Moving Back to India for Good: What Happens to Your Canadian Insurance

Relocating back to India permanently changes more than your address. Here is what typically happens to an existing Canadian life, critical illness, and health insurance policy, and what to think about once you are settled and considering NRI life insurance.

Relocating Back to India Permanently? Do Not Let Your Insurance Get Lost in the Move

For many Canadians and permanent residents originally from India, moving back home for good is a carefully planned decision years in the making. Between selling property, closing accounts, and organizing the move itself, insurance policies are often the last thing reviewed, and sometimes not reviewed at all. Understanding what actually happens to your Canadian coverage when you leave can prevent a costly surprise down the road.

Your Existing Life Insurance Policy Generally Continues

An in-force Canadian life insurance policy, whether term, whole life, universal life, participating, or term-to-100, is a contract between you and your insurer, and that contract does not simply dissolve because you change your country of residence. In most cases the death benefit and any accumulated cash value remain intact. What changes is the administrative side: some insurers apply different rules or ask for updated information once a policyholder becomes a non-resident, so this needs to be confirmed directly with your insurer, not assumed.

• Notify your insurer in writing of your new address and non-resident status so future correspondence and any claim reach you without delay
• Confirm your premium payment method will continue to work from India, whether that is an international transfer, a credit card your insurer accepts, or another arrangement
• Review your beneficiary designation, especially if a beneficiary is also relocating or their circumstances have changed
• Ask specifically whether any riders on your policy, such as living benefits or disability riders, carry residency conditions that could be affected
• Keep your policy documents and advisor contact details easily accessible, both in Canada and in India

Critical Illness Coverage Usually Travels With You, Health Insurance Does Not

Critical illness insurance works much like life insurance in this respect: an in-force policy is generally a standing contract that continues regardless of where you live, subject to your insurer's own administrative terms for non-residents. Provincial health insurance is a different matter entirely. Because provincial plans are tied to residency, your eligibility ends once you are no longer a resident of that province, and any private Canadian health or travel insurance you held that was designed around Canadian residency will stop being relevant to your day-to-day care once you are settled in India.

Once You Are Settled, Consider Where NRI Life Insurance Fits

After you have re-established yourself in India, it is worth reviewing whether an NRI life insurance policy makes sense alongside your existing Canadian coverage, rather than as a replacement for it. A few points are useful to know going in: India's GST on individual life and health insurance premiums was cut from 18 percent to zero, effective September 22, 2025, which lowered the ongoing cost of holding an individual policy there. Separately, if you do hold an NRI life insurance policy, how a claim payout is repatriated depends on the account it is paid into: payouts from an NRE account are fully repatriable, while payouts from an NRO account fall under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme cap of one million US dollars per year across all your Indian assets combined. These are the kinds of details worth mapping against your specific situation rather than assuming.