Required to Retire in Vancouver
There is no specific way to retire to Canada. You must qualify under one of the immigration classes in order to be able to relocate to Canada permanently, and understand that all of these classes, with the exception of the Sponsoring Your Family class, involve continuing to work, and/or a substantial investment. The only way to truly retire to Canada (without an investment) is to be sponsored for permanent residency by your adult children already living in Canada who hold permanent Canadian status.
The immigration classes are: Skilled Workers and Professionals, Canadian Experience, Investors/Entrepreneurs/ Self-Employed, Provincial Nominees, and Sponsoring Your Family. For the purposes of this section, we will look at the Investors/Entrepreneurs/Self-Employed and Sponsoring Your Family classes only, as the other classes will be examined in other sections.
Investors/Entrepreneurs/Self-Employed
If you are interested in coming to Canada as an investor, entrepreneur, or self-employed person, you can apply to immigrate under this class if you meet the qualifications. The only way to immigrate without having to rejoin the work force, under this class, is to immigrate as an investor. There are specific criteria you must meet in order to qualify.
- You must have some business experience (minimum two years).
- You must have a net worth of $800,000 with $400,000 to invest (this investment is returned to you some years later without interest).
- You must show proof of adequate funds to support yourself and your spouse/partner.
- You must be able to qualify for a minimum number of points on the selection grid (at least 35).
- You must meet all the other qualifications for persons coming to Canada.
Detailed information can be found here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/. If you have business experience, education, and speak English or French fluently, you would have no trouble qualifying for the minimum number of points. Keep in mind that after age 54, the points you can earn for age (maximum of 10) go down to zero.
Sponsoring Your Family
If you have adult children already living in Canada who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, they can sponsor you to immigrate to Canada. In this case you would apply to immigrate from outside of Canada. In this class, the application has two parts: one for the sponsor to complete and one for the sponsored person to complete. To apply, your sponsoring family member(s) would first need to obtain an application package, either downloading the forms online (http://www.cic.gc.ca/) or by requesting the forms by mail. He or she would need to complete the sponsorship forms and will advise you when to complete and send in your portion of the application.
Sponsoring family members must meet certain qualifications in order to be eligible for sponsorship. They must be over 18 years of age and they must undertake the financial support of the family member(s) they are sponsoring for a period of 3-10 years (depending on age and relationship) after permanent residency is granted. They must show proof of adequate income.
Canada is interested in having people come to Canada who can, in some way, make a positive contribution to Canadian society. Even if you plan to be retired in Canada, you should consider ways you can contribute, such as by volunteering your time and skills or experience, or making charitable donations. There are many ways to make a positive and lasting contribution to Canadian society.
