Work Permit Financial Guide for Canada: TFSA, RRSP, CPP, EI and Taxes

On a work permit you pay into the same payroll programs as any Canadian employee, and most registered accounts are open to you if you are a Canadian resident for tax purposes. What differs is the end date: the choices that make sense for someone staying for good (an RRSP, a long-term TFSA plan) can work against a temporary foreign worker who leaves in a few years. This page covers the accounts, payroll deductions, filing and what happens when the permit ends. For the first-year steps every newcomer takes, see money in Canada for newcomers.

Your SIN and your tax residency

Your SIN starts with 9 and expires on the same date as your permit, so each new permit means updating your SIN record; the steps are in getting a SIN. You can start working as soon as you apply for it.

Most accounts below depend on being a Canadian resident for tax purposes, a separate test from your immigration status that turns on your residential ties here: a home, a spouse or common-law partner, or dependants in Canada, plus secondary ties such as Canadian bank accounts and credit cards. The tests are in am I a Canadian tax resident?.

Financial accounts available to work permit holders

CPP and EI on a work permit

Your employer deducts Canada Pension Plan contributions and Employment Insurance premiums from your pay on the same terms as any employee.

• CPP. For 2026, employees contribute 5.95% of earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, and the employer matches it. A CPP retirement pension needs at least one valid contribution, so even a few years of work here earn a small pension you can claim from abroad; see the Canada Pension Plan section.
• EI. Employees pay 1.63% of insurable earnings up to $68,900 in 2026. If you lose your job through no fault of your own and have enough insurable hours, you can claim Employment Insurance like any other worker, as long as you are still authorized to work in Canada.

TFSA rules for temporary residents

Your TFSA room starts on the day you become a resident, and the year you arrive brings the full annual limit; TFSA room for new residents shows how it adds up. A SIN starting with 9 works for opening the account.

The account matters most when you leave. A non-resident can keep a TFSA and withdraw from it without Canadian tax, but gets no new room for a full year of non-residency, and a contribution made while a non-resident is taxed at 1% a month until it is withdrawn in full or residency resumes. A TFSA is also not part of the deemed sale of your property when you emigrate, so its growth stays sheltered from Canadian tax.

RRSP: when it helps and when it doesn’t

An RRSP contribution saves tax at today’s rate and is taxed when you withdraw it. If you stay and become a permanent resident, that works as it does for anyone. If you leave, withdrawals made after you become a non-resident have 25% withheld (lower under some tax treaties), and the other country may tax them too. Someone expecting to leave within a few years often compares that against a TFSA or an FHSA; the withdrawal rules are in RRSP withdrawals, and a spousal RRSP can help if your spouse will stay in Canada.

Filing taxes on a work permit

As a resident you file a T1 return each year and report your income from all countries from the day you became a resident; tax on worldwide income explains what that covers and how tax paid abroad is credited. If you hold foreign investments with a total cost of more than $100,000 at any time in the year, you also file Form T1135. Your first return follows the newcomer rules in a newcomer’s first tax return.

Benefits on a work permit

Residents can apply for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit as soon as they arrive. The Canada Child Benefit has an extra condition for temporary residents: the CRA says a temporary resident can start receiving it in the 19th month they have lived in Canada, with a valid permit and the other conditions met. The application steps are in how to apply for the CCB.

What changes when your permit ends

If you leave Canada and become a non-resident, your departure-year return covers the part of the year you were resident, and most property you hold is treated as sold at its fair market value on the day you leave (registered plans such as RRSPs and TFSAs are among the exceptions). The full list of what to file is in the tax checklist for leaving Canada.

Social security agreements and CPP

Canada has social security agreements with a number of countries that coordinate pension programs for people who have lived or worked in both, so years in one country can help you qualify for a pension in the other. The agreements differ from country to country; OAS and GIS for newcomers explains how they apply to Old Age Security, and Service Canada’s international benefits page lists the countries.

If you become a permanent resident

Your SIN record changes with your status, and the rest of your setup carries over. The new permanent resident financial checklist covers what to update, and what Canadian citizenship changes financially covers the step after that. If you are in a regulated profession, credential recognition costs can be planned for before your status changes.