Moving on a BudgetAddress Change and Mail Forwarding in Canada: Canada Post Setup Plus the Full Notification List
Mail forwarding catches the letters you forgot. It does not forward parcels, it does not update a single government record, and its price depends on your move. Here is the setup, the gaps, and the complete list — in the order that protects you.
Every move produces the same quiet fear: something important is travelling to the old address. A tax slip, a licence renewal, a bank card, a parcel you paid for. Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding service is the safety net for part of that fear — a genuinely useful service that is also routinely misunderstood. Readers buy it believing it moves all their mail, at a single national price, and updates their address everywhere that matters. None of those three beliefs survives Canada Post’s own pages. This guide works from those pages: what the service costs and why the price varies, what it explicitly does not forward, how to set it up in advance so it is live on moving day, and then the full address-change list that forwarding never replaces — because forwarding is a net, and nets are what you use while you do the real work properly.
Forwarding is a safety net, not a change of address
Mail Forwarding for moves redirects mail addressed to you at your old address to your new one for a fixed period. Canada Post offers the moves service in two durations: 12 months, which Canada Post recommends so that annual and infrequent mailings — tax documents, licence renewals, financial statements, membership renewals — are still caught, and 4 months, a shorter, cheaper option that can be extended before it expires. Pricing is not a single figure, and any guide that quotes one flat price should be distrusted: Canada Post states that pricing varies depending on how long you want the service, how far you are moving — within your province, across provinces, or to the U.S. and international destinations — and whether the move is temporary or permanent. Third-party price tables conflict with each other on both durations and amounts, which is why this guide deliberately states no single price: check the current figure for your exact duration and distance on Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding page when you buy, because that page is the only price that will be charged.
| Your situation | Duration to choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent move, any distance | 12 months | Catches annual mail: tax slips, renewals, statements that arrive once a year |
| Permanent move, confident every sender is updated | 4 months, extend if needed | Covers the high-volume first months; extend before expiry if forwarded mail is still arriving |
| Temporary relocation, returning to the address | Temporary service (3-month minimum) | Different service type; mail returns to the original address at the end |
What is NOT forwarded — read this before you buy
This is the section that saves the most money and disappointment, and the one most explainers bury. With a valid forwarding service in place, addressed letter mail is redirected. The following are not forwarded, per Canada Post’s published list:
- Parcels — all of them. Priority, Xpresspost, Xpresspost Certified, Expedited Parcel, and Regular Parcel are not forwarded. If you are expecting a parcel, you must tell the sender your new address directly, even with forwarding in place. Online orders placed before the move need their delivery address changed with the retailer, or redirected to a pickup point you control.
- Prepaid envelopes.
- Neighbourhood Mail and Postal Code Targeting — unaddressed advertising and flyer products, which stay at the old address by design.
- Lettermail bearing a “DO NOT FORWARD” endorsement, and Personalized Mail addressed to you “OR OCCUPANT” or similar — both are delivered as addressed or not at all.
- Registered Mail to a forwarding address outside Canada, newspapers and flyers delivered by other parties, personal mail delivered to a business or institution address, mail at a shared postal address, and mail received through a privately administered mailbox company.
The practical consequence: forwarding protects your letters, not your shopping. In the two weeks before the move, audit every expected delivery — orders in transit, subscriptions that ship physical goods, pharmacy deliveries — and update the shipping address with each sender individually. That audit, not the forwarding purchase, is what keeps parcels out of a stranger’s hallway.
Set up forwarding in advance: the tested procedure
- Buy in advance — the service cannot start tomorrow. Canada Post directs buyers to purchase in advance of the move: bought online, the service can begin as early as five days after purchase for residential customers; bought at a post office, as early as three days after purchase. Work backwards from moving day and buy at least a week ahead so the start date lands on or just before the day you leave.
- Gather what you need. You will need government-issued photo ID — a driver’s licence or passport are among the accepted examples — plus your old and new addresses and the names to be covered. All recipients must share the same original and forwarding addresses; bought online, up to eight individual names can be included, with the first four included in the base fee and additional names available for a fee.
- Choose the service type and duration. Select Mail Forwarding for moves if you are not returning to the original address, or the temporary-relocation service if you are. Then choose 12 months or 4 months using the framework above, and confirm the price shown for your distance band before paying — within province, across provinces, and international are priced differently.
- Buy online or at a post office. Online: enter your address and identification information, choose the length of service, and pay by credit card; if your identity cannot be verified online, you will receive a barcode to take to a post office with your ID to finalize the order. At a post office: show your identification and pay at the counter.
- Record the details and calendar the expiry. Save the receipt and confirmation, note the exact end date, and set a reminder two weeks before expiry. If forwarded mail is still arriving near expiry, extend before the service ends — after expiry, mail delivery resumes to the original address and the gap cannot be recovered.
- Tell parcel senders anyway. Complete the parcel audit from the previous section the same day you buy forwarding. The purchase and the audit are one task with two halves.
The full address-change list, in tiers
Forwarding buys you time; this list is what you spend the time on. Work it in tiers — a missed government deadline has legal consequences, a missed bank update has fraud and access consequences, and a missed subscription has neither.
Tier 1 — Government records (first week). Canada Revenue Agency: update your address as soon as possible so benefit payments and notices are not interrupted — online through CRA My Account, by phone, or by mailing or faxing Form RC325, the Address Change Request (a signed letter must include your social insurance number, new address, and moving date). Service Canada and federal benefits: update each program you actually receive — employment insurance, pension, and child benefits are separate records; do not assume one federal update propagates to the others. Driver’s licence, vehicle permit, and health card: these are provincial, deadlines vary by province and are short, so treat them as first-week tasks and check your own province’s service directly. As a sourced example, Ontario requires the health-card address to be updated within 30 days of the change, through ServiceOntario online, in person, or by mail — and Ontario’s combined service also covers the driver’s licence and vehicle permit, which carry an even shorter published deadline. Your province’s numbers will differ; the discipline does not. Elections registers and voter information can be updated with the relevant federal and provincial elections bodies.
Tier 2 — Money and protection (first two weeks). Banks and credit cards (update each institution; confirm new cards and statements go to the new address), home or tenant and auto insurers — an insurer rating a home or vehicle at the wrong address is a coverage problem, so notify your insurer or broker before or on moving day and confirm coverage at both addresses during the move itself, lenders and investment accounts, and your employer’s payroll and benefits records.
Tier 3 — Household and everyday (first month). Utilities and telecom accounts not already transferred, doctors, dentist, pharmacist, and vet, schools and childcare, subscriptions and memberships (streaming, magazines, gyms, loyalty programs), delivery accounts and saved addresses in every shopping app — the saved “home” address in a food or retail app is the single most common source of parcels to an old address — and friends, family, and professional contacts who still send physical mail.
What success looks like
You have done this properly when forwarding was live on moving day — bought at least a week ahead, with the start date confirmed — and the first forwarded letters arrive bearing the yellow redirection label, proving the net is working. No parcel went to the old address, because every sender was told directly. Tier 1 is closed within the first week with confirmations saved: CRA updated, provincial licence and health records updated inside your province’s deadlines. And when forwarding expires — at 4 or 12 months — almost nothing is still being forwarded, because the list, not the net, did the work. If a steady stream is still arriving at expiry, extend the service and finish the tier it belongs to. The net expiring on an empty net is the success check; the net expiring under load is the warning.
FAQ
How do I set up mail forwarding with Canada Post when I move?
Buy Mail Forwarding for moves online or at a post office, in advance: the earliest start is five days after an online purchase or three days after a post-office purchase. You will need government-issued photo ID, both addresses, and the names to cover, and you will choose 4 or 12 months and pay the price for your distance band shown on Canada Post’s page.
Does Canada Post forward parcels?
No. Parcels — including Xpresspost and Regular Parcel — are not forwarded, along with prepaid envelopes and several other categories listed in this guide. Tell every sender your new address directly for anything shipped.
How do I change my address with the CRA?
Online through CRA My Account, by phone, or by mailing or faxing Form RC325, Address Change Request, to your tax centre. Do it promptly after moving — the CRA advises that payments may stop if your address is not updated, even when you use direct deposit.
How long do I have to update my driver’s licence after moving?
It is set by your province and the deadline is short — measured in days in some provinces, weeks in others. Check your provincial service (ServiceOntario, ICBC, SAAQ, or your province’s equivalent) in the first week and complete it there; Ontario’s health-card deadline, for example, is 30 days, and its licence deadline is shorter still.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information only. Canada Post prices, durations, and provincial deadlines change — verify the current figures on canadapost.ca, canada.ca, and your provincial service before you act.