Doctors Relocating
to Canada

Fortunately for Canada, some of the best American talent gets recruited north of the border. This phenomenon continues to occur in the medical profession as American doctors move north to be part of Canada’s universal health care system. The Canadian system is attractive to many doctors as it allows them to provide medical care regardless of a patient’s income level.

Additionally, the Canadian government’s billing system ensures that the vast majority of work for which a doctor bills actually gets paid; in the private American system, medical invoices can fall through an insurance company’s cracks and doctors may go unpaid on a substantial number of billings. Working with insurance companies and consistently dealing with red tape makes practising medicine more challenging in the US.

While practising medicine in Canada can be more appealing, American doctors need to consider a variety of cross-border planning points before packing up to move north of the border.

For example, American doctors are often concerned about their income and how their retirement years will be impacted by a move to Canada, unsure about whether such a move is financially sound. For some, Canada can be even more financially advantageous than the US. Performing a cash flow analysis is one way to ensure that working and retiring in Canada is feasible.

Canada is also attractive because of its low cost of health care. As American doctors know, the private US health care system is notoriously expensive. The Canadian public health care system is far more affordable; Americans doctors who move to Canada can therefore benefit from receiving Canadian medical care, not just practising medicine within the Canadian health care system.

Another threshold issue that many American doctors wonder about is immigration. Typical questions are, “What is the best immigration route to Canada?” and, “Do I need an offer letter for employment in Canada before I move?” Other important questions concern whether or not it’s necessary to relinquish US citizenship or Green Card status once Americans move to Canada.

Besides immigration, cross-border tax questions are also primary. Many Americans are familiar with the fact that the US taxes its citizens and permanent residents on their worldwide income, regardless of residency. Americans who move to Canada therefore want to make sure that they are not caught in any cross-border tax traps, particularly if they have US business holdings or a US investment portfolio. How to handle American retirement accounts such as IRAs and 403(b)s in the most tax-advantageous way is yet another consideration for American doctors moving to Canada.

Making the decision to move to Canada necessitates careful pre-departure tax, estate, retirement, investment, and immigration planning. Keep reading for more information about these cross-border financial planning topics as they apply to American doctors moving to Canada.

Please note that the topics covered below require detailed, comprehensive analysis before specific recommendations can be made to an individual client, which is the purpose of creating a cross-border financial plan prior to departure.