The short version
- Americans can visit Canada without a visa or an eTA, and most visitors can stay up to 6 months. A visit is not a move.
- To live in Canada, you need permanent residence, a permit to study or work, or proof that you are already Canadian.
- Express Entry manages Canada's federal programmes for skilled workers. Study permits, Québec's investor programme and family sponsorship are other routes.
- US passports are not on Canada's working holiday (IEC) list, so that route does not work with a US passport.
How do you move to Canada from the US?
You get the right to live there first: permanent residence, a permit to study or work, or proof that you are already a Canadian citizen. A US passport lets you visit Canada. It does not let you live or work there.
Canada's own page, Live in Canada permanently, groups the permanent routes like this:
- Work. Express Entry for skilled workers and tradespeople, plus programmes for caregivers and doctors.
- Regions. The Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, rural and Francophone community pilots, and Québec's own programmes for skilled workers, investors and entrepreneurs.
- Family. Sponsorship by a spouse or family member.
The same page lists programmes that are paused or closed, such as the Start-up Visa and the one for self-employed people. Check a programme's status there before you plan around it.
The routes this guide covers, side by side:
| Route | What you get | Main thing to show |
|---|---|---|
| Visit | Usually up to 6 months | A US passport |
| Express Entry | Permanent residence (PR) | Skilled work |
| Study permit | A permit to study | Letter of acceptance |
| Québec Investor Program | A work permit, then PR | CAD 2,000,000 net worth |
| Citizenship by descent | Citizenship | A Canadian parent |
Can Americans live in Canada without a visa?
Americans can visit Canada without a visa, but a visit is not a way to live there. IRCC, Canada's immigration department, says US nationals need no visa and no eTA to travel to Canada.
How long a visit lasts:
- Most visitors can stay up to 6 months. If the border officer stamped your passport, you leave by the date on the stamp.
- To stay longer as a visitor, you apply for a visitor record before your status runs out. IRCC lists the fee from CAD 100. A visitor record is not a visa.
- To work in Canada for a few years, IRCC points to a work permit.
A long visit can be a good way to see a city before you choose a route. To see where else your passport gets you in without a visa, look up the US passport's visa-free list.
How does Express Entry work?
Express Entry is how Canada manages permanent residence applications from skilled workers, online. It covers three programmes: the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program.
IRCC sets out four steps:
- You make a profile and enter the pool.
- IRCC invites the people with the most points, in rounds.
- If you are invited, you fill out the full application.
- IRCC reviews it and decides.
Points come from the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). Scores and cut-offs change with each round, so we do not print them here. The Express Entry page links to the latest rounds and a score calculator. IRCC's document list covers language tests, education, job offers, funds and police certificates.
The fees, from IRCC's fee list:
| Who | Fee |
|---|---|
| You, with the right of permanent residence fee | CAD 1,590 |
| You, without the right of permanent residence fee | CAD 990 |
| Your spouse or partner, with the right of permanent residence fee | CAD 1,590 |
| Each dependent child | CAD 270 |
Can Americans get a working holiday visa for Canada?
Not with a US passport. Canada runs its working holiday visas through International Experience Canada (IEC), and the US is not on its list of countries.
The IEC eligibility page lists each country that takes part, from Andorra to the United Kingdom. Each entry asks you to be a citizen of that country and to hold its passport. So if you also hold a passport from a listed country, that one may qualify, under its own age limits.
For people whose country is not listed, the page points to recognised organisations to learn about other travel and work options in Canada.
New to the idea? Read how a working holiday visa works.
Can you move to Canada as a student?
Yes, if a Canadian school accepts you and you get a study permit. Before you apply, you need a letter of acceptance from a designated learning institution (DLI), which is a school approved to take international students.
You also show money for your first year. For applications made on or after 1 September 2026, IRCC asks for CAD 23,448 a year for one person outside Québec, with more for each family member. That figure is for living costs only. Tuition and travel come on top. Québec sets its own figure.
| Study permit | What IRCC says |
|---|---|
| Living costs, one person | CAD 23,448 a year |
| Permit fee | CAD 150 |
| Work during classes | Up to 24 hours a week |
| Work in scheduled breaks | No hourly limit |
| Work permit after you graduate | 8 months to 3 years |
The work hours apply to students who are eligible to work off campus. The work permit after graduation is the post-graduation work permit (PGWP). Unless you finished a master's degree, its length depends on how long your programme was. See the full rules for the Canada student visa.
Does Canada have a digital nomad visa?
Not as its own visa. IRCC's answer for digital nomads is visitor status: people who work remotely for an employer outside Canada can live and work there for up to 6 months at a time, with no work permit.
That comes from IRCC's page on attracting tech talent to Canada, last updated in April 2024. The same page says Canada is working with provinces and territories to look at more options for digital nomads.
Two things to note. The page only talks about people who work for an employer outside Canada. And visitor status is still a visit. To stay longer than that, you need one of the other routes in this guide.
Is there an investor route to Canada?
Yes, through Québec. The Québec Investor Program takes applications at any time, and Québec says there is no maximum number of applications.
What Québec asks for:
- Net worth of at least CAD 2,000,000.
- An investment through an approved financial intermediary: CAD 1,000,000 placed for five years, which Québec's government backs and repays without interest, plus a CAD 200,000 contribution that is not repaid.
- Spoken French at level 7 or higher on the Québec scale.
- At least two years of management experience in the last five years.
- A stay in Québec of at least 12 months within two years of getting your work permit. At least 6 of those months must be you. Your spouse can cover the other 6.
After the stay, Québec gives you a Québec Selection Certificate (CSQ). You then apply to the Government of Canada for permanent residence, and Canada makes the final decision. Québec's fee for the main applicant is CAD 18,241 in 2026, with no Québec fee for a spouse or children. Details are on our Canada golden visa page.
Can you become Canadian through a parent?
Often, yes. IRCC says that in most cases you are automatically a Canadian citizen if you were born outside Canada before 15 December 2025 to a Canadian parent.
That date matters because of Bill C-3, which changed Canada's citizenship law on 15 December 2025. It removed the old first-generation limit in some cases. Before, citizenship by descent stopped at the first generation born abroad.
- Born before 15 December 2025: in most cases you are Canadian if a parent was Canadian, even if that parent was also born abroad.
- Born on or after 15 December 2025: a parent who was also born abroad must have spent at least 1,095 days in Canada before the birth.
IRCC says that if you think you became a citizen because of Bill C-3, you must apply for a citizenship certificate to find out for sure. The fee is CAD 75. With the certificate, the next step is a Canadian passport.
Not sure if your family line works? Answer a few questions in our Canadian citizenship by descent checker.
Which Canada route fits you?
It depends on your age, work, study plans, money and family. One simple order is to check descent first, because if it fits you may already be Canadian. Then look at the route that matches what you can show today:
- Skilled work history: Express Entry.
- A place at a Canadian school: a study permit.
- A large net worth and spoken French: the Québec Investor Program.
- A spouse or family member in Canada: family sponsorship.
Rules and fees change. Each figure here was read on the official page on the date shown below.