WinstonKennedy

Hi,

I'm a UK citizen permanent resident married to a US citizen. Have been living in Texas for nearly 5 years after moving over from the UK.

My wife and I are expecting our first child in October, and my parents have expressed an interest in visiting for prolonged periods to help with time during the first year or two of child care. My parents actually already tend maximize their annual US allowable time each year (120 days) as they spend time in a vacation home in Florida regularly.

When discussing with my parents, they have concerns over multiple areas with the prospect of looking to extend their time in the US. Here are the areas of concern, I hope that some of you can share some guidance on these areas:

- Prospective Visas that would allow them to stay in the US for more than 120 days annually. If there something that can be filed since I live out here full time?

- Tax implications of being out here. From what I can see, ISAs remain tax free even if you're in the states, but what happens with other investments (ex: share holdings, capital gains tax, pension). Are these various pieces subject to any special tax implications? Are taxes allocated based on the respective periods of time that they are present in each country, or is there a risk of being double taxed?

- Are there any other major financial implications that I should be aware of?

I know this is a mixed set of questions, but hope you can all help. I did some searching first but couldn't find any obvious answers to these areas.

Noorah101

First of all, there's not really a maximum allowable time per year, as long as they never overstay on each trip. I assume they've been using the VWP to visit?

The only other option would be to obtain a B-2 visa, which could allow them to stay up to 6 months per visit, however these are sometimes hard to get. I assume they are retired, and that's why they could be away from home for so long?

If they do decide to apply for B-2 visas, they should NOT say they are coming out to help with the kids. Surprisingly, that can be construed as work, which is not allowed. They are simply coming to spend time with the family.

If they spend more than 180 days in the USA within one calendar year, they become liable for US taxes.

Rene

vikingsail

I researched this area fro similar reasons a number of years ago. We settled on B2 visa's as the best way to go. that was of course pre 9-11.

Health insurance should be your other big consideration

celticgrid

It isn't quite that straightforward. It isn't complicated, but it isn't that simple.

Substantial Presence Test

Owen778

Not sure what you mean by this. Where does this number of 120 days come from?

There is no "...but my child lives here" visa, no. They can apply for a B-2 visa, as Noorah says, but they are often turned down for people eligible for the visa waiver program.

Bear in mind, as Noorah says, that assisting with childcare pretty clearly counts as working, even if they don't get paid, since it is doing work that someone unrelated to you would be paid for. I would not expect a visa application in order to help with childcare to succeed.

Wrong, I'm afraid. The IRS does not recognise the tax-free wrapper of ISAs, so ISAs of all types are taxed as the underlying investments. Do you have an ISA yourself?
Not sure what you mean by this. All of these things would be taxed by the IRS for anyone with US tax residency.

Follow the link celticgrid gave you for the US Substantial Presence Test, though make sure you also look at the link for the Closer Connection Exception. These will tell you if your parents could become liable to US taxation.

WinstonKennedy

Thanks for the thorough reply. I have seen differing information on ISAs and US taxation, but good to have that visibility. I don't have an ISA, and as a permanent resident of the states, it would certainly be taxed, but parents do, so that's why I was asking around it.

Apologies for my ignorance on this, i'm still trying to figure things out, the Closer Connection Exception appears to be essentially a set of guidelines that dictate whether somebody is more likely to be liable to US tax, even if they have not been inside the US for time periods within the allowable range for non-residents to be in the states?

Owen778

No, it's there to make sure that people don't get taxed by the US because of the Substantial Presence Test when they have a closer connection to a different foreign country. The direct link is here: https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Inte...oreign-Country

md95065

With respect, no, it doesn't "pretty clearly count as working" although Noorah is correct that one should be careful about the words that one uses.

Having the grandparents visit for a few weeks to help out immediately after the birth of a child is not "doing work that someone unrelated to you would be paid for". If that were the case, then an H4 trailing spouse also would presumably be in trouble for washing the dishes and looking after the kids.

So, yes, be careful with the words that you use when answering questions about the purpose of your visit - not to be deceptive, but to avoid creating a false and inaccurate impression of your intentions.

Noorah101

Right. Coming to visit for a few weeks to see the new grandchild is not a problem. Spending 6 months at a time in the USA to care for the baby while the patents work, could be seen as problematic.

Rene

Owen778

"With respect"? That's nice. It's been ages since someone's tried to be condescending to me after misreading the original post in a thread.

"Having the grandparents visit for a few weeks to help out immediately after the birth of a child" can easily be achieved using the visa waiver program. However, the question was about having them "...visiting for prolonged periods to help with time during the first year or two of child care."

"With respect." Good one.

md95065

My comment was specifically aimed at what I felt was your unnecessarily paranoid view on what kinds of assistance with child care could be construed as being prohibited under the terms of either the VWP or a B visa. Yes, it is a complicated area, but I frequently see people on here making blanket statements about what is and is not allowed with little or no factual basis. "work" per se is not prohibited - what is prohibited is "employment" (and, yes, some things could be considered to be "employment" even if no compensation is received) - "visiting friends or relatives" is specifically allowed and nowhere does it suggest that the visitor must sit on their hands and in no way participate in the normal activities of the household that they are visiting. This is true whether they are there for a day, a month, or a year provided that they were admitted for that period of time.

Rete

The OP stated helping with child care the first year or two. In the US the term child care means taking care of a child whose parent(s) are at work. Now that might not be what the OP means. He just might mean that mommy is unsure of herself with a newborn and prefers to have someone, other than a baby nurse, be with her 24/7 to show her how to feed, burp, change, dress, bathe, etc. the newborn and relieve her of being in 24/7 care of a newborn to have some down time. If she is returning to work and the visiting grandparents will be minding the baby while she is working, then, no, they cannot do that. It is employment as you call it (to me work and employment in that respect mean the same) for which someone is normally paid a salary.

Noorah's response was the same response that was given out by various immigration attorneys on this forum for years. So she is not wrong in her response. We do know that cleaning the kitchen and bathroom and doing laundry for the new parents while you are visiting is work but it is also something that is generally done by visiting grandparents and long term guests regardless of where they hail from.

scrubbedexpat099

Certainly sounded like child care, the type you would otherwise have to pay for.

Plenty of examples of Grandparents who have been refused visa's because they want to undertake child care.

The big difference and the Grandparent big plus, is that you can hand them back.

If you are in a situation where that is not possible then we have a dividing line.