I travelled from Islamabad up the Karakoram highway into China in 1997, so my info is totally out of date. I'm not even sure you can do that anymore. What I can tell is that area of the world has the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen, and that's comparing it with multiple trips to Nepal, Northern India, and Tibet. The scale of the landscape is absolutely staggering. Beautiful area. The other side of the border (XInjiang) is equally as fascinating, with a diverse range of Central Asian ethnic groups. If you want some history on the area take a look at some of Peter Hopkirk's books, particularly 'The Great Game.' http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Hopkirk/e/B ... 932&sr=1-1

PSYGUY: "Thats the issue at large in regards to RC, I use to believe that Americans had it the worse, but in CAN its an all or nothing approach. You either sever all ties short of your passport and renouncing your citizenship, or you take your chances."

This is not true and is simply adding to the confusion. It may not be black and white, but it's not a crapshoot either.

I just spent four years working at a Canadian offshore school. I am not aware of anyone having to pay back tax after they returned. The process seemed quite straightforward. I will add though, the majority were under 30, single with limited ties. Most had bank accounts, passports, credit cards and driver's licences from Canada. More than a few had student loan payments.

"I sure hope having a bank account in Canada doesn't make me a tax resident. No way am I keeping all my money in a bank account in my new country! I've heard too many first-hand horror stories.

I am planning to cut all "major" ties - no dependants, spouse, home

I will have a couple of secondary ties: a passport, a Canadian bank account (with investments), and a credit card. I will let my health insurance and driver's license lapse.

I hope that this is enough! I'm surprised that you all say not to call the RC..."

Sounds fine. We are in China and try to move savings out of country as soon as possible. The rate is currently excellent. It's a bit of a pain transferring money overseas, but it's quite doable. You need to take your contract, payslips, monthly tax receipts and passport. It costs about $35 and takes a couple of days to reach it's destination.

Here's another option for smaller amounts; open a second bank account with another ATM card (make sure it's Union Pay) and have the bank set it up so you can transfer money between the two using the ATM machines. Once this is done, send the second card home. On payday transfer the money you want to send home to the second account and have someone draw it out at home. You can take it out in $400 lots, but there seems to be no restriction on how many times you can do it in a day.

On the subject of brokers, investing in a brokerage in Canada is a bad idea if you are going to be overseas long term, as you are opening yourself up to capital gains tax when you sell. You can buy the same funds through, through TD International (yes, Toronto Dominion) in Luxembourg, for example, however, Luxembourg has no capital gains tax. You're still buying off the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the company is domiciled in a country with no capital gains. Perfectly legitimate and safe. http://int.tddirectinvesting.com/

Yes, $10,000 is the most you can bring into Canada without declaring it. It is to prevent money laundering. However, as long as it is declared it is not a problem. It is automatically 'declared' when you do a bank transfer. You can bring in as much as you want, it just needs to be declared.

However, let's be clear, it may or may not bring up a small red flag, but that is a long way from being declared resident and being hit with associated tax implications. As long as you have followed the rules of non-residency it won't be a problem. If you think you haven't done enough, then maybe you need to do something about that.

If you are planning on investing and plan on living overseas for an extended period, I suggest you read Andrew Hallam's blog / forum. There is a section on investing for expat Canadians. Also, read his second book. It also has a section for expat Canadians.

ADMIN NOTE: THIS POST WAS REMOVED. We ask that forum users who disagree with another posters opinion refrain from blanket statements intended to discredit that poster. We encourage professional, constructive discourse and if you have a opinion that differs from another poster, by all means, do let other posters know this but please, do it in a manner reflective of a professional educator. In other words, take the high road.

> As you can see, you will get a LOT of different answers and advice. The most relevant
> poit, is that your issue are more likely to become problems the 1) more coin you
> bank and 2) the relationship you maintain with CAN. The more of those combined the
> more likely RC is going to want a cut.

Keep your ties to a minimum. Bank account, credit card and drivers license are secondary ties and will not be an issue if all your other ducks are in line. If you have a property, keep it at arms length (rent it out). Keep your family and other detectible possessions offshore (take them with you overseas). The longer you stay away the better. Keep your money offshore. Cash investments in shortly before you repatriate, and repatriate the cash after you declare residency. It may not be black and white, but there really aren't too many shades of grey either.

The amount of money you stack away while you're overseas is completely irrelevant and this is another example of PsyGuy interrupting a thread with random generalisations that just add to people's confusion.

Also, if you are saving money and plan to be non-resident for five or more years, don't send it home to Canada to invest it. Open an offshore account with TD International in Luxembourg, DBS Vickers or Saxo and buy index funds from the Toronto Stock Exchange through one of those companies. This will protect you from capital gains on future earnings. You will have to sell all stocks before returning to Canada though and then re-buy when you get home.

If you are going to be out of the country more than two years, then you do not need to pay tax in Canada. To my knowledge, if you are out of the country more than six months you are no longer entitled to Canadian healthcare, at least in BC anyway, even if you continue paying. We left in July 2010 from BC. We informed Revenue Canada we were leaving and that tax year was split between six months resident and six months non-resident. We have not filled out a tax return since and have never been asked to. In relation to health care in BC, when you return you will have to wait somewhere between two to three months for healthcare to kick in again . The rule is, you need to wait two full calendar months plus the remainder of the month you arrived in Canada. For example, if you arrive back in Canada on June 1st, then healthcare will kick in on September 1st. It would also kick in on September 1st if you arrive in Canada on June 30th. However, many teachers in my last school contacted BC Health and were advised to start paying a few months before returning, so their health care was valid immediately upon return.

We maintain a joint Canadian bank account (but our overseas account is our main account), a joint credit card (we can't get a credit card where we are), and we both maintain driver's licenses (however, the last time I renewed they asked if I was resident. I answered yes, just to make things easy. I didn't have to sign for this, so there is no proof I said that. However, it does make me think I may not renew next time, or at least I need to clarify the situation next time). We don't have any property, car or any other ties.

More to follow...........

As a qualified Canadian you can also get a UK Certificate/QTS. I did it a couple of years ago. It's free. The only thing I had to pay for was a letter sent from BCCT to the Teaching Agency in the UK. It can't hurt.

How do I apply for Alberta certification? Can I get an Ontario cert.? I'm BC trained.

Abu Dhabi is dry heat. When we lived in Egypt we didn't turn the aircon on until it got past 35 degrees, because there is zero humidity. That said, I doubt if the school you are refering to would hire a speech pathologist. The only school I can think of using that curriculum that might hire for that position would be in Macao. Even then, I doubt it. After that, you are looking at other province curriculums in schools in Hong Kong and Singapore. If you want him to take the lead and he's struggling because he's in a non-demand subject, then do what over_here said and look at other Canadian schools (there are many). None of the 'offshore' schools are tier 1, but that doesn't mean they aren't decent places to work and the money can be surprisingly good at some of them.

http://www.cicic.ca/982/Perform-an-adva ... da?search=

I think it's a typo. I think he meant to write Patana, not Pattaya. He's not talking about Regents.

Actually not true, if you look at the Bantleman Facebook groups there is money being raised for the cleaners and they are being supported. Singapore American School donated $3000 to the cleaners fund in the last few days (via JIS). They have not been forgotten. Perhaps in the bigger scheme of things, ITs working further afield think more of the teachers who are caught up in this. That's natural, we empathise more with those who are similar, but the cleaners and their families are being supported.

Anybody already working there, or going to be working there in August, particularly families with kids?

We arrived in China with fifteen suitcases. On cost and efficiency it won out. On convenience, well it certainly wasn't ideal trying to push three luggage carts through the airport (I had a bit of a train going), plus two kids under ten, one in a stroller. However, it was cool to have everything there instantly. I never considered the possibility of having the luggage delayed. Perhaps in future we should check the baggage right at the last minute before running through security.

Anyway, wife says we'll never do that again :-)