Hi
we are currently looking into moving to Calgary and I wondered if it’s possible to buy a home there for 100% cash regardless on visa status?

At one end of the scale:
could we buy a home without any Visa? Thus not being affected if we have a work visa and loose our jobs?

at the other end:
would we need a PR or working visa in order to buy a home?

parts of me thinks it shouldn’t matter as I wouldn’t have any debt on the property and if we had to leave could rent it out or sell it
the other part of me thinks there must be legal status applied in order to purchase a home

again this will be 100% cash purchase, no mortgage

https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professi...-canadians-act

Super helpful thank you
So Calgary is a no no but far outskirts are fine

i assume then the only real option is to rent for 2 years first, bummer

You should read all the details in the linked article carefully, as there are several exceptions, including if you:

Ahh brilliant so if I hold a work visa and purchase at the start of the 2 years I can, brilliant thank you

That’s very risky though. What if you’re made redundant on that work permit and have to leave Canada? I’d wait until you have PR personally, so you have more security before buying. It’s not cheap to buy or sell property in Canada.

If made redundant can I not apply for another job? Or do you have to leave the country instantly?

Your work permit is tied to your employer, so if you lose that job you can’t go and work for anybody else without a new LMIA/work permit. So you can apply for other jobs, but there would be no guarantee of being able to stay. Your call of course but personally I’d never buy unless I had the right to stay, I just wouldn’t risk it on a temp visa where I’m at the mercy of my employer.

ok thank you I’ll seriously consider options I just didn’t want to throw money away renting for 2 years whilst $700k sat in the bank

You’d have PR before that though (I assume), and it would potentially be throwing more money away if you buy and then have to sell. It would also give you time to work out where you want to live.

Sorry I meant if I had a 2 year working visa then it would be renting for 2 years but im guessing from your reply I can apply for PR whilst on a working visa?

Yes, absolutely. You should apply as soon as you can if you think you’d want to stay longer term, otherwise you’d have to leave Canada when your work permit expires.

perfect thank you buddy ill get on some job boards

That’s not really the best way to find jobs in Canada. We used to have a brilliant job Hunting section in the Wiki that talked about how different the hiring culture is, but frustratingly the powers that be decided to do away with it. Ideally plan a trip to job hunt in person, or at the very least pick up the phone - it’s all about personal contact. Canada is really behind the times when it comes to online stuff! I’ll see if I can find a cached version of the main pages for you.

ahh that would be brilliant thank you