I was happily moving along with plans to move permanently to Mexico. I had the finances required to apply for citizenship; documentation was being prepared by my financial institutions, and I had secured the promise of a yearly rental in Club Santiago when two big clouds formed on my sunny day. They were the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) and Mexican Health Care.
According to the CRA, if you don’t spend 171 days in Canada in a 12 month period you are deemed a non-resident. Consequently, your tax payable on Canadian income is affected negatively. First ‘oops’.
Through my inquiries into Mexican National Health Insurance and letters to private Mexican Health Insurance companies, I learned that I was too old to get insurance. At my advanced age, health insurance was essential and to maintain my Ontario Health Insurance I had to be in Canada 153 days a year. Second ‘oops’.
Permanent Residency was not going to work for me, obviously. Now what?
I would have to spend six months a year in Canada. How could I make that work for me financially, which is what started this whole process to begin with?
I could spend six months in Mexico in the winter if I found accommodation In Canada for the other six months of the year. I certainly didn’t want to live with my family (and I’m equally sure they wouldn’t want me for that long a period either, lol). Searching my brain for an alternative, I thought of Airbnb but did they do long term rentals? The Internet would provide an answer – (what did we do before technology?). Wow! They did! But where did I want to go?
Ottawa! It’s a beautiful city where my youngest daughter, Dee, lived for the past 32 years. Don and I had visited her for a few days at a time during those years but didn’t really spend much time exploring the city. Scrolling through the Airbnb site I saw pictures and a description of, what looked like, a beautiful condo right downtown in Ottawa next to the Byward Market. It was going to be available May 6 at a price that was $1000 a month cheaper than I was currently paying for my Collingwood apartment and I could rent it for six months!
Now I had to scramble to cancel my Collingwood apartment and book the condo right away as two different couples were going to view the condo that weekend. I had one day to clear the deck and send a down payment on the condo or I was sure I would lose it