Do I need to be a permanent resident or citizen to open a TFSA?

No. TFSA eligibility depends on being a resident of Canada for tax purposes, being 18 or older, and having a valid SIN, not on your immigration status. Tax residency is its own test, based on significant residential ties to Canada, and it's possible to be a tax resident while on a study or work permit, or to not be one even while physically in Canada.

If I withdraw money from my TFSA, can I put it back in the same year?

Only if you already have separate, unused contribution room. A withdrawal is not added back to your available room until January 1 of the following calendar year. Re-contributing the same amount in the same year, assuming the withdrawal freed up room immediately, is one of the most common ways people accidentally over-contribute and trigger a 1% per month tax on the excess.

TFSA for Newcomers: Why Eligibility and Contribution Room Aren't What Most People Think

You can open a TFSA as an international student or newcomer if you're 18+, have a valid SIN, and are a resident of Canada for tax purposes, a different test from your immigration status. Your contribution room starts the year you meet both conditions, not the day you open the account, and withdrawals aren't added back to your room until January 1 of the next year.

You can open a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) as an international student or newcomer to Canada if you’re 18 or older, have a valid Social Insurance Number, and are a resident of Canada for tax purposes, a separate test from your immigration status. Your contribution room starts building the year you meet both of those conditions, not the day you actually open the account, and if you ever withdraw money, that amount isn’t added back to your available room until January 1 of the following year, not immediately.

Eligibility depends on tax residency, not your immigration status

Per the CRA’s guidance on who can contribute, any individual who is a resident of Canada, has a valid SIN, and is 18 or older is eligible to open a TFSA. The part that trips up a lot of newcomers is “resident of Canada”, which is a tax concept, not an immigration one. Holding a study permit or work permit doesn’t automatically make you a tax resident, and simply being physically present in Canada doesn’t either. Per the CRA’s page on taxes for international students, you’re generally a tax resident if you establish significant residential ties to Canada, and a non-resident if you don’t and you spend less than 183 days in Canada during the year. That means you don’t need permanent residence or citizenship to be eligible, but you do need to actually meet the residency test, not just hold any particular visa or permit.

Your contribution room started before you opened the account

A common misunderstanding is that your TFSA contribution room starts accumulating the day you walk into a bank and open the account. It doesn’t. Per the CRA’s guide to calculating contribution room, room starts building the year you turn 18 while a resident of Canada, whether or not you’ve opened a TFSA yet, and it carries forward indefinitely if unused. The annual dollar limit for 2026 is $7,000. If you became a resident partway through a year, your room for that specific year is generally based on the date your residency began, not the full calendar year. Rather than guessing, check your actual available room through CRA My Account before contributing anything close to your assumed limit.

The trap that catches almost everyone eventually: withdrawing doesn’t free up room right away

This is the single most common way ordinary TFSA holders, newcomers and long-time residents alike, accidentally trigger a penalty. Per the CRA’s page on withdrawing from a TFSA, an amount you withdraw is only added back to your available contribution room on January 1 of the next calendar year, not the moment you withdraw it. If you take out $5,000 in June and put it back in November of the same year, assuming the withdrawal reopened that room immediately, you’ve likely over-contributed unless you had separate unused room to cover it. Per CRA’s page on over-contributions, any excess amount is taxed at 1% of the highest excess amount for every month it stays in the account, and that tax keeps accruing monthly until you withdraw the excess.

The trap that catches people who leave Canada: contributing while a non-resident

If you finish your studies and move back to Vietnam, or otherwise stop meeting the residential-ties test, you become a non-resident for tax purposes, and the TFSA rules change sharply. Per CRA’s page on non-residency and TFSAs:

You stop accumulating new contribution room for any year you’re a non-resident for the entire year.
Any contribution you make while a non-resident, even if you technically still have room from prior years, is taxed at 1% per month for as long as it remains in the account.
Withdrawing only part of a non-resident contribution doesn’t reduce the tax; the full non-resident contribution needs to come out to stop it from accruing.

The safest approach is to stop contributing to your TFSA the moment you know you’re becoming a non-resident, not after your move. If you’ve already contributed while a non-resident, withdraw that entire contribution as soon as possible rather than leaving it in the account.

What to actually do

Confirm your actual tax residency status using the CRA’s residential-ties test, don’t assume it based on your visa type alone.
Check your real contribution room through CRA My Account before contributing, rather than estimating from memory.
If you’re withdrawing money with the intention of re-contributing it the same year, confirm you have separate, unused room first.
Stop contributing the moment you know you’re becoming a non-resident, and if you’ve already contributed as a non-resident, withdraw the full amount as soon as possible.