Moving to another country: phone, bank and accounts

Do this: Read the CRA's guidance for people leaving Canada (emigrants), including how to report the year you leave and whether departure rules apply to your property. Then get advice from a tax professional who knows both countries.

Why: Leaving a country can change your tax residency, and some countries have specific rules for the year you leave, including how certain assets are treated.

Check it worked: You know where you'll file for the year you move and what you need to report.

• Leaving Canada (emigrants)

Do this: Ask your public health plan when coverage ends after you leave, and arrange private or local coverage that starts the day you arrive.

Why: Public health coverage is usually tied to where you live, so it may end after you leave.

Check it worked: You know when home coverage ends and when new coverage starts.

Do this: Tell each benefit and pension office about the move before you go, and ask what continues, what stops and how payments will reach you.

Why: Some benefits stop when you leave the country, and pensions may need new payment details while you live abroad.

Check it worked: Each office has confirmed in writing what happens to your payments.

Do this: Keep the number on a low-cost plan, a roaming plan or an eSIM, and check it can receive texts in your new country before you rely on it.

Why: Banks and government services at home often keep sending sign-in codes to your home-country number, and some only accept local numbers.

Check it worked: You receive a test sign-in code on the number from abroad.

Do this: Generate or locate backup codes for your email, Apple/Google/Microsoft and password manager accounts. Store them somewhere safe and offline.

Why: Signing in from a new country, device or network often triggers extra security checks.

Check it worked: Confirm you can find each set of codes without needing the device or number you're changing.

• Sign in with backup codes

Do this: Gather originals and certified copies of birth and marriage certificates, degrees and transcripts, driving records, and medical and vaccination records. Keep scans somewhere secure that you can reach from abroad.

Why: Birth and marriage certificates, transcripts and records are slow to request from abroad, and employers, landlords and agencies in a new country often ask for them.

Check it worked: You have the originals with you, and scans you can open from another device.

Do this: Canada Post can forward mail from a Canadian address to other countries. You could also use a trusted person's address or a mail-scanning service. Check that banks and government services accept the address you choose; some require a residential address.

Why: Banks and government offices may keep mailing your old address, and some won't send mail abroad.

Check it worked: A test letter sent to your mailing address reaches you.

• Forward mail when you move or relocate

Do this: Leave the current service active until the new carrier confirms the number has moved. Cancel anything else on the old account, like other lines or home internet, separately and afterwards.

Why: Transferring your number normally closes that line with the old carrier for you. Cancelling first can release the number before the transfer happens.

Check it worked: The new carrier confirms the transfer is complete before you contact the old one.

Do this: Check your agreement, or ask the carrier what you'd owe if the line transferred today: any remaining phone balance, cancellation fee, and bill credits that would stop. Compare that with the new carrier's offer.

Why: If you're paying off a phone or on a fixed-term plan, leaving the carrier can make a remaining balance or a cancellation fee due.

Check it worked: You know the amount due and when it will be billed.

Do this: Ask your current carrier whether the phone is locked and request an unlock before you switch. When carriers must unlock phones, and whether they can charge for it, depends on where you live.

Why: Phones sold by carriers are sometimes locked to that carrier's network and won't work with another carrier's SIM until they're unlocked.

Check it worked: The carrier confirms the unlock, or another carrier's SIM works in the phone.

Do this: Ask your current carrier (in its app, online account or by phone) for whatever the new carrier needs to transfer your number. Check the account holder's name and address match what you give the new carrier.

Why: The new carrier needs details from your current account to request the transfer, often an account number and a transfer PIN or code that only the current carrier can give you.

Check it worked: You have the details the new carrier asked for, written down somewhere other than the phone.

Do this: Read your telecom regulator's guidance on switching providers and keeping your number before you commit.

Why: Rules on unlocking phones, cancellation fees and number transfers are set by each country's regulator, and they change.

Check it worked: You know what your current carrier can and can't charge or require when you leave.

• The Wireless Code, simplified

Do this: Save or share the voicemails you want to keep from your phone's voicemail app, and note your greeting so you can record it again.

Why: Voicemails are usually stored by the carrier rather than on the phone, and may not move with your number.

Check it worked: The voicemails you care about are saved outside the voicemail box.

Do this: Open the account, set up online banking and the app with two-step sign-in, and turn on alerts for deposits and withdrawals. Download the bank's direct deposit form or void cheque from the app rather than copying account details by hand.

Why: Everything in this plan points money at the new account, so it needs to be open, signed in and protected first.

Check it worked: You can sign in, see the account and download its direct deposit details.

Do this: Go back through 12 months of statements and list every deposit and every automatic payment: pre-authorized debits, card charges, bill payments and scheduled transfers. Mark the annual ones so you're not waiting a year to find them.

Why: Monthly charges are easy to spot. Annual renewals, insurance premiums and domain renewals show up only once a year, so they're the ones people miss.

Check it worked: You have one list, and every entry on it is marked as updated, cancelled or not needed.

Do this: Ask the old bank how each product will be paid if the account closes, and set up payment from the new account where needed, before you close anything.

Why: Products at the old bank are often paid automatically from your account there, and some, like overdraft protection, may need that account to stay open.

Check it worked: Each loan, mortgage or card at the old bank has a payment source that will still exist.

Do this: Leave enough in the old account to cover a typical month of automatic payments while you move them. As a guide, many people wait until about two billing cycles have passed with nothing new hitting the old account before closing it. Adjust for your own bills, including annual ones.

Why: Payments you forget about will still try to come out of, or go into, the old account.

Check it worked: The old account has had no new automatic debits or deposits for a full billing cycle.

Do this: List cheques you've written that haven't cleared and keep enough money to cover them. Give anyone holding post-dated cheques new ones from the new account. Shred unused cheques from the old account once it closes.

Why: Cheques you've written, including post-dated ones for rent or fees, draw on the old account whenever they're cashed.

Check it worked: Every cheque you wrote has cleared or been replaced.

Do this: Follow the new carrier's instructions to add the eSIM, usually by scanning a QR code or through its app. Keep the old eSIM on the phone until the new carrier confirms the transfer.

Why: Your phone number lives on the SIM or eSIM. Until it's active on the new phone, calls, texts and sign-in codes keep going to the old one.

Check it worked: The new phone shows your carrier with signal and can make a call.

Do this: Wait for the new carrier to confirm the transfer, restart the phone and check it shows the new carrier. If it's taking longer than you were told, contact the new carrier.

Why: Transfers can take anywhere from minutes to longer. Until one completes, calls and texts may arrive on either carrier.

Check it worked: Calls and texts to your number arrive through the new carrier, and the old carrier's service has stopped.

Do this: Give payroll the new account through your HR or payroll portal, or the form they require. Ask which pay date the change takes effect from. If you split your pay between accounts, update each part.

Why: Your pay goes to whatever account payroll has on file, and payroll changes have cut-off dates.

Check it worked: Your HR or payroll profile shows the new account, and you know which payday it starts from.

Do this: Send your lender or landlord the new account details in the form they require, and ask which payment the change applies from. Keep the old account funded until that payment comes out of the new one.

Why: Housing payments are usually the largest automatic payment you have, and lenders and landlords need time to process a new account.

Check it worked: The next mortgage or rent payment comes out of the new account.

Do this: Send a small amount from the old account to the new one before you give the new details to your employer or billers.

Why: A small transfer proves the account details you're about to hand out are right.

Check it worked: The transfer shows up in the new account.

Do this: Update direct deposit in CRA My Account, or through your new bank if it offers that. The CRA pays tax refunds and benefits such as the GST/HST credit and the Canada child benefit. The CRA advises not closing your old account until your first CRA payment has been deposited into the new one.

Why: Tax refunds, benefits and government pensions are paid to the account each agency has on file. Your employer and other agencies don't pass the change along.

Check it worked: My Account shows the new account, and a CRA payment has arrived in it.

• CRA direct deposit help
• Sign in to your CRA account

Do this: Screenshot or export your payee list and any scheduled or recurring transfers. Add the payees at the new bank and set up the schedules again, then cancel the old ones so nothing pays twice.

Why: Online bill payees, scheduled payments and recurring transfers are stored at your old bank. They don't move to the new one.

Check it worked: Each payee and schedule exists at the new bank, and the old bank shows no upcoming payments.

Do this: Look for card payments on old statements and move each one to the new debit card or another payment method.

Why: Some bills and subscriptions are charged to your debit card rather than debited from the account, so they don't appear in your list of pre-authorized debits.

Check it worked: No card charges hit the old account for a full month.

Do this: Find out what local banks need to open an account (often ID and proof of address), and keep a home-country account open until the new one works.

Why: Employers, landlords and utilities in the new country usually need a local account.

Check it worked: Your first local payment, such as pay or rent, goes through.

Do this: Check the new country's rules for driving on your licence and exchanging it, ideally before you move, and keep your home licence valid if you can.

Why: Many countries let new residents drive on a foreign licence only for a limited time, and some have exchange agreements.

Check it worked: You know how long you can drive on your current licence and how to exchange it.

Do this: Before changing your Apple Account country or region, Apple asks you to spend any remaining balance and cancel subscriptions that block the change, and you may need a payment method from the new country. Google Play needs a payment method from the new country, keeps your Play balance tied to the old country, and limits how often you can change. Some apps and content may not be available in the new country.

Why: Your app store account is tied to a country, which affects payment methods, store balances, subscriptions and what's available.

Check it worked: Your store account shows the new country and your subscriptions are active.

• Change your Apple Account country or region
• How to change your Google Play country

Do this: Set an account PIN or passcode and turn on port-out or number-transfer protection if your carrier offers it.

Why: Your carrier account controls your number. Attackers who take it over can redirect your texts.

Check it worked: Ask the carrier to confirm the PIN and protection are on.

Do this: Set up voicemail and record your greeting. Turn on Wi-Fi calling if you use it, and add your emergency address if the carrier asks.

Why: Voicemail, Wi-Fi calling and the emergency address used with it are set up separately with each carrier.

Check it worked: Leave yourself a voicemail, and make a call over Wi-Fi where mobile signal is weak.

Do this: In the Messages and FaceTime settings, check your phone number is selected. If it isn't, turn iMessage and FaceTime off and on again; activation can take a little while after a carrier change.

Why: iMessage and FaceTime register your phone number and email addresses as ways to reach you.

Check it worked: Ask someone to send you an iMessage and confirm it arrives on all your devices.

Do this: Add the new bank account in PayPal, make it the default for transfers and withdrawals, and check any automatic top-ups or payments that use the old one. Remove the old account once nothing depends on it.

Why: Payment apps pull money from, and send withdrawals to, the bank account linked to them.

Check it worked: A small transfer or withdrawal in PayPal uses the new account.

Do this: Remove Autodeposit at the old bank, then register it at the new one, since an email address or number may only be registered at one bank at a time. Re-add the contacts you send money to.

Why: Autodeposit sends e-Transfers addressed to your email or mobile number straight into the account you registered it with. Your list of e-Transfer contacts is stored at each bank too.

Check it worked: Ask someone to send you a small e-Transfer and confirm it lands in the new account.

• Interac e-Transfer help topics

Do this: Send the new details to anyone who pays you, through a channel they already know is you (a call or in person, not only an email). Ask them to confirm with a small payment.

Why: Tenants, clients, family and anyone else who sends you money keeps using the details they saved.

Check it worked: A payment from each regular payer has arrived in the new account.

Do this: Sign in to your bank and your email from a fresh session and confirm the text codes arrive. Short-code texts from banks are sometimes the last thing to work on a new carrier.

Why: Apps can look signed in after a transfer while their two-factor or recovery settings still depend on the old phone.

Check it worked: Each sign-in completed using only the new phone.

Do this: Call and text your number from someone else's phone, and check calls, texts and voicemail work on the new carrier.

Why: Your number is how many services prove it's you. A new SIM or eSIM can take a little while to activate fully, and texts from banks' short codes are the last thing people check.

Check it worked: A call, a normal text and at least one automated code have all arrived on the new phone.

Do this: On the first payday after the change, check where your pay arrived before you move bills that depend on it, and compare it with your pay stub.

Why: Payroll changes can miss a cut-off, so the first pay after the change may still go to the old account.

Check it worked: A full pay has arrived in the new account and matches your pay stub.

Do this: As each payment date comes up, check the new account's statement and tick it off your list. Anything that still hits the old account goes back to the top of your list.

Why: Each biller makes the change on its own schedule, so the only proof is the payment itself.

Check it worked: Every item on your list has been paid from the new account at least once.

Do this: Once the transfer is complete, check the old account for anything still active, such as other lines, device protection or home internet, and cancel what you no longer need.

Why: Moving a number normally closes that line, but other lines, add-ons or services on the old account can keep billing.

Check it worked: The old carrier confirms nothing is left active, or lists only what you chose to keep.

Do this: Once a full cycle has passed with nothing new hitting the old account, move the remaining balance, cancel the old debit card and close the account. Ask for written confirmation.

Why: Closing is the one step that's hard to undo. Anything still pointed at the old account fails after it.

Check it worked: You have confirmation of the closure and the account shows a zero balance.

Do this: Download statements for the years you need, plus any tax slips or interest statements issued for the account.

Why: Online access to statements usually ends when the account closes, and you may need them for taxes, proof of address or a dispute.

Check it worked: The files open and cover the full period you need.

Do this: Apply to vote by mail with Elections Canada. Electors living abroad who are accepted are added to the International Register of Electors.

Why: Electoral records use your current details.

Check it worked: Check your registration status online.

• Apply to vote by mail

Do this: Watch for the final bill, check it against what you were told, and pay or dispute it. Keep it with your records.

Why: A final bill can include partial-month charges, a remaining phone balance or fees.

Check it worked: The final bill is settled and the old account shows a zero balance.

Do this: For the next year, note anything that bounces or mentions the old account, and update it. Keep the list from this plan so you know what has already moved.

Why: Annual payments and occasional deposits can turn up months after a switch.

Check it worked: Nothing new has turned up for a few months, including past your annual payment dates.