the tax department that you can fill in and return. The tax department will then issue a certificate of non-residence for taxation purposes (or maybe not) and that provides certainty in this respect, BUT the certificate is not a requirement. Any canadian investments may attract a non-resident tax (NRT) such as on dividends and this is taken off by the investment broker (at source) and thus tax has been deemed to have been paid in full on those earnings.