A few weeks back, one of my seasonal tennis buddies – one of the thousands of Canadian snowbirds who migrate to our patch of paradise each winter – asked me to write a column endorsing a Congressional bill that would allow our neighbors to the north to stay in the States longer.
I told him his problem was he crossed the wrong border.
“You want to stay? Fly to Mexico and wade back across the Rio Grande,” I replied, somehow managing to keep a straight face. “You can stay as long as you’d like.”
Then I winked.
And he shook his head and laughed.
“No, I’m serious,” he persisted. “A lot of Canadians come to Florida every year, and we spend a lot of money here. We’d spend more if we could stay longer than six months. You should look into it.”
So, finally, I did.
I looked into the number of Canadians who visit Florida each year, the amounts of money they spend when they’re here, and the length of time they’re allowed to stay without having to pay U.S. income tax and risk losing their government-provided health insurance at home.
Know what I found? My buddy was right.
Not only have his countrymen been flocking to Florida in record numbers – one in every 10 Canadians travels here every year, accounting for more than 4 million visits – but they also pump more than $4 billion annually into the state’s economy.
According to Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation, Florida remains the No. 1 destination for Canadian snowbirds seeking relief from the frigid winters in most of their homeland.
They’re drawn here by the warm climate, sandy beaches and other amenities, such as golf courses and cruise ships.
In fact, 3.8 million Canadians visited the state in 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
That’s a 2.4-percent jump from the 3.7 million Canadians who visited Florida in 2013 and up from 3.1 million in 2010.
More than 400,000 of those 2014 visitors stayed at least two months, and the Canadian Snowbird Association – the 90,000-member, non-profit organization that represents the interests of Canadian travelers – says more than 500,000 Canadians own property in Florida.
Locally, the Indian River County Chamber of Commerce is awaiting the findings of its latest tourism study, which was conducted in 2014 by Research Data Services of Tampa and is expected to be released in the next couple of weeks.
“There’s no gatekeeper, so there’s no way to know exactly how many Canadian visitors come here,” Chamber President Penny Chandler said, “but a lot of them do come through our office and we do see a lot of them on hotel guest registers. “I know we get enough to warrant us to do a lot of advertising in Canada.”
Allison McNeal, the Chamber’s tourism director since August 2012, said the county’s tourist-tax revenues were up 23 percent through the first five months of Fiscal Year 2014-15 – October through February – with an increase of nearly 29 percent in January.
“And visitors have stayed longer this year,” she said. “Hotels are having a record-breaking April.”
Of the roughly 509,700 overnight visitors to the county this season, McNeal estimated that at least 25 percent were Canadians, who she said comprise the largest segment of our international guests.
Bela Nagy, director of golf at Sandridge Golf Club, said the county-owned, two-course complex has been packed with Canadian snowbirds this winter.
“I’d say a majority of our tee times have gone to Canadians,” he said. “We see them out here pretty much every day, and they’ve been here all season.”
With this past winter bringing especially harsh weather to Canada, managers of local hotels, restaurants and shops will tell you the same.
“I work with a lot of other tourism directors around Florida, and I know we get more Canadian visitors in the southern half of the state than they do up north,” McNeal said. “Our weather is a big reason for that.
“We’re thrilled they come here,” she added. “Canadians have a tremendous impact on our local economy.”
Yet U.S. immigration law allows Canadians to stay in this country for no more than 182 days – up to six months, less one day – in any 12-month period.
One day longer and they’re legally required to file a U.S. tax return.
And just so you know: The Canadian government provides them with no relief for any taxes paid here.
“From a tax perspective, long-term visitors who typically spend four or more months in the U.S. each calendar year may be deemed resident aliens for tax purposes,” CSA President Bob Slack said in a statement posted on the group’s website. “In order to be treated as a non-resident alien, these individuals need to claim a ‘closer connection’ to Canada by filing IRS Form 8840 annually.”
Gerry Browning, a Canadian who has been wintering in Vero Beach since he retired in 1990, has been filing forms and counting his days in the U.S. for years.
Browning, 80, also spends more than $3,000 per year to purchase health insurance for the time he and his wife, Ruth, spend in the U.S., because Canada’s taxpayer-funded, national health insurance plan doesn’t cover them here.
As is the case with most Canadian snowbirds, he would welcome the option to stay a month or two longer and supports the JOLT (Jobs Originated through Launching Travel) Act – legislation that would create a new Canadian Retiree Visa allowing Canadians aged 50 and older to stay in the U.S. for up to eight months without having to file a U.S. tax return, if they own or rent a home here.
Florida tourism officials say the JOLT Act would result in longer stays and boost Canadians’ spending in the state by as much as 30 percent. It also might prompt more Canadians to purchase homes here, despite a weakened Canadian dollar.
The proposed legislation, however, has been packaged as part of a comprehensive immigration bill that has been bogged down in Congress by the debate over security at the U.S.-Mexico border and is unlikely to get a vote anytime soon.
The CSA believes the Jolt Act has enough bipartisan backing to become law – legislators in Florida, Arizona, Nevada and several states along the U.S.-Canadian border have expressed support – if it can be separated from the immigration bill.
“There’s been a lot of talk about it,” said Browning, one of the many Canadians who play winter golf at Sandridge. “It’d be great for us if they could get it passed. I think you’d see a lot of Canadians stay here longer.
“We come to Florida to get away from the cold, but, some years, it’s still cold when we go back home.”
For the record: Ontario and other provinces allow their citizens to be outside Canada for at least seven months without losing their national healthcare benefits, though Canadian travelers must buy insurance to cover any out-of-country medical expenses.
But because of the potential tax implications, most of Florida’s Canadian snowbirds are forced to carefully keep track of when they arrive and when they must return home.
“There’s really no trouble with the Canadian government,” Browning said. “The worst that could happen is you temporarily lose your health insurance, but you can re-establish your residence in the province in six months and get it back.
“I don’t know why the U.S. government is so concerned with us, considering what we do for the economy,” he added. “I’ve been coming down for years, and I still don’t know how the U.S. knows when we go back.”
Browning, though, wasn’t taking any chances: He and his wife left Vero Beach on Sunday to return to Canada. He said he plans to be back here in November.
By then, he hopes, the U.S. will allow him and his visiting countrymen – including my Canadian tennis buddies – to stay here longer.
I hope so, too.
The Canadians I’ve met here are good people who respect our community and do wonderful things for the local economy.
Let’s not punish them for crossing the wrong border.
(Wink)