Return to Canada every 6 months?????

Hi there!

I've been living in Mexico for a year and a half and have been away from Vancouver for a year. I just recently went back for a vacation and had no problems with immigration or entering.

But I read somewhere on another forum that you had to return every six months if you want to maintain your citizenship. I'm a Canadian resident and dont think this applies to me...not to mention I file for taxes.....anyone have anymore info?

Hi, I think what you read is not true. We have been living abroad for 13 years and have MANY friends who still pay taxes, who are residents of Canada, and who have never had their citizenship threatened. I am not sure anything can take CITIZENSHIP away. We are non-resident and don't pay taxes, but that's because we don't own anything in Canada (we left after Graduate school and haven't ever own property or anything). Friends of ours who have been living abroad and choose to remain residents of Canada even though they don't live there are still undeniably Canadian. Check the source you read it from. I think it's really wrong.

Hello,

The only way that you can "lose" your Canadian citizenship is if for example you apply to be citizen of a country that doesn't allow dual citizenship. You have to request it from the government (that you renounce to your Canadien citizenship).

It does't matter how long you are out of the country and if you pay or not taxes ( I don't pay taxes because I have no source of income in Canada and I don't own a property there). I only pay my taxes in England.

I hope this helps !

Joanne

Joanne, you're right. Once you have Canadian citizenship you can't lose it by virtue of living somewhere else, only by renouncing. It is clear that the government can't take it away from you unless, as you say, you have dual citizenship issues where there is no reciprocal agreement to share citizenry.

Expatmich

Hello!
To keep you citizenship in Canada you just have to make sure its renewed every 5 years. As for taxes....ask an accountant.

Good Luck!
JLH

[quote="JLH"]Hello!
To keep you citizenship in Canada you just have to make sure its renewed every 5 years. As for taxes....ask an accountant.
Good Luck!
JLH[/quote]


Hi JLH,

I am not sure what you mean by renewing citizenship? I was born in Canada, and have been living outside of Canada for the last 13 years in a variety of countries. I am a 'non-resident' Canadian and don't pay taxes and I have never had to renew citizenship. I have always kept my passport so have had to renew it; is that what you mean by citizenship renewal? Because if you are living abroad you generally have to a have a passport for visa purposes so you would naturally keep your passport updated when it expires.

Expatmich

Hey!
Yes that is all that I mean. I was told before moving to Sweden that if I plan on living in Sweden for a duration that I would have to renew my passport every 5 years. That is all I meant!

tata

Okay, cool. I figured that's what you must have meant. Have you been paying Canadian taxes while you've beenin Sweden or have you declared non-residency status? We declared the moment we knew we were leaving Canada. 13 years ago it was relatively easy to do, and as long as we don't establish new ties to Canada, we should be fine. We don't have bank accounts or property, but we did keep our Ontario driver's licenses and we do have Canadian Life insurance, but we can argue those two things away. We have not once used the Ontario hospitalization plan when we were home and ill, but instead had international insurance through the CAA when we went home. And our SIN numbers have been inactive for the last 13 years as well, never having been quoted or used for anything. Any of our Canadian investments are for non-residents and our banking is done all offshore to keep it out of the hands of the Canadian government!

Expatmich

hey!
To be honest I have been back and forth to Sweden in the last year. I have not completely moved to Sweden (meaning giving up all ties to Canada-but could happen one day and you have provided me with some useful information indeed-thank you!) . I have a residency permit for Sweden and due for renewal this December and I hope to renew that forsure! We just haven't decided if I will go back for good or my boyfriend will come here one day!

Back again!
I have a question about declaring to be a non-resident? You were born and raised in Canada right? So you must have known that you were going to be away from Canada for more than 2 years when you decided to leave and declare that? How did you go about doing that as well? What are your rights as a non-resident? Red tape, red tape huh!

I was told by my accountant that I would have to pay taxes on money made overseas if I came back to Canada for good within 2 years.