mr_twister

My wife is a US citizen. I'm a green card holder. We've decided to try Canada for a change (we've already received our PR visas). We need to land before winter; however, I have to return to the US for a few months to finish some contract work. As I understand it, landing in Canada may jeopardise my green card status in the US.
(1) Is there a way I can hold onto the green card (only legal options are being considered) for the next few months after landing as I'll need it for work and travel, considering I can easily prove my primary residence ties to the US at least for that time period?
(2) It appears that eventually I will have to abandon my green card for Canada's PR (unfortunately, citizenship isn't an option in the near future). Will abandoning my US residency have negative implications on being able to reestablish it in case things in Canada don't work out and we decide to return (after all, my wife is American and most of our family do live here in the US)?
Any information would be very helpful. Thank you.

crg

If your place of general abode is still in the United States (and you can demonstrate that to an officer at entry), you can land in Canada and come back as an LPR and work.

Complete the I-407 to abandon the card and status after you move your residence to Canada for good. You may need a visa to come back and visit once you surrender the card, but that should be relatively easy to get.

As long as the relationship with the US citizen spouse is still there, she can apply for you to move back. Surrendering the card has no negative implications on getting another one.

JAJ

1. You should consider staying long enough to get Canadian citizenship at least - people who 'hop' between countries without getting citizenship often end up with no status anywhere other than in their home country.


2. Have you considered 'landing' in Canada and then staying in the US until you get US citizenship (assuming it's possible to keep your green card)? You need to clock up 730 days in Canada in the first five years, the clock starts when you 'land'.


Jeremy

mr_twister

Thanks, crg14624! Thanks, Jeremy!

I should be able to prove that the place of my general abode is in the United States. It's just that I've seen some earlier comments on this forum suggesting that landing in Canada would automatically (?) strip one of their US residency once they try to cross the border back into the US. It doesn't make much sense as the process of landing will not constitute my immediate move to Canada, but those comments were still somewhat disconcerting...

We don't intend to hop between the two countries; once my contract is over, we're free to go! We did consider having me get my US citizenship first, but it's still more than a year before I can apply and I'm not sure what they'd say to the Canadian PR in my record... Would it be an issue with BCIS?

JAJ

You'd probably need to hire a good US immigration attorney to explore these issues in detail.



Jeremy

crg

Landing in Canada doesn't automatically strip LPR status. Landing, and moving out of the US would jeopardize it. BCIS wouldn't care as long as you still lived in the US and could prove it.

zico

Hi, mr_twister,
I am curious to know why you moved to Canada. Also, where are you planning to live in Canada? Did you get a job there first before moving?

I am a new LPR, but I currently live in the US. I am seriously pondering the move to Canada since I am fed up with US immigration laws.

Thanks

mr_twister

Actually, we haven’t moved to Canada yet; we’re planning to land soon, however. We don’t have jobs lined up either (hopefully, by the time we move we’ll be self-employed and self-sufficient; at the rate things are going, we probably will be). We’ve considered Halifax, NS, Gatineau, QC, and Edmonton, AB – all for different reasons, but in the end I guess we’ll just have to be adventurous.

There’s nothing that’s really forcing us to move. In fact, most of our family live here, we have well-paying jobs, lots of friends, and a good house…well, crazy as it sounds, maybe those are the reasons. Mrs. Twister has never lived anywhere outside of the US and would like to see what it’s like living someplace else, even if it’s in a country as close as Canada (perhaps, it’s a good thing, since our families would still be relatively close…and comfortably far). On our previous visits to Canada, we fell in love with its wide spaces, lack of crowds, and people who went out of their way to treat us with politeness and respect (yes, I know that Toronto is much more crowded than Helena, Montana, but we aren’t going to live in Toronto…or in Helena for that matter). We like the fact that Canadians’ tax dollars are going toward financing education and medical care rather than wars and big corporations’ interests (some may disagree with me or think that it’s just our childish idealism - oh well!), that one can feel safer at night in the middle of a big city, that people say “sorry” when an apology is warranted, that kids don't have to learn creationism as a viable alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution, and overall, it’s just a new adventure.

As far as immigration goes, you still have better prospects becoming a US citizen than getting your citizenship in, say, Switzerland, so don’t get too frustrated and good luck on figuring out where you want to settle down!