Commuting from the US

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CDNFlyer
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Commuting from the US

Post by CDNFlyer »

Over the years I have met commuters on my flights who were living full time in the US (Florida, Phoenix, Vegas), and flying for Canadian carriers. While I should’ve picked their brains at the time, it has become more and more of an interesting prospect to me lately. So just reaching out to anyone who is or has done this, and the logistics behind it. As a Canadian can you legally just live in another country full time without being employed there. How does it work tax wise.

I’ll also open this up to anyone living in countries other than the US and commuting to Canada.

Thanks!
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digits_
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Re: Commuting from the US

Post by digits_ »

CDNFlyer wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:35 am As a Canadian can you legally just live in another country full time without being employed there. How does it work tax wise.

I’ll also open this up to anyone living in countries other than the US and commuting to Canada.

That mainly depends on the immigration rules of the country you want to live in. There is no one answer.
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Stinky
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Re: Commuting from the US

Post by Stinky »

You can’t live in the U.S full time without legal status. There are some circumstances where you can be legal to live in the US but not eligible to work if the visa doesn’t permit it.

The guys you met may have been dual citizens or gained status through their spouse. I did it for a while and you definitely save on taxes. You also need US health insurance because you won’t be eligible for Canadian health care.

I’ve known several people who commuted to their “home” in the US but in fact it was more of a snowbird type deal. You definitely need to be careful with that though because living in the US while admitted as a visitor can get you in some serious trouble.
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Dronepiper
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Re: Commuting from the US

Post by Dronepiper »

My question is why!!?!?!?!??? You know Canadian Carriers treat us like dogshit compared to our American counterparts? Have you ever seen the pay scale of an American legacy carrier?
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JBI
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Re: Commuting from the US

Post by JBI »

I did this for 4 years while my wife worked in the US. Now we're back in Canada.

I was able to obtain a visa through my wife (L2) who had a Visa through her work (L1A). I would not have been able to live there full-time without this Visa. I did it because it made sense financially from a family perspective (even though in my own case it cost more than just living in Canada full-time).

As previously mentioned, some exist as snowbirds. Very roughly (and look into it further), you can spend 6 months in the US without being considered a resident for tax purposes (it's a more complex formula that also considers previous years as well). When you live in one country but work in another tax-wise it's a real pain in the ass. Thankfully in our case part of the ex-pat package for my wife included tax services.

In some circumstances it can work great, but it's not as easy as just moving to a different province in Canada.
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