What happens to my remaining Home Buyers' Plan balance if I leave Canada?

Leaving Canada with an outstanding Home Buyers' Plan balance doesn't make the remaining repayment obligation disappear, and it's a trap that catches a real number of people who move abroad without addressing their HBP balance first. Departing Canada has genuine tax consequences for an outstanding HBP balance, and those consequences generally accelerate what you'd otherwise owe, rather than simply letting the existing multi-year schedule continue quietly in the background while you're living elsewhere.

Because departure from Canada affects your tax residency status and how CRA treats your RRSP more broadly, the specific mechanics of how your remaining HBP balance gets dealt with depend on the details of your situation and the current rules at the time you leave. This isn't something to guess at or assume works the same as if you'd stayed. If a move abroad is on the horizon and you still have a Home Buyers' Plan balance outstanding, sorting out exactly what happens to that balance before you go, rather than after, is the sensible order of operations, since unwinding a problem after departure is generally harder than planning around it beforehand.