Leaving France and Auto-Entrepreneur

OK, I’m in a bind and looking for feedback. Many months ago I was offered a large contract to edit a book. I registered for my auto-entrepreneur status with no troubles, have done my first declaration and even earned a small amount of money taking other work.

I opened the status in the first place, however, because I had the chance to do this large job and was told it would start last fall and be completed over the course of two months or so. Well, it is nearly 7 months later now and I still don’t have the work. I am being told it is still coming soon. I think I should be open to the possibility that even if it does arrive in the next 4 weeks, it may filter in more slowly that the 2-month time frame I was originally promised.

The problem? I am now leaving France in 6 weeks and I am not sure what to do. It is not a problem for me personally to do this work from Canada, but I am not sure if they will be allowed to send the money outside the country (it is for a large, national research body).

If this is a problem for them, does anyone know whether I can keep my auto-entrepreneur status open after I leave France for, say, one quarter, while I finish work started while I am here in France? (And obviously have it deposited to my French account and pay taxes on it here). How complicated is it to cancel your auto-entrepreneur status? Is it something I can even accomplish from overseas?  Any advice would be very welcome. I could use the income and would hate to lose this work now.