Moving to Manitoba from the US

How much does moving to Manitoba cost?

What you'll pay to move to Manitoba from the US depends on three things: the volume of your shipment, how far your home is from the border and whether you want packing. There's no flat rate. A survey comes first, then a written estimate, worked out the same way as any other move except for the route.

What moves the price up or down?

• Volume. The survey puts a cubic-foot number on it.
• Your starting point. A shipment loaded in Minnesota has a much shorter US road leg than one loaded in Florida.
• Packing. If you'd rather not pack it all yourself, read about packing and unpacking before pickup.

Which fees come with the car?

Agency charges. They sit outside any moving estimate. The Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) charges a declaration fee of CAN$325.00 plus GST/HST, and the fee applies to cars under 15 years old. Air conditioning adds a CAN$100 excise tax, according to CBSA's vehicle memorandum. In Manitoba the safety inspection has no set price, because each inspection station decides what to charge.

Then the 25% surtax. Customs Notice 25-15 has applied it to US-origin motor vehicles, new or used, since April 9, 2025. But the notice leaves out goods under a Chapter 98 tariff item unless its Schedule 2 names that item, and 9807.00.00, the item for settlers' effects, isn't named. Where CUSMA (Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement) treatment applies to the car, only 85% of its value for duty counts toward the surtax by default. How your car is classified is for CBSA to decide.

How do you book a Manitoba survey?

Pick up the phone. (855) 822-2722 is answered from 08:00 to 20:00 every day of the week, and one call sets the survey date. We put the figure in writing once the survey's done. Starting a long way from the border? Our long-distance moving page covers the domestic stretch.

Moving to Manitoba: what you should know

Most of what happens at the border is federal: CBSA rules on your household goods and your car, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on pets, and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on the car's export. Manitoba's part comes after you arrive, and MPI and Manitoba Health set most of its deadlines.

Our Canada moving guide lays out the federal side for every province.

Do your goods enter Manitoba duty-free?

That depends on whether CBSA treats you as a settler. In customs terms, a settler is someone entering Canada to establish a residence for the first time and planning to keep it for one year or more. The Definition of Settler Regulations leave out anyone arriving to study or to work for 36 months or less. Their goods fall outside the settler rules, so ask CBSA how yours will be handled.

Duty and taxes are waived on a settler's goods as long as you owned, possessed and used them before you got to Canada. Anything you lease is the exception: in CBSA's view it isn't yours, so duty and taxes apply. List everything you're bringing in two copies, giving each item's value and, where it has them, its make, model and serial number. At your first point of entry, the border services officer uses that list to complete Form BSF186, the Personal Effects Accounting Document, and hands you a copy as a receipt. Keep it. You'll need that copy to claim whatever reaches Canada after you. CBSA lets you prepare BSF186 ahead of time, and its moving to Canada page sets out the main conditions. One condition lasts a year. Anything sold or given away within 12 months of import loses its exemption, and the duty and taxes come due.

Customs status and immigration status are separate things. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) manages the selection, settlement and integration of newcomers, and no moving company has a say in that.

What if some boxes reach Manitoba after you?

Yes, if they were listed. CBSA's name for them is goods to follow. Anything missing from the list you gave the officer at the border loses the duty- and tax-free treatment when it turns up. The Customs Tariff sets no deadline for listed goods, though it's worth confirming the details with CBSA. But alcohol, tobacco and vaping products can't follow at all.

What needs declaring at the Manitoba border?

• Alcohol. Settlers can bring either 1.5 litres of wine or 1.14 litres of any alcoholic beverage, carried with them on arrival. The minimum age is set by the province or territory where you enter Canada: 18 if you cross in Manitoba, Alberta or Quebec, and 19 anywhere else.
• Tobacco. The cap is 50 cigars, 200 cigarettes, 200 tobacco sticks and 200 grams of manufactured tobacco, and none of it can be sent on later. For tobacco the age is 18, the figure CBSA's I Declare page gives for a personal exemption.
• Firearms. All of them go on your declaration to the border services officer. To import a non-restricted firearm as a Canadian resident, you need a Possession and Acquisition Licence.
• Cannabis stays behind: Health Canada says crossing the border with it is illegal, even for medical use.
• Food, plants, firewood, soil. Food, plants and animal products must be declared. Firewood needs a permit, and soil on vehicles, equipment or footwear usually gets them refused.
• Cash. Arriving with CAN$10,000 or more in currency or monetary instruments means a report to CBSA.

From US title to Manitoba plates

The car's paperwork starts in the US. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has to receive the export documents at least 72 hours before a used vehicle leaves by road, under 19 CFR 192.2. Electronic Export Information (EEI) must be filed for a used self-propelled vehicle whatever its value, under 15 CFR 30.2. And the filing citation is due to CBP on the same 72-hour clock, under 15 CFR 30.4. A lease or a recorded lien adds written permission from the leasing company or lienholder.

In Canada, a car joins the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program if it's less than 15 years old on the import date, isn't flagged inadmissible on the Vehicle Import Compatibility List and has no outstanding safety recalls. It also needs its original US certificate of title. Older cars fall outside RIV, but CBSA's own requirements still apply. The declaration goes on Form 1, the Vehicle Import Form. The RIV inspection has a 45-day window from the date of import; past that, RIV sends the importer of record a delinquent notice. CBSA's vehicle memorandum counts a financed car as yours for settler purposes; a car leased in the US fails that ownership test.

Then MPI. For a car from the US, it wants the CBSA Vehicle Import Form and proof of ownership: for a US purchase, the certificate of title. Any vehicle brought into Manitoba, including one owned by a family moving there, needs a safety Certificate of Inspection. It has to come from Manitoba or from an approved program in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario or Quebec. New residents have three months to get Manitoba registration and insurance for a passenger car or van.

Sales tax is the last piece. A vehicle can come in without the 7% Retail Sales Tax (RST) when you take up residence, provided you lived outside Manitoba for at least 6 consecutive months, bought it at least 30 days before moving in and don't use it commercially. Proof of all three goes to MPI, or to an Autopac agent that handles MPI registrations, when you register.

Do dogs and cats need papers?

Because the CFIA treats the United States as a country not free of rabies, a dog older than 3 months and a cat aged 3 months or more must arrive with a valid rabies vaccination certificate. A vaccination given before the dog was 3 months old doesn't count, by the CFIA's rule. Puppies between 3 and 8 months old travelling alone need a Veterinary Certificate of Health on top of the rabies certificate. No microchip or tattoo is needed for a pet dog or cat.

Does the 2026 surtax apply?

The 2026 surtax took effect on September 8, 2026, under CBSA Customs Notice 26-23. It applies to certain goods of US origin, at 15%, 25% or 50% of their value for duty. Chapters 98 and 99 of the tariff are left out unless Schedule 4 to the Order names the item. And the settlers' effects item, 9807.00.00, doesn't appear in Schedule 4. CBSA decides how your goods are classified, so take any item that might not count as a settler's effect to the agency.

Your first weeks in Manitoba: a checklist

1. Apply for Manitoba Health coverage. Canadian citizens and permanent residents moving from outside Canada may apply for health coverage from their date of arrival in Manitoba. Residents then get a health card, or registration certificate, confirming eligibility under The Health Services Insurance Act. The steps are on Manitoba Health's moving to Manitoba page.
2. Gather the documents. The application needs a copy of your passport, every IRCC document issued to you, your spouse and your children under 18, and proof that you live in Manitoba.
3. Check your permit type. Work permit holders may apply from the date the permit was issued if it runs at least 12 consecutive months. But study permit holders haven't been eligible since September 1, 2018.
4. Count your days. Eligibility rests on making your home in Manitoba and being physically there for 183 days in a calendar year.
5. Know what isn't covered. Manitoba Health doesn't pay for land ambulance trips to a hospital, and the patient cost is currently CAN$250.
6. Exchange your licence at MPI. A valid US licence must be swapped for a Manitoba one within three months. MPI lists a CAN$75 licence fee, keeps the licence you surrender and issues a temporary licence valid for up to 45 days until the permanent one comes by mail. And MPI asks newcomers to bring their driving and insurance records.
7. Register and insure the car. Book the Certificate of Inspection, then get Manitoba registration and insurance within three months of becoming a resident.
8. Plan for taxes. Manitoba doesn't use the HST: the Canada Revenue Agency lists 5% GST and a separate 7% PST, which Manitoba Finance calls the Retail Sales Tax (RST). Provincial income tax for 2026 starts at 10.8% on the first CAN$47,564 of taxable income, on top of federal tax. Which province's rate applies depends on where you live on December 31, 2026.

Is Manitoba a good place to live?

Life in Manitoba centers on Winnipeg, a metropolitan area of 951,758 people in Statistics Canada's estimate for July 1, 2025, where the average two-bedroom rent was CAN$1,571 in October 2025. Winters are cold, the economy is spread over many industries, and English and French both have official status in the legislature and courts.

What does living in Winnipeg cost?

Housing first. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), in its October 2025 Rental Market Survey, put the average rent for a two-bedroom private apartment in the Winnipeg metro area at CAN$1,571 a month, compared with CAN$1,507 a year earlier. The vacancy rate for private apartments rose to 2.8%, and to 3.0% for two-bedroom units. Outside Winnipeg, the Brandon census agglomeration held 62,723 people on July 1, 2025, by Statistics Canada's estimate.

How cold does Winnipeg get?

Environment and Climate Change Canada's 1991-2020 normals for Winnipeg Richardson Airport give January a daily average of -16.3 °C and July 19.5 °C, and annual snowfall averages 126.2 cm. And Brandon's January is slightly colder, at -16.7 °C.

Is French used in Manitoba?

In law and in some public offices, yes. Section 23 of the Manitoba Act, 1870 gives English and French official status in the legislative and judicial spheres, so provincial statutes and regulations are passed in both languages and the courts must be able to work in either. The government adopted a French Language Services Policy in 1989, and its current policy delivers French services through Bilingual Service Centres in designated areas.

What drives Manitoba's economy?

Variety more than any single industry. Manitoba's Budget 2026 calls the economy diversified, with nine industries each contributing at least five per cent of provincial GDP in 2024. It estimates real GDP growth of 1.6% for 2025, and the forecasts it cites put 2026 at 1.3%, seventh among the provinces, then 1.7% in 2027, with unemployment forecast at 5.8% for 2026. But the United States remains Manitoba's largest export destination, and the budget flags US tariffs as a risk for agriculture and manufacturing.

To plan a move to Winnipeg, Brandon or another Manitoba town, start with a call to (855) 822-2722, and the survey and written estimate follow. USDOT #4176875 and MC #1607491 are the numbers behind the US road leg. For the federal rules, read our Canada moving guide, and for other destinations, the international moving page.