Leaving BC for another province sets off a chain of deadlines that nobody sends you a reminder about. Your MSP coverage stops on a fixed date. Your BC driver’s licence is only good for 90 days once you move. Alberta wants your car registered within three months, Ontario wants your licence exchanged within 60 days, and the Canada Revenue Agency decides which province’s tax you pay based on a single day of the year.
This checklist puts all of it in order, from eight weeks before the move to your first tax return in the new province, with a side-by-side table of the rules in the six provinces people from BC move to most. It covers the paperwork. For the move itself (delivery windows, what can go on the truck, driving through the passes), see our long-distance moving tips.
Moving your household out of province?
Secure Moving handles moves from Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to Alberta, Ontario and the rest of Canada. See our long-distance moving page for how it works.
Deadlines at a glance, by province
| Moving to | Health coverage starts | Exchange driver’s licence | Register your vehicle | Vehicle inspection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | First day of the third month after you arrive; apply within 3 months | Within 90 days | Within 90 days | Out-of-province vehicle inspection |
| Ontario | Immediately, no waiting period | Within 60 days | Check ServiceOntario | Safety Standards Certificate, valid 36 days |
| Saskatchewan | First day of the third month | Within 90 days | Within 90 days | Most vehicles need one |
| Manitoba | First day of the third month | Within 3 months | Within 3 months | Certificate of Inspection |
| Quebec | After a waiting period of up to 3 months | Drive on your BC licence for up to 6 months | Check SAAQ | Mechanical inspection certificate |
| Nova Scotia | First day of the third month | Confirm with Access Nova Scotia (published deadlines differ) | Within 90 days | Within 30 days of arriving |
Whatever the destination, your BC driver’s licence remains valid for 90 days after you leave, to give you time to get a new one, according to ICBC.
How MSP covers the gap
Most provinces make new residents wait until the first day of the third month after they arrive before their health plan kicks in. BC fills that gap. When you move permanently to another province, MSP covers you “for the rest of the month in which you leave the province plus two consecutive months,” in the words of the Province.
Leave on 12 July, for example, and MSP covers you through the end of September. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia would start covering you on 1 October. As long as you apply in your new province on time, there is no gap. Ontario has dropped its waiting period altogether, so you can apply for OHIP as soon as you arrive.
MSP does not carry everything over, though. BC PharmaCare, including the national pharmacare plan, stops once you move permanently, so fill prescriptions before you go. And watch out for the combined card. If your BC driver’s licence doubles as your BC Services Card, surrendering it at the licence exchange leaves you without a health card. BC’s advice is to wait to exchange it, keep a photocopy, or ask Health Insurance BC for a Confirmation of Coverage letter.
Eight weeks before you move
Give notice on your rental
On a month-to-month tenancy in BC, written notice has to land before the day rent is due and give a full rental month. The Residential Tenancy Branch is clear that this means a complete month, not 30 days. To move out on 31 May, your notice must be in by 30 April. A fixed-term lease can only end early by written agreement with the landlord, a few special circumstances, or by breaking it.
Check your licence to work
Work in a regulated job or a trade? Contact the regulator in your new province now. Under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, certified workers should be recognized without significant extra training or exams unless an exception has been posted. Ontario’s “As of Right” rules, in force since 1 January 2026, promise a decision within 10 business days and let you work for up to six months while the full application goes through.
Decide what happens to a BC property you keep
Keeping a home in Metro Vancouver or another area covered by BC’s speculation and vacancy tax? Two things change once you leave. The tax rate for Canadian citizens and permanent residents doubled from 0.5 to 1 per cent of assessed value for the 2026 tax year, and every owner has to make a declaration by 31 March each year. Renting the home to a tenant for at least six months of the year is the usual way to qualify for an exemption. You will also lose the home owner grant, which requires the home to be your principal residence in BC.
Get your ICBC driving record
Insurers in your new province will price your car insurance on your driving history. Ask ICBC for a claims history record through My ICBC, by phone or by mail, and have it sent to you or straight to your new insurer. ICBC can cover up to 20 years. Without it, you may be priced as a new driver.
Two weeks before
- Tell Health Insurance BC. The online “MSP Permanent Move Outside of B.C.” form takes 10 to 15 minutes, or call 1-800-663-7100.
- Set up mail forwarding. Canada Post charges $82.75 for four months or $126.25 for twelve months of forwarding to another province. It starts five days after you buy it online, or three days after buying at a post office.
- Close BC Hydro and FortisBC. Both can be done online with your move-out date and a forwarding address for the final bill.
- Refill prescriptions before PharmaCare ends, and ask your doctor for copies of your records or a referral if you have ongoing care.
- Request school records and transcripts for your kids so you can register them in the new province.
- Drop off dangerous goods. Movers will not carry paint, propane or solvents across the country, and our BC moving checklist lists the free depots.
Moving week
Do not cancel ICBC too early
You cancel ICBC insurance at an Autoplan broker, in person, with your plates and owner’s certificate, and you get a refund for the unused term minus any fees. The trap is timing. ICBC’s advice is to register, licence and insure your vehicle where you are living if it will not be driven in BC. Line up insurance in the new province first, then cancel, so the car is never uninsured on the road.
Protect your damage deposit
Attend the move-out condition inspection; skipping it can cost you the right to your deposit. Then give the landlord your forwarding address in writing, using the Residential Tenancy Branch form RTB-47. The landlord has 15 days from the later of the end of the tenancy and the day they receive your address to return the deposit or file a claim against it. Miss that, and you can claim double.
Change your address with the federal government
Federal programs do not share address changes with each other. Update the Canada Revenue Agency, then separately Service Canada for CPP, OAS or EI, your passport if you are mid-application, and any other federal program you use.
Your first 30 days in the new province
- Apply for health coverage. Do it right away in Ontario, where coverage is immediate. Elsewhere, applying early means your card is ready when coverage starts.
- Firearms licence holders: notify the Canadian Firearms Program of your new address within 30 days. It is a condition of your licence.
- Nova Scotia: the vehicle inspection is due within 30 days of bringing the car into the province.
- Ontario: once your car passes its Safety Standards Certificate inspection, you have 36 days to register it before the certificate expires.
- Update your voter registration with Elections Canada online.
By 60 and 90 days
Day 60: Ontario’s deadline to exchange your BC driver’s licence. Bring your original licence, ID and proof of address to a DriveTest centre, take the vision test and pay the fee.
Day 90: Alberta’s deadline for your licence, vehicle registration and health care application. Saskatchewan’s deadline for licence and registration, and Manitoba’s three-month deadline for both. The BC licence also stops being valid for driving at this point, wherever you are. BC MSP coverage runs out somewhere between day 60 and day 90 too, at the end of the second full month after the month you left.
Bringing your car to Ontario: the sales tax question
Ontario normally charges 13 per cent retail sales tax on a vehicle brought in from another province. People moving to Ontario can usually avoid it under the “settler’s effects” exemption, provided you lived outside Ontario for at least a year, plan to stay at least a year, owned the vehicle for at least 30 days before moving, bring it within six months, paid all taxes owing in BC, and can show the previous registration. Keep your BC registration papers for this.
At tax time
You file your income tax return as a resident of the province where you lived on 31 December. Move to Alberta on 15 December and you file as an Albertan for the whole year; move on 2 January and you file as a British Columbian. With flexibility on dates late in the year, that rule is worth thinking about.
If you moved for work or full-time study, and your new home is at least 40 km closer to the new job or school by the shortest public route, you can usually deduct eligible moving expenses on line 21900 using Form T1-M. Eligible costs include the movers, travel, up to 15 days of temporary accommodation, the cost of breaking a lease, and selling or buying costs on a home. Keep every receipt, including your moving company’s invoice. Unused amounts can be carried forward to the next year.
One BC credit to cross off: the BC climate action tax credit ended with the April 2025 payment, so you will not be losing it by leaving.
Book the truck early
Long-distance moves out of BC fill up weeks ahead, especially in summer. Call 604-500-3003 or get a free quote once you have a date.
The checklist, in one list
- 8 weeks: tenancy notice, work licence or trade certification, plan for any BC property, ICBC claims history record
- 2 weeks: Health Insurance BC, Canada Post forwarding, BC Hydro and FortisBC, prescriptions, school records
- Moving week: insure the car in the new province before cancelling ICBC, move-out inspection, RTB-47 forwarding address, federal address changes
- First 30 days: health card application, firearms address change, Elections Canada, inspections where required
- 60 days: Ontario licence exchange
- 90 days: Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba licence and registration; BC licence stops being valid
- Tax time: file in your 31 December province, claim moving expenses
Frequently asked questions
How long does MSP cover me after I leave BC?
For the rest of the month you leave plus two full months. Leave on 12 July and you are covered until 30 September.
How long can I drive on my BC licence in another province?
ICBC says your BC licence stays valid for 90 days after you move, but your new province may want it exchanged sooner. Ontario’s deadline is 60 days. Quebec lets you drive on it for up to six months.
Do I have to return my BC licence plates?
You bring your plates to an Autoplan broker to cancel your ICBC insurance. Ask the broker what to do with them, since rules can differ by plate type.
Which province do I pay income tax to in the year I move?
The province you live in on 31 December. One return covers the whole year, filed as a resident of that province.
Can I claim moving expenses when moving out of BC?
Yes, if you moved for work, to run a business or to study full time, and your new home is at least 40 km closer to the job or school. Claim them on line 21900 with Form T1-M.
How we put this together
Every deadline and rule above comes from a government or Crown corporation source, listed below, checked in October 2026: the Province of BC (MSP, tenancy, speculation and vacancy tax, home owner grant, climate action tax credit), ICBC, the Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Post, the RCMP, Elections Canada, BC Hydro and FortisBC, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement secretariat, and the health and motor vehicle authorities of Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Rules change, so confirm anything time-sensitive with the agency before you rely on it.
Sources
- Province of BC, leaving BC permanently (MSP)
- ICBC, moving from BC
- ICBC, cancel your insurance
- ICBC, your driving record
- Government of Alberta, health coverage when moving to Alberta
- Government of Alberta, moving from within Canada
- Government of Ontario, apply for OHIP
- Government of Ontario, exchange an out-of-province driver’s licence
- Government of Ontario, Safety Standards Certificate
- Government of Ontario, retail sales tax on specified vehicles
- eHealth Saskatchewan, eligibility for health benefits
- SGI, Saskatchewan driver’s licence program
- Manitoba Health, moving to Manitoba
- Manitoba Public Insurance, new to Manitoba
- RAMQ, waiting period
- SAAQ, driver’s licence issued in Canada
- Government of Nova Scotia, health coverage when you move
- Nova Scotia Registry of Motor Vehicles, safety inspection
- Residential Tenancy Branch, ending a tenancy
- Residential Tenancy Branch, moving out
- Province of BC, speculation and vacancy tax rates
- Province of BC, home owner grant
- Province of BC, climate action tax credit
- Canada Revenue Agency, province of residence
- Canada Revenue Agency, line 21900 moving expenses
- Canada Post, mail forwarding
- Government of Canada, change your address
- RCMP, Canadian Firearms Program
- Canadian Free Trade Agreement, labour mobility
- Government of Ontario, labour mobility
Still deciding where to go? Our Toronto vs Vancouver cost of living comparison covers rent, tax and transit. For a price on the move, our long-distance movers page has the details and a quote form, and our guide to tipping movers explains how to handle two crews.
