Finding a US brokerage for a Canadian resident can be challenging but it is doable. I strongly encourage you to do this BEFORE moving, as you will likely have more options at that point. Some brokerages allow you to keep accounts while living in Canada, but only to open these accounts while living in the US.

Also, if you’re looking for advice on choosing a Canadian brokerage as a US citizen, we cover that as well.

Key Considerations for US Brokerages for Canadian Residents

A couple of key pieces of advice before we dive into the details:

1. Laws and policies can change. A US brokerage that is willing to work with Canadian residents one day could change its policy the next. Thus, the recommendations below are not ironclad. And please let me know in the comments if you find that any of the below is out of date.
2. Because things can change, I personally recommend having accounts at a couple of US brokerages that are willing to work with Canadian residents. I generally favor simplicity, but I’ll take the slight complexity having multiple accounts adds in this case. My rationale is that having multiple accounts gives you options if a policy changes and you need to transfer an account to in a hurry.
3. Don’t lie about your address (e.g. by using the US address of a friend or family member). People do it but, to me, it is an unnecessary risk.
   • That said, if you have an account at a US brokerage that doesn’t work with Canadian residents, I would encourage you to transferring out the account instead of updating your address to your Canadian one.
   • And if you are lying about your address, I’d strongly recommend also using a VPN as I have heard a few stories about brokerages using IP addresses to flag people as being in Canada.

Below, I’ll highlight some of the brokerages that I’ve found to be more Canada-friendly. I’ll also suggest some questions to ask when looking for a potential cross-border brokerage for US accounts.

Rating US Brokerages for Canadian Residents

Friendly	Somewhat Friendly	Unfriendly
Charles Schwab Interactive Brokers1	Fidelity TIAA	Vanguard

• Friendly – These brokerages allow US persons to open accounts from Canada as new customers.
• Somewhat Friendly – These brokerages allow US persons to keep existing accounts while in Canada. They may also allow existing customers to open new accounts.
• Unfriendly – These brokerages either freeze or close all accounts belonging to US persons in Canada.

By “accounts” in the above, I am primarily referring to retirement accounts. Few US brokerages are willing to hold taxable accounts for non-resident US persons. Some US citizens have kept taxable accounts with both Interactive Brokers and TIAA as Canadian residents, but my general recommendation for taxable accounts is to transfer them to a US-friendly Canadian brokerage. And again, these policies can and do change so please contact these firms directly to confirm.

Canadian Residency Questions for US Brokerages

Here is a list of questions that I would recommend asking potential brokerages to determine if they are a good fit for cross-border investing.

Do you allow US citizens who are Canadian residents to hold taxable accounts and trade in them normally?

Answer we’re looking for: Yes.

This may be tricky to find, but it is possible that TIAA or Interactive Brokers may allow this. Regardless, the good news is that it’s easy to move your taxable account to Canada as a non-taxable event.

Do you allow US citizens who are Canadian residents to hold retirement accounts and trade in them normally?

Answer we’re looking for: Yes.

Many US brokerages allow this, including Charles Schwab, Fidelity, and TIAA.

Do you allow US citizens who are Canadian residents to open new accounts?

Answer we’re looking for: Yes.

This can also be tricky to find, but I’d recommend checking with Charles Schwab or Interactive Brokers. Other brokerages (like Fidelity) may allow you to open a new retirement account if you have an existing account of another type with them.

If you need to open an IRA account to roll something over into and you’re not having any luck, another possibility would be to use IRA Financial and set up a self-directed IRA. This is a more expensive option than a traditional brokerage, but it could be useful in a pinch.

What are your account fees and commission prices?

Answer we’re looking for: As low as possible. All of the brokerages mentioned here are good but, depending on your investments, some might be better than others.

1. Interactive Brokers is a bit less user friendly that the other brokerages referenced here, any may not be suitable for all DIY investors. ↩︎