403b to IRA conversion and applying for Canadian residency

[Jonhello]

I have a dual citizen wife and a dual dependent daughter (US/Canadian). My wife owns a house in Canada and pays taxes in Canada as a resident (she lives in Canada for up to 5-6 months out of the year). She has Canadian accounts - RRSP and other bank accounts. My daughter will be attending a private school in Canada for 4 months and then a mix of homeschool and traditional schooling in Europe.

I am an US citizen and own a condo in Europe. I live there in Europe for 7 months of the year (and have a residence permit), one month in the States and about 4 months in Canada. I have a US employer, US and European bank account, 403b, etc... I don't have any accounts in Canada.

Sometime within the next 10 years, I am thinking of immigrating to Canada. Presently, I have a 403b and Roth 403b to which I routinely contribute. I understand I will then need to convert these to a traditional IRA and Roth IRA. However, as I understand, I cannot convert these accounts until I leave my employer. I was planning on continuing to work for the US organization as I applied for Canadian residency but then this wouldn't give time to convert the 403bs to IRAs. So I am not sure what to do.

Am I correct in this assessment?

[nelsona]

Why do you feel you need to convert these from 403’s to IRAs?
Canada will recognize these as they are.

[Jonhello]

I do not like my company's 403b as it is expensive and would rather change it to an IRA sometime.

[nelsona]

This can be done anytime after you leave, so not sure why the time crunch you mentioned.
You may wish to ensure that the company youplan to go with will deal with Cdn residents.

[Jonhello]

Good to hear. I didn't realize that this conversion would be possible at that point.

Fidelity seems to be willing to work with those in Canada.