Canadian citizen living in the US (TN → H-1B) — looking for life insurance that still works if we move back to Canada or stay in US
My wife and I are both Canadian citizens who moved from Canada to the US in 2025. I’m currently on TN status and transitioning to H-1B, while my wife is still on TN.
We’re looking into getting individual life insurance outside of our employers because I don’t want to repeat a mistake I made previously. When I worked for an employer in Canada, I had employer-provided life insurance of roughly 3–4× my salary, but I never purchased an individual policy. Now that I’m older, I’m realizing that getting independent coverage earlier would have been better.
Our situation:
* Both Canadian citizens, currently living in Texas
* i am 35 and wife is 33
* no major illness, i was diagnosed with Sleep apnea in Canada
* combined yearly : ~$300k USD base + ~$120k stock compensation
* have 2 mortgages: Canadian home and Texas home
* No credit card debt
* Cars are paid off
* We have roughly $200k+ of liquid/investable assets between US and Canadian accounts
* We are also planning to start a family
I’m thinking somewhere around $1.5M–$2M of coverage per person, but I’m open to being told that’s too much or too little.
The bigger question is what type of policy makes sense for someone in our situation.
I’m looking at:
- Regular 20- or 30-year term life insurance
- Return-of-premium term insurance
- IUL / permanent insurance
- Canadian life insurance purchased while we’re still Canadian citizens
- US life insurance that can continue to be maintained if we eventually move back to Canada
We don’t know whether we’ll stay in the US permanently. We could potentially move back to Canada in the future, so portability and what happens to the policy after becoming Canadian residents again are important to us.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually been in a similar situation:
* Canadian → US
* TN/H-1B or another temporary US status
* Bought life insurance in the US
* Later moved back to Canada
* Or purchased a Canadian policy while living in the US
What did you do, and would you do the same thing again?
Also, if anyone has experience with return-of-premium term vs regular term, I’d love to hear whether you thought the extra premium was actually worth it.
I’m not looking for an insurance salesperson’s pitch—I’d really appreciate experiences from people who have dealt with the Canada/US situation firsthand.