Abstract: In this paper various properties of global and local changes of variables as well as properties of canonical transforms are investigated on modulation and Wiener amalgam spaces. We establish several relations among localisations of modulation and Wiener amalgam spaces and, as a consequence, we obtain several versions of local and global Beurling-Helson type theorems. We also establish a number of positive results such as local boundedness of canonical transforms on modulation spaces, properties of homogeneous changes of variables, and local continuity of Fourier integral operators on Fourier Lebesgue spaces. Finally, counterparts of these results are discussed for spaces on the torus as well as for weighted spaces.