Moving to Alberta from the US

What a move to Alberta costs depends on how much you ship and where the shipment starts. No flat rate for Canada is published anywhere on this site. Each move is priced after a survey and set down in writing, so the figure reflects your volume and your starting point instead of a guess made over the phone.

What moves the price of an Alberta move?

• Volume. Cubic feet, counted room by room during the survey.
• Where you start. A load leaving Montana and a load leaving Texas are different US road legs.
• Packing. Rather not wrap the kitchen yourself? See packing and unpacking.

Your car brings bills of its own, and they aren't ours. For a vehicle less than 15 years old the Registrar of Imported Vehicles charges CAN$325.00 plus GST for the Vehicle Import Form declaration, and a vehicle with an air conditioning unit owes a CAN$100 excise tax. Alberta then adds the out-of-province inspection, priced by the facility rather than the province, and mandatory insurance bought from a private insurance company in Alberta.

How do you get an Alberta estimate?

Call (855) 822-2722. Somebody answers seven days a week, 08:00 to 20:00. We'll set the survey, measure the shipment and send the estimate in writing. And if part of your household is going further than Canada, our international moving page covers the ocean side of the work.

CBSA describes a settler as a person entering Canada to establish a residence for the first time, for a year or more. Settlers may bring personal and household goods in free of duty and taxes when the agency's conditions are met. People arriving for employment of 36 months or less, or to study, sit outside that definition.

Settlers' effects and Form BSF186

To bring goods in duty- and tax-free, CBSA says you must have owned, possessed and used them abroad before you arrive. Leased goods fail that test, because the agency doesn't treat you as their owner.

Write out everything you're importing, twice over: value, make, model, serial number where one exists. Hand a copy to the border services officer at your first point of entry, even if your shipment hasn't arrived yet. The officer fills in Form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, from that list, and your copy is what you present to claim goods that turn up later. CBSA says the form can also be completed before you arrive, which speeds up clearance. Its guidance sits on the moving to Canada page.

One condition catches people much later. Sell or give away an imported item within one year, and the duty and taxes you were spared fall due.

How does a goods to follow list work?

Anything reaching Canada after you counts as goods to follow, and it enters duty- and tax-free only if it appeared on the list you handed over at entry. CBSA's settlers' effects memorandum, D2-2-1, says no time limit applies to goods listed to follow. Alcohol and tobacco are the exception. Under the tariff they count as settlers' effects only when they accompany you on arrival, so put any timing question to CBSA rather than to a forum.

Which goods face limits at the border?

• Alcohol and tobacco. A settler may include either wine up to 1.5 litres or other alcoholic beverages up to 1.14 litres, plus set tobacco quantities, and only among goods that accompany you at arrival. The minimum age is the one in the province where you enter Canada, which for Alberta is 18.
• Firearms. All firearms have to be declared to a border services officer on arrival. CBSA says visitors can't import prohibited firearms, prohibited devices or prohibited weapons under any circumstances, and a Canadian resident needs a Possession and Acquisition Licence to import non-restricted firearms.
• Cannabis. Health Canada says taking cannabis across the border is illegal, medical use included.
• Food, plants, firewood, soil. Food, plants, animals and related products must be declared, firewood can't come in without a permit, and goods carrying soil, from garden tools to the vehicle itself, are usually refused. Used mattresses need a certificate that they were cleaned and fumigated, although the tariff exempts mattresses imported as settlers' effects.
• Cash. Currency or monetary instruments valued at CAN$10,000 or more must be reported when you arrive.

Bringing your car into Alberta

Start on the American side. Under 19 CFR 192.2 and 15 CFR 30.4, Electronic Export Information is filed and the export documents go to US Customs and Border Protection at least 72 hours before a used self-propelled vehicle leaves by road, with the vehicle itself presented at export. A leased car, or one carrying a recorded lien, also needs a letter from the leasing company or lienholder expressly allowing the export. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles advises sending supporting documents at least 3 business days ahead.

Then the federal side in Canada. A vehicle entering the RIV program has to be less than 15 years old on the date of importation, absent from the inadmissible side of the Vehicle Import Compatibility List, and clear of outstanding manufacturer safety recalls, with its original US certificate of title. The border declaration itself is Transport Canada's Vehicle Import Form, Form 1. RIV sends a delinquent notice when the inspection isn't finished within 45 days of import. Leasing breaks the settler ownership test. Financing doesn't. And a settler's vehicle may not be sold for a period of up to 12 months following arrival in Canada.

Out-of-province inspection and Alberta plates

Here the calendar tightens. A vehicle registered outside Alberta must pass an out-of-province inspection before licence plates are issued, unless an exemption applies, and that provincial inspection is separate from the federal RIV one. The Certificate of Inspection has to reach an Alberta registry agent within 14 days of the completed inspection, or the whole inspection is done again. Fail it, and repairs get 10 days from the original inspection before another full inspection is required.

Registration runs on Alberta's Operator Licensing and Vehicle Control Regulation: 90 days from the move to register a vehicle, or the shorter period while the US registration stays current. For a vehicle bought outside Canada, an Alberta registry agent wants proof of ownership, the inspection, and a completed Transport Canada Vehicle Import form, Form 1, or equivalent RIV documents. Mandatory insurance comes from a private insurance company in Alberta, arranged before registration.

Pets crossing into Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency doesn't place the United States among rabies-free countries. A dog older than 3 months needs a valid rabies vaccination certificate, and so does a domestic cat 3 months or older. A dog older than 3 months but under 8 months arriving without its owner also needs a valid Veterinary Certificate of Health. Vaccination has to have happened when the dog was at least 3 months of age. But Canada asks for no microchip or tattoo for personal pet dogs or cats.

Does the 2026 surtax reach settlers' effects?

Since September 8, 2026, certain goods originating in the US carry a surtax of 15%, 25% or 50% of the value for duty. Goods classified under Chapters 98 and 99 of the tariff are exempt unless the tariff item is specifically listed in Schedule 4 to the Order, and 9807.00.00, the settlers' item, isn't among them. Read that way, goods qualifying as settlers' effects fall inside the Chapter 98 exemption. Confirm it with CBSA, particularly for anything that wouldn't qualify.

Your first weeks in Alberta: a checklist

1. Apply for the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan. All new and returning eligible Alberta residents must be registered for AHCIP to receive insured hospital and health services. Alberta Health says people moving, immigrating or returning to Alberta from outside Canada might be eligible for coverage from the date they established residency, and must apply within 3 months of establishing residency and provide all the required documents. The rules sit on Alberta's AHCIP moving page.
2. Check which start date applies to you. The first day of the third month rule on that same page covers people arriving from another province or territory. It isn't what Alberta Health states for arrivals from outside Canada, and the two get mixed up easily.
3. Bring originals to a registry agent. An AHCIP application has to prove Alberta residency, identity, and legal entitlement to be in and remain in Canada. Eligibility also asks for a permanent home in Alberta and a commitment to being physically present in Alberta for at least 183 days in any 12-month period. The registry agent takes the form, and there's no charge for that service.
4. Exchange the driver's licence. Living in Alberta permanently means exchanging your current driver's licence within 90 days of becoming a resident, even if you travel outside Alberta during that time. Holders of a US class 5, 6 or 7 licence exchange without additional testing requirements; other classes complete all testing requirements.
5. Expect to give up the old card. The Operator Licensing and Vehicle Control Regulation requires people to surrender any and all out-of-Alberta issued driver's licences before an Alberta licence is issued. Drivers with less than 2 years of licensed experience may be placed in Alberta's Graduated Driver Licensing program; ask a registry agent how that reads for a US licence.
6. Book the vehicle inspection early. The inspection, the 14-day certificate window and the 90-day registration deadline run in sequence, so an early booking leaves room for repairs and a re-inspection.
7. Budget for one sales tax rather than two. Alberta has no provincial sales tax, and the Canada Revenue Agency lists a 5% GST rate with 0% PST for the province. The provincial government also lists no provincial capital taxes, no payroll taxes and no health premiums among its fiscal features.
8. Read IRCC's pages first. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada lists permanent residence programs such as Express Entry and family sponsorship, plus a work permit page for people who want to work in Canada for a few years. Your right to live or work in Canada is IRCC's call, not a mover's business.

Alberta keeps drawing people, and the reasons show up in tax tables, rent surveys and migration counts rather than in brochures. The province led the country in interprovincial migration for fifteen straight quarters, it charges no provincial sales tax, and Calgary rents sit where CMHC's survey puts them. The official sources fill in the rest.

Why does Alberta keep gaining residents?

Numbers first. Statistics Canada estimated Alberta's population at 5,057,077 on April 1, 2026. Alberta's Office of Statistics and Information reports that among the four largest provinces, Alberta was the only one to register positive population growth in the first quarter of 2026, and that the province continued to lead the country in interprovincial migration for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, recording the strongest net inflow among all the provinces.

The two big cities show the same pull. Between July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, the Edmonton and Calgary census metropolitan areas grew 3.0% and 2.9%, among the largest rates of all CMAs in Canada, and they took the largest net gains from interprovincial migration, 11,742 and 11,195 people.

What does renting cost in Calgary?

CMHC's October 2025 Rental Market Survey put the average rent for a two-bedroom private apartment in the Calgary CMA at CAN$1,914 a month, with a private apartment vacancy rate of 5.0% across all bedroom types. Calgary's census metropolitan area was the province's largest in the 2021 Census, with Edmonton close behind.

How cold are Calgary winters?

Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1991-2020 normals for Calgary Airport give a January daily average of -7.6 °C, 138.7 cm of snowfall a year and 445.4 mm of total precipitation. Those are normals, not a forecast. But they are the kind of detail that should shape your first weeks, from utility hookups to a registry agent visit you'd rather not make in February.

What taxes do Albertans pay?

Alberta has no provincial sales tax, and the federal GST still applies: the Canada Revenue Agency lists it at 5%, with 0% PST for the province. On income, Alberta introduced a new 8% bracket effective January 1, 2025, on the first CAN$60,000 of income, and for 2026 that 8% rate covers taxable income up to CAN$61,200. Treasury Board and Finance measured Alberta's 2026-27 tax advantage at CAN$16.9 billion in Budget 2026, a government comparison against other provinces' rates as they stood in February 2026.

The economy behind those numbers leans industrial. Treasury Board and Finance reported that industrial production, including oil and gas extraction, accounted for a third of Alberta's GDP in 2024, the largest share of all the provinces, while real GDP by industry grew 2.7% that year.

Ready to plan the move? Call (855) 822-2722 and ask for a survey and a written estimate. Our US road leg runs under USDOT #4176875 and MC #1607491.