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Guide · Moving from Canada

Retiring to Italy from Canada

Your CPP travels. Your provincial health card does not.

Canadians retire to Italy in smaller numbers than Americans or Brits, but the route is the same one — with three Canada-specific rules that decide whether the numbers work. Check these first; everything else is logistics.

The visa: Elective Residence, as for everyone else

Canada has no special retirement arrangement with Italy, so the route is the Elective Residence visa: proof of stable passive income — CPP, OAS, employer pensions, investments — and no work in Italy, applied for through the Italian consulate covering your province (Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver). The full sequence is here.

CPP, OAS, and the GIS cliff

The three federal benefits behave very differently once you leave:

• CPP follows you anywhere. No residency requirement — it pays in Italy for as long as you live.
• OAS depends on the 20-year rule. If you lived in Canada at least 20 years after turning 18, OAS continues abroad indefinitely. With fewer than 20 years, payments stop after six months outside Canada — the Canada–Italy social security agreement can help some people qualify, so count your years before you book the flight.
• GIS simply ends. The Guaranteed Income Supplement is residency-based and stops about six months after departure, regardless of how long you were Canadian. If GIS is a meaningful part of your income, a permanent move may not pencil out — this is the first thing to check.

Healthcare: your provincial coverage lapses

Provincial health plans — OHIP, MSP, and the rest — are suspended or cancelled when you establish residency elsewhere, typically after six or seven months outside the province. Unlike British pensioners, Canadians have no S1-style route into Italy's public system: you will bridge with private cover from arrival until your voluntary SSN registration is active. Arrange it before you leave Canada, while you still can. How the healthcare transition works.

Tax: the treaty does the heavy lifting

Once you are a non-resident, Canada withholds 25% on CPP, OAS, and RRIF payments by default — the Canada–Italy tax treaty reduces that to 15%, and filing Form NR5 can reduce withholding at source further. Two things deserve professional attention in the year you move: the departure tax (the CRA treats most property as sold at fair market value when you sever residence) and the split-year filings on both sides. A cross-border accountant for the transition year is standard practice, not a luxury.

Dollars in, euros out

The Canadian dollar and the euro move against each other more than most retirees expect. Keep a Canadian bank account for your pension deposits, use a specialist transfer service rather than bank wires for the monthly move to euros, and plan your Italian budget at a conservative exchange rate.