How to Retire in Europe from Canada
Retiring in Europe from Canada is two questions, not one: residency (Portugal's D7, Spain's non-lucrative visa) and what happens to your CPP, OAS, and tax.
Retiring somewhere warmer, cheaper, and closer to the rest of the world is one of the most common reasons Canadians look across the Atlantic. But “retire in Europe” is really two separate questions, and most guides only answer one of them.
The first is the visa question: how do you get the legal right to live there. The second is the money question: what happens to your CPP, your OAS, your tax, and your healthcare once you go. You need both to line up. Here is how each one works.
The Residency Routes Built for Retirees
There is no single retirement visa for Europe. There are a handful of residency routes, and the right one depends on where your income comes from and whether you have European ancestry. None of them has a minimum age. The age that matters is your own: 65 for OAS, and the age limits some insurers set, which we cover below.
Portugal, the D7. The most popular route for retirees, and the lowest income bar of the group. It is built for people living on passive income like a pension, and in 2026 the threshold is €920 a month, tied to the Portuguese minimum wage. Full detail, including savings and documents, is in the Portugal D7 visa guide.
Spain, the non-lucrative visa. Spain’s equivalent for people living on savings and passive income. The income bar is set at a multiple of a Spanish benchmark and works out much higher than Portugal’s, so it suits retirees with more comfortable means. See the Spain guide for the current figure.
France, the long-stay visitor visa. France offers a long-stay visitor route that retirees use when they do not intend to work. See the France guide for how it works.
Citizenship by descent. If you have an Irish, Italian, Polish, or other eligible grandparent or parent, claiming citizenship can be the cheapest long-term route of all, since it skips the visa entirely and gives you the right to live anywhere in the EU. Start with citizenship by descent.
Still working part of the time? If you are semi-retired and earn active remote income, the passive-income routes may not fit, and the Portugal digital nomad visa (D8) can be the better match. Not sure which fits your situation? The pathway quiz narrows it down in a couple of minutes.
What Happens to Your CPP
The Canada Pension Plan follows you. It is a contributory program, based on what you and your employers paid in during your working years, so it is yours to collect regardless of where you live. Moving abroad does not stop it. You can have it deposited to a bank account overseas.
What Happens to Your OAS
Old Age Security works differently, because it is based on residency rather than contributions. Two thresholds matter, and they are worth checking against your own history:
- You generally need at least 10 years of residency in Canada after age 18 to receive OAS at all.
- To keep receiving it while living abroad long term, you generally need at least 20 years of residency after age 18. With less than that, payments typically continue for 6 months after you leave and then stop.
Canada also has social security agreements with some countries, including several in Europe, that can let time lived there count toward your OAS eligibility. Because your exact entitlement depends on your personal residency history, confirm it directly with Service Canada rather than relying on a general figure.
GIS Stops If You Leave
One important catch. The Guaranteed Income Supplement stops if you are outside Canada for more than 6 months. If any part of your retirement income relies on GIS, a permanent move abroad means losing it. Factor that in before you commit.
Tax: Withholding, and Whether You Are Still a Resident
Two tax things catch people out.
First, once you are a non-resident, a withholding tax (commonly 25%) can apply to your CPP and OAS payments. A tax treaty between Canada and your destination can reduce that rate, and Canada has treaties with popular European destinations including Portugal, Spain, and France. The exact treatment depends on the country and the benefit.
Second, you only stop being a Canadian tax resident if you properly sever your residential ties, which can mean selling or renting out property, closing accounts, and notifying the CRA. Leaving the country is not automatically the same as becoming a non-resident for tax, and a departure tax can apply to certain assets when you go. This is the part where a cross-border tax professional genuinely earns their fee. It is not a do-it-yourself step. The guide to leaving Canada and tax residency explains how residential ties, non-residency, and departure tax actually work, so you walk into that conversation knowing what to ask.
The treaty rates are what make the math work. Canada’s default withholding on CPP and OAS for non-residents is 25 percent, but a tax treaty usually cuts it. Both the Canada-Portugal and Canada-Spain treaties bring it down to 15 percent. Portugal’s treaty adds a wrinkle worth knowing: the first CAD $12,000 of periodic pension each year is exempt, and the 15 percent applies above that, though in practice some payers apply 15 percent to the whole amount and you reclaim the difference when you file. To get the treaty rate applied at source, file the CRA’s NR5 form.
One more Portugal-specific point helps if your Canadian residence history is short. Canada and Portugal have a social security agreement that lets your years of residence in Portugal count toward OAS eligibility. So if you fall short of the 20 years of Canadian residence needed to keep OAS abroad, your Portuguese years can help fill the gap. Confirm how it applies to you with Service Canada.
Healthcare
Provincial health coverage generally does not travel with you once you leave and lose residency, and there is usually a waiting period if you ever move back. In practice you will rely on private insurance or, once you are a legal resident, the health system of your new country. Most retiree residence visas require private health insurance anyway, so budget for it as a fixed cost from day one.
For the visa itself, you will need residency-grade private health insurance, which is different from travel cover. Some insurers set age limits on new customers, so if you are applying later in life, confirm that a policy will accept you and that it qualifies for the residency stage before you buy.
Getting Your Pension in Euros
Your CPP and OAS can be deposited abroad, which means you will be converting Canadian dollars to euros regularly, for the rest of your retirement. Over that many payments, the method you use to convert matters more than it looks. A percentage point here and there on the exchange rate adds up to real money across the years, so it is worth setting up a low-cost way to move and convert your pension rather than defaulting to whatever your bank offers.
Putting It Together
A realistic sequence:
- Pick a residency route you actually qualify for (D7, non-lucrative visa, or descent) and confirm the income and insurance requirements with the consulate.
- Confirm your CPP and OAS picture with Service Canada, and your tax and non-residency position with a cross-border tax professional.
- Sort out private health insurance for the gap before you join the local system.
- Then move.
Not sure which residency route fits your situation? Our pathway quiz narrows it down in a few questions.
Verify Before You Rely on Any of This
Pension rules, tax treaties, withholding rates, health coverage, and visa income thresholds all change, and they depend heavily on your personal circumstances. Confirm the details with Service Canada, the CRA, the destination country’s consulate, and a licensed cross-border tax or immigration professional before you commit. Nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice.