Canada Remote Work Forum

Going on 3-6 month #vanlife trip throughout the USA and Canada, and setting up my data connectivity to be able to work on the road. Without going into depth (unless you ask), I’m trying to figure out options for cell service as a US citizen in Canada, and looking for everyone’s input:
(1) Project Fi: any experience or feedback on how Fi works in Canada? I’ll be almost exclusively in British Columbia.
(2) US Carriers: any feedback on AT&T or Verizon?

Thanks, all!

Hi future friends!

I’m new to this so bare with me, please. My name is Wes Booth and I’m from Nova Scotia, Canada looking to start my nomad journey. I’ve noticed that Canada is not an ideal desitination for digital nomads, why’s that? Too expensive? Inconvenient? Too cold? I would like to hear your thoughts!

Thanks!

I have a friend who is a UNAM graduate in Philology (I know, wow, a Renaissance Woman), who has been creating textual translations between Spanish, English and sometimes Russian for writers, poets and journalists in Mexico City. She is very good at what she does, and has a client base, and just recently gained a client in the US. I want her to be able to take advantage of digital means to reach potential clients in the US and Canada, especially in regions where there are not a lot of Spanish speakers already present and active in this work locally. What are some good resources to find these sorts of opportunities? Yes, we’ve beaten the proverbial bush to find Indeed listings, Craigslist (so sad what has happened to CL lately), and LinkedIn, as well as Upwork.com and Freelancer.com. We found mostly bupkiss. Any tips/hints/admonitions? Thanks in advance!

Hey fellow nomads. I have an interesting situation.

I’m a Canadian Citizen who’s been a resident of the United States for the last 12 years (work VISA). I incorporated my LLC in Hong Kong and have been a nomad for about 6 months.

I just spoke to my Accountant and he says that I will only have to pay taxes to HK, because I’m not a resident of either US or CAN. That’s amazing news as both places suck for taxes.

I’m currently in Colombia but I spent the first 2 months of this year in Canada—I want to make sure I stay out of Canada long enough to remain a non-resident.

Does anyone know what that amount of time is?

I want to volunteer at a Sledge dogs training school in the city of Inuvik ( north of Canada) from June onwards. As a travel blogger, this destination is very interesting, mainly due to the Midnight sun at this time of year. However, wifi availability is a real concern. Of course I don’t expect to find coworking spaces but wifi is an essential work tool for us. Any experiences ?

Hey guys.

I’m in the unfortunate situation (and true Digital Nomad’s worst nightmare) where the Canadian tax man (i.e. the CRA) has decided to come calling. And calling hard.

Any recommendations for Canadian Tax Accounts / Tax Lawyers specializing digital nomads / expats / non residents?

Here’s the deal:

I’m a digital nomad living in Thailand who has NOT lived in canada since the middle of 2011, and in that time, only been back to canada three times for a brief visit (with a total period between all those years of less than 90 days out of the 5 years).

I make an online income (affiliates, adsense, and such) of which all if it does not derive from Canada. And as stated, I don’t live there anymore and haven’t in many years. I don’t own houses, cars, or anything (I do have a personal bank account though and a DL – you need those to function mostly). I’ve only used Canada as my bank account, from which I would send money abroad to live while outside of Canada, which was the entire period of time.

Anyways, the taxman back in Canada doesn’t know this (that I’m a non resident) and of course has now come to collect. I had income tax demands sent to an address (parents’) stating I owe a very high five figure balance in income tax and owe it right away.

The whole digital nomad thing has just come to life the past years and when I left Canada in 2011/2010, no one new much about making money online, how to pay taxes when you don’t live in your home country, etc. I was doing this earlier than most (from this forum, I gather it’s common now).

I assume I’ll probably need a Canadian tax accountant and mayhaps a tax lawyer versed in…well…digital nomads. I’m going to call the CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency) and try to explain that I don’t live there and haven’t (and I can prove it), but yea. It may take more than that.

At this point, I’ve been looking how to properly structure my affairs (creating an Estonian Corp, creating an Thailand corporation) to properly handle how I should structure things in the future, but in the meantime…

Advice or a recommendation for a specific tax specialist (i’m from BC, Canada if that helps) would be awesome.

Ben

Hi there,

Arriving at Toronto Pearson (YYZ), we’d like to hit the ground running with a SIM card + data right from the airport. I did this easily in Zurich, UK (multiple airports). Last time I was in Pearson (a couple years ago), this wasn’t possible. I’ve Googled around now but was unable to come up with a simple answer, so I figured I’d ask here in case anybody knew.

Is there a way to get a prepaid SIM + data in Pearson (YYZ)?

Thank you