My in-laws live in Florida and there are a lot of Canadian “snowbirds” (Florida-speak for people who winter there, and go back north (US or Canada) for the summers; their upstairs neighbors are from Québec.
From what they said, the law is something like: can’t be outside Québec (or Canada in general?) for more than 6 months or you lose your access to the provincial health system.
Someone retiring in the US who’d worked here long enough to have access to Medicare would, well, have access to Medicare. A Canadian wishing to move here permanently post-retirement would have to figure out some alternative (not sure you can even buy “regular” medical insurance after age 65).
From one of my relatives - the secret is to marry a US citizen. Apparently the tax treaties are very convenient. For example, there’s an $8000(?) taxable income exemption if you’re over 65, applicable to Canadian income even if you live in sthe USA. He’s also eligible for Medicare there.
Not sure where the “you can’t cross the border” thing comes from. As a Canadian citizen, you can always get into Canada.
The US customs might look at your past history in/out of the USA and stop you from coming in again. Once you’ve been denied entry, you’r pretty much screwed, it’s a LOT of paperwork depending on what the customs people do or say. But that’s going into the USA. While the Canadian customs might (will!) record your entry time and that info is available to the US, I’m not aware that they actively nail US visit time violators.
I have heard of people on both sides getting harrassed and deported for exceeding that 180 days at a time.
yes, if you exceed 6 months you are no longer a resident eligible for health care, but that’s a provincial thing, not a Federal government issue. I assume the Canadian customs will make leave and return records available for any investigations.
I knew of one fellow (uncle of a friend) who had a stroke in Arizona. They found him lying in his bed paralyzed. Since he had neglected to get health insurance, his friends bundled hm into the back seat, drove non-stop for the Canadian border; once there, they took him to a hospital. Several acquaintances have had their snowbird plans interrupted when they had medical problems - one lady had a minor heart issue, and had to wait 2 years with no issues before she could afford the (private insurance) coverage to go out of the country.
There was an article about how there were several hundred thousand people from Canada in the Arizona area over winter - when hockey teams from Calgary, Edmonton, or Vancouver play the Phoenix Coyotes, the usually deserted arena is full of fans.
I’m not denying there would be a process. I would be surprised if there wasn’t. My understanding was that it is very easy to do, inclusive of application process.
I know for example that young Brits, Ozzies, Kiwis and Canadians, can travel and work in various commonwealth countries without problems. Young Brits taking a year to go around the world in this manner is common. Hong Kong used to be one of the destinations, but that ended in '97.
Only a 1 or two year working holiday visa and only before you are 30. You can also get ancestry visas, eg an Australian with one British grandparent can get a 4 year UK Visa. After that you have to go through the normal immigration procedure and it’s a points system.
Australia/NZ do however have retirement visas, most countries do, it seems the US is a bit of an odd country out, that doesn’t offer one.
Canada has work permits (1 year?) for various countries. I know I heard a lot of ANZ accents from the workers in the Rockies ski resorts. I assumed they were hired to translate for the Australian tourists. IIRC in NZ and Australia young people visiting could get those sorts of visas too; to allow backpackers to stop and work at various spots while touring the countries.
Odd. I thought I had read that Australia and NZ did not allow immigrants over 55, because they did not want their free health care system flooded by retiring Americans (or others) who would likely be more of a net burden than a net benefit to the country. What’s the catch with a retirement visa?