Returning to Canada from the UK - any advice?

[Deleted]

So it looks like we are moving back to Canada sometime this year. We have been in the UK for 4 years.

Anyone have any advice or been through this? We are likely moving to BC and I've already looked up residency requirements for Medical Services Plan.

What about Canada Customs and duties/taxes on items we are bringing back? I'm wondering if we should really try to sell everything before moving back. We won't be shipping furniture but do have some household items - pots, pans, knives - that we brought over that I want to take back with us. What about the kids clothes/toys? We have very little left of what we brought with us so most of it was acquired in the UK.

Thought I would see if anyone could give me the Coles notes before I start Googling.

[Brit]

I didn't even think about this 'import' issue. Ugh. We shipped our furniture here, but we have bought a few things locally as stuff wore out or our needs changed. I hope we don't have to deal with that for our household goods. It will be a full container of stuff.

Watching closely to see what others say.

[Deleted]

Looks like if we have had it for 6 months we are fine to bring it back. Ugh - I hate moving!

[frlcb]

I can't speak for Canada but we didn't have to pay import duty on stuff when we moved back to the US from the UK, or if we did it was packaged in the cost of the movers (we had a container).

[loira]

Did I create another profile in my sleep? Lol. We're moving back to Canada from the UK this year too. Also to BC. We've been in the UK for 5 years now.

I've moved back after being abroad a couple of times. You should not have to pay any import duties to bring your personal belongings back with you. Honestly, I would try to sell most of your small household items. We're selling all of our kitchen stuff, and giving away a lot of books etc. We'll probably ship a couple of boxes ahead of our arrival (make sure you declare them to be personal belongings and of no value or they'll get taxed), but it will cost far more to ship this stuff than it will to buy new things in Canada.

As for BC healthcare, it depends. Are you transferring your residency from another province? If so, it's good to keep your provincial healthcare from the other province active, as BC requires 3 months' of residency before you can apply for BC healthcare. If you had declared yourself a non-resident, and are resuming residency in Canada, things might be different. I can't tell you more than that as I declared myself a non-resident for tax purposes only. I kept my permanent Canadian residency active.

Is your partner Canadian too? Mine is not, and currently does not have residency in Canada. This is a whole other problem that hopefully you won't have to face as we've delayed moving back for quite some time due to Canada's ridiculous family class immigration process.

[Deleted]

loira Woo hoo! Another person to chat to about this.

Yes, I am pretty sure we are selling most things and will not be shipping furniture or a lot of household goods. I am hoping to keep it to 10 boxes to ship back. We originally shipped 14 boxes here and I think the cost was $886 CDN. I'm wondering if I should bother with a removals company and just go straight to UPS or another courier company.

Residency: we left BC when we moved to the UK and stopped paying our MSP premiums right after we left. I checked and there is a 2-3 month wait to get back on MSP. Sounds like it is very important to apply as soon as you get back in the province. I'm guessing we'll have to get a travel policy to cover us during the gap.

My partner is Canadian but two of my three kids only have British passports right now. It takes a ridiculous amount of time, something like up to 18 months, to get citizenship cards for children born abroad. I've been trying to look up if this will be a problem when we return. Do you have any links to family class emigration info?

[loira]

@bandwife, family class visas will be of no use to you because they are for family members who have no claim to citizenship. In any case, it's also a process that can take up to 18 months so even if you tried it, you wouldn't save any time. I can't believe it takes so long to get your children their citizenship after being born abroad. Good thing they at least have their British passports, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to travel. That's nuts! What if you give birth abroad, your visa expires, and you have to bring your 2 month old baby home to Canada? This was something H and I were looking at last year, but we lost our baby at 24 weeks so I haven't done any further investigation. I'm sorry I don't have better advice.

I just kept paying my MSPs, so my healthcare remains active. We'll have to get a travel plan for H though...

[Deleted]

loira Just emailed the Canadian High Commission for advice on our situation with our two not yet Canadians.

More bad news: if we stay past when DH's job ends he needs to apply for a spousal for him and our oldest. £1000. To stay for 2-3 months. Yikes.

[loira]

Feb 2, 2015 9:36:32 GMT -5 @bandwife said:

loira Just emailed the Canadian High Commission for advice on our situation with our two not yet Canadians.

More bad news: if we stay past when DH's job ends he needs to apply for a spousal for him and our oldest. £1000. To stay for 2-3 months. Yikes.

Ugh, we're in this situation now. We just forked over 800£ to the Home Office to renew our visas even though we're only going to be here another 3 months. It was necessary though, as our visas expired mid-January.

Good luck with the High Commission!