How to Move to the UK from Canada Permanently: Visas, Costs, and ILR

To move to the UK from Canada permanently, you enter on a visa that leads to settlement, live in the UK for the qualifying period (usually five years), then apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. The route you pick depends on what you have to work with: a UK job offer, a partner or close family member already settled there, a UK-born grandparent, or standout credentials in academia, the arts, or tech. Canadian citizenship gives you access to one route others don’t have, but it doesn’t shorten the timeline on any of the standard ones.

The Visa Routes That Lead to Settlement

Four visa categories carry Canadians toward permanent status. A fifth, the Youth Mobility Scheme, is useful but doesn’t count toward settlement on its own.

Skilled Worker Visa

This is the most common route. A UK employer with a Home Office sponsor licence has to offer you a job at a qualifying skill level and salary, then issue you a Certificate of Sponsorship. Without the CoS in hand, you can’t start the application. Five years on this visa builds toward Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Family Visa

If your spouse, partner, parent, or child is a British citizen or has settled status, you can apply to join them. The partner version is by far the most used. You’ll need to prove the relationship is genuine, so gather communication records, photographs, and evidence of shared finances or living arrangements early. Five years on the partner route leads to settlement.

UK Ancestry Visa

This one is only open to Commonwealth citizens, and Canadians qualify. If a grandparent was born in the UK, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man, you’re eligible. A grandparent born in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922 also counts, because all of Ireland was part of the UK before that date.1GOV.UK. UK Ancestry Visa – Eligibility You have to be at least 17 and able and willing to work in the UK. The work can be paid or unpaid, full or part-time, employed or self-employed.2GOV.UK. UK Ancestry Visa – Overview No job offer required, no sponsor needed. Five years leads to ILR.

Global Talent Visa

If you’re a leader or emerging leader in academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology, this route skips the employer sponsorship requirement entirely.3GOV.UK. Apply for the Global Talent Visa – Overview Most applicants need endorsement from an approved body in their field; a small number qualify by holding an eligible prestigious prize. The reward is speed: settlement can come after three years rather than five.

Youth Mobility Scheme (A Stepping Stone, Not a Route to Settlement)

Canadians aged 18 to 35 can spend up to two years in the UK on this visa, and can extend for a third.4GOV.UK. Youth Mobility Scheme Visa – Overview Time on it doesn’t count toward ILR. But it’s a practical way to arrive, work, and look for a sponsoring employer, then switch into the Skilled Worker route and start the five-year clock from there.

What You Need to Qualify

Salary and Income

The Skilled Worker visa generally requires a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for your occupation, whichever is higher.5GOV.UK. Skilled Worker Visa – Your Job Certain roles can qualify with a salary as low as £33,400. For a partner visa, you and your UK-based partner must show combined income of at least £29,000 a year.6GOV.UK. Family Visas – Financial Requirements if You Are Applying as a Partner or Spouse

English Language

Skilled Worker applicants who apply on or after 8 January 2026 need CEFR level B2 (upper-intermediate). Anyone who held a Skilled Worker visa before that date and is extending stays on the earlier B1 requirement.7GOV.UK. Skilled Worker Visa – Knowledge of English Family visa applicants need CEFR A1 for the first application.8GOV.UK. English Language Requirement Levels for Immigration Applications You prove it with an approved Secure English Language Test or with a degree taught in English, which most Canadian applicants can rely on instead of sitting a test.

Savings

Skilled Worker applicants must show at least £1,270 held for 28 consecutive days before applying, unless the employer certifies on the Certificate of Sponsorship that it will cover the costs. Youth Mobility applicants must show £2,530 under the same 28-day rule.9GOV.UK. Youth Mobility Scheme Visa – Eligibility You’ll also disclose criminal history and may need a Canadian police certificate depending on the route.

What It Costs

Two charges apply to every application: the visa fee and the Immigration Health Surcharge. As of April 2026, the main application fees for Canadians applying from Canada are:10GOV.UK. Home Office Immigration and Nationality Fees, 8 April 2026

The Immigration Health Surcharge gives you access to the NHS and must be paid upfront for the full length of the visa. The standard rate is £1,035 per year; students, Youth Mobility applicants, and under-18s pay £776 per year.12GOV.UK. Pay for UK Healthcare as Part of Your Immigration Application A three-year Skilled Worker visa at the standard rate means £3,105 in health surcharge before the application fee. Plan for both when you budget the move.

Applying From Canada

Start on GOV.UK by identifying the correct application form for your route. For the Skilled Worker visa, wait for your Certificate of Sponsorship from the employer before opening the application; the CoS reference number goes into the form. Pull together your passport, employment history, financial records, and (for family visas) relationship evidence.

One point that confuses many Canadians: the UK tuberculosis test doesn’t apply to you if you’ve been living in Canada. It’s only required when you’ve lived at least six months in a country on the UK’s designated list within the last six months.13GOV.UK. Tuberculosis Tests for Visa Applicants – Check if You Need a TB Test for Your Visa Application Canada isn’t on the list. If you’ve spent significant time in a listed country recently, you’d need testing at an approved clinic.14GOV.UK. Tuberculosis Testing in Canada

Once the online form is complete and paid for, book a biometrics appointment at a Visa Application Centre in Canada for fingerprints and a photograph. Documents get uploaded through the portal or brought to the appointment.

The UK now issues an eVisa rather than a sticker in your passport. Since late 2025 that has applied to work, study, and family visas; from 25 February 2026 most other categories switched to eVisas only.15GOV.UK. Updates on the Move to eVisas Your eVisa lives in your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) online account. Check it before you fly. Employers and landlords verify your status through the Home Office online system, so there’s no physical card to collect.

The Five-Year Clock to Indefinite Leave to Remain

Indefinite Leave to Remain is UK permanent residency. It removes time limits on living, working, and studying in the UK and opens the door to citizenship. The standard qualifying period is five years of continuous residence on an eligible visa. The Skilled Worker, UK Ancestry, and family visas all qualify. The Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas can get you there in three.16GOV.UK. Check if You Can Get Indefinite Leave to Remain Time on the Youth Mobility Scheme doesn’t count, so if you start there, the ILR clock only begins once you switch onto a qualifying visa.

Absence limits catch people out. You can’t spend more than 180 days outside the UK in any rolling 12-month window during your qualifying period. Frequent trips back to Canada for work or family add up quickly. Track them.

You’ll also need to pass the Life in the UK test, which covers British history, traditions, and customs. It has 24 multiple-choice questions, and you need at least 18 correct within 45 minutes.17GOV.UK. Book the Life in the UK Test Applicants aged 65 or older and those under 18 are exempt. The ILR application fee is £3,226 as of April 2026.10GOV.UK. Home Office Immigration and Nationality Fees, 8 April 2026

Citizenship After Settlement

Once you’ve held ILR for at least 12 months, you can apply for British citizenship through naturalisation.18GOV.UK. Check if You Can Become a British Citizen Canada permits dual citizenship, so becoming British doesn’t cost you your Canadian passport. The naturalisation application has its own residency and absence rules and ends with a citizenship ceremony. For most Canadians, the full path from arriving on a qualifying visa to holding a British passport runs six to seven years.

Canadian Tax Loose Ends Before You Go

The financial side of leaving Canada is where planning pays off. Sorting it out before you go is far cheaper than dealing with it later.

Departure Tax

When you stop being a Canadian tax resident, the CRA treats you as if you sold most of your assets at fair market value on the day you left. That deemed disposition can trigger capital gains tax even without an actual sale.19Government of Canada. Dispositions of Property for Emigrants of Canada You can elect to defer paying until you actually dispose of the asset by filing Form T1244 by 30 April of the year after you emigrate. If the federal tax owed on the deemed disposition exceeds $16,500, you must provide adequate security to the CRA.

If the total fair market value of all your property when you leave exceeds $25,000, you also have to file Form T1161 listing every asset inside and outside Canada. Missing the deadline triggers a penalty of $25 per day, with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $2,500.19Government of Canada. Dispositions of Property for Emigrants of Canada

RRSPs and TFSAs

You don’t have to close your RRSP or RRIF when you leave. The investment income can keep growing tax-deferred for Canadian purposes. The UK, though, may tax income earned inside these accounts each year, because it doesn’t treat RRSPs or RRIFs as tax-sheltered in the same way Canada does. Lump-sum withdrawals as a non-resident of Canada are normally subject to 25% Canadian withholding tax, though the Canada–UK tax treaty can reduce or eliminate this in certain situations, especially for RRIF payments below specific thresholds.

TFSAs are the bigger trap. Growth is tax-free in Canada, but the UK doesn’t recognize that exemption. Once you’re a UK tax resident, growth in your TFSA may be taxable in the UK. A cross-border tax accountant is worth the fee here; the two systems interact in ways that catch people out.

UK Tax Residency

The UK determines residency through the Statutory Residence Test. The simplest trigger: 183 or more days in the UK during a tax year makes you automatically a UK tax resident.20GOV.UK. Guidance Note for Statutory Residence Test (SRT) – RDR3 For a permanent move, expect to be UK tax resident from your first full tax year. The Canada–UK double taxation treaty prevents you from being taxed twice on the same income; pensions from one country to a resident of the other are generally taxable only where you live, and the treaty caps withholding on dividends and interest flowing between the two countries.21Government of Canada. Protocol Amending the Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation Between Canada and the United Kingdom Where the same income is taxed in Canada first, you claim a foreign tax credit in the UK.