If you are a permanent resident, you can move to any province or territory: you "can live, work or study anywhere in Canada" (IRCC: understand permanent resident status). If you hold a work permit, a study permit or a provincial nomination, a move can change what you are allowed to do, and this guide shows what to check first.

Who this is for

You live in Canada and plan to move to another province or territory, for example from Ontario to British Columbia or from Alberta to Saskatchewan. You may be a permanent resident (PR), someone who has immigrated to Canada but is not a citizen, or you may be here on a work or study permit. IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) is the federal department that decides permits and permanent residence. The rules below apply to territories as well as provinces, so "province" here means either.

If you are a permanent resident

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives every citizen and permanent resident the right "to move to and take up residence in any province" and "to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province" (Justice Laws: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 6). No immigration step stands between you and the move. What changes is your health coverage, covered below.

If a province nominated you

Through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), provinces and territories nominate people for permanent residence; Quebec and Nunavut "don't have programs" (IRCC: Provincial Nominee Program). The program is for people who "want to live in that province or territory", and Canada's immigration regulations make that a condition: a nomination is made on the basis of your ability to settle economically "and their intention to reside in the province that has nominated them" (Justice Laws: Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 87).

Provinces write the same condition into their own rules:

• British Columbia. The conditions of a nomination apply "from the time you are nominated until you become a permanent resident", one of them is that you "continue to demonstrate an ability and intent to live, work and economically establish in B.C.", and breaking one can lead to the nomination being cancelled (BC PNP: Skills Immigration Program Guide).
• Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) can withdraw a nomination for "Failure to demonstrate intent to live and work in Saskatchewan", which includes "continuously residing and/or working in another province", and it expects nominees to report a change of job or address within the deadline its page sets (Saskatchewan: SINP procedures and guidelines).
• Ontario. Its Ontario Workforce Priority stream says "You must intend to live and work in Ontario after you've been granted permanent residence" (Ontario: Ontario Workforce Priority stream).

So if your plans change while you hold a nomination, or while your permanent residence application is being decided, read your conditions of nomination and contact the province before you move. Our guide to the Provincial Nominee Program explains how nominations work.

If you hold a work permit

An open work permit "lets you work for any employer in Canada", apart from a few kinds of employer the page lists (IRCC: open work permits). Moving and taking a job in another province is usually possible, but read the conditions printed on your permit first, because some open permits carry "specific conditions" (IRCC: if your work permit expires).

An employer-specific work permit names "the employer, location and occupation" (IRCC: employer-specific work permits):

• A new employer means a new permit. You "apply for a new work permit, if you're eligible" (IRCC: changing jobs or employers), and "You can't start working at a different job or for a new employer until you get your work permit with the new conditions" (IRCC: who can extend or change their work permit). The exception: if you apply from inside Canada, you can "request authorization to work while we process your application", and IRCC's email tells you whether you may start (IRCC: changing jobs or employers).
• The new employer usually acts first. "Most employers need an LMIA before they can hire a temporary foreign worker" (IRCC: who needs an LMIA). An LMIA, or Labour Market Impact Assessment, checks how hiring you would affect Canada's job market; some jobs are exempt. Our LMIA guide explains it.
• The same employer in a new place. If your employer moves you to another province, the location on your permit may no longer match, so ask your employer and read IRCC's page on changing the conditions on your work permit first.

If your permit is also running out, our guide to a work permit that is ending covers extensions and the routes that follow.

If you hold a study permit

What matters is the school, not the province. To move to a new school, "You need to get a new study permit by applying to extend your current one" before you start there (IRCC: changing schools or programs). The same page sets out what that involves:

• The new school must be on the list of designated learning institutions (DLIs). "A DLI is a school approved by a provincial or territorial government to host international students" (IRCC: designated learning institutions list), so check the list before you commit.
• You need "a new, valid provincial attestation letter or territorial attestation letter (PAL or TAL)", a letter from the province where the new school is, unless an exception on the page applies. Our study permit guide explains these letters.
• A move to a school in Quebec also needs a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ), "With few exceptions".

Health coverage when you move

Each province runs its own health insurance plan, so read the plan's page for the province you are moving to; IRCC tells permanent residents to "check your provincial website" (IRCC: understand permanent resident status). Three examples, as each page states them:

• British Columbia. Its Medical Services Plan (MSP) starts after a wait: the rest of the month you become a resident, plus two more months. If you move from elsewhere in Canada, "keep your former health plan during the wait period" (British Columbia: MSP coverage wait period).
• Ontario. "There is no longer a waiting period for OHIP coverage", OHIP being the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. A new resident must be in Ontario "for at least 153 days of the first 183 days immediately after you began living in the province", and a work permit holder qualifies only if "working full-time in Ontario, for an Ontario employer, for at least 6 months" (Ontario: apply for OHIP and get a health card).
• Saskatchewan. If you move from another province, "your Saskatchewan health coverage may begin on the first day of the third month after you move here", so a move on 27 September means coverage from 1 December (eHealth Saskatchewan: eligibility for health benefits). That page's rules for work and study permit holders are written for people arriving from outside Canada, so ask eHealth Saskatchewan how they apply to you.

Provincial immigration streams after a move

A stream is one route within a province's nominee program. Each province decides how much its streams care about where you have lived and worked, so a move can close one route and, in time, open another.

• Alberta. The Alberta Opportunity Stream does not accept "temporary residents living or working in a province or territory of Canada other than Alberta", and asks for "a minimum of 12 months full-time work experience in your current occupation in Alberta within the last 18 months", or 24 months in Canada or abroad within the last 30 (Alberta: Alberta Opportunity Stream eligibility).
• Saskatchewan. Its stream for skilled workers with an existing work permit asks for at least six months (780 hours) of full-time work in the job with the Saskatchewan employer supporting you, and remote work does not count as work in Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan: Skilled Worker With Existing Work Permit).
• Ontario. The Ontario Workforce Priority stream needs a job offer "for a full-time and permanent position in Ontario"; time already worked in Ontario adds points but is not a condition (Ontario: Ontario Workforce Priority stream).
• British Columbia. Its Skilled Worker stream needs "a full-time, indeterminate (no end date) job offer from an eligible B.C. employer" (WelcomeBC: for workers).

Moving to Quebec? The Canadian Experience Class, the federal route for people with skilled work in Canada, asks that you "plan to live outside the province of Quebec" (IRCC: Canadian Experience Class). Quebec selects its own skilled workers, so "you need to apply to Quebec before you apply for permanent residence" (IRCC: Quebec-selected skilled workers), and our Quebec page explains Quebec's own programs.

Streams open, pause and close, so read the province's own page before you plan a move around one. Our pages for British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta list the streams our report checks there, and the provincial streams comparison shows which need time in the province.

Next step

Answer the free questionnaire, and the report checks the routes it covers against your answers.