ukcanuck

Folks

OK so I have tried to search to see if there is a visa for this but didn't find anything so either it doesn't exist or I am inputing the wrong search strings.

Anyways thought I would ask the folks on here as trying to make sense of the US immigration website to find this is proving a nightmare akin to picking six winning lottery numbers.

I am a Canadian with Canadian kids and a UK wife who is a perm res of Canada. I work remote three weeks on three weeks off and we would like to explore living in the states and pay taxes etc but I would still work in remote Canada as the work I do the pay is much better up here.

Just wanted to pick anyones brains as if this type of living only visa even exists before I go square eyed looking for it on the govt site.

Thanks in advance UKCANUCK

ps GO CANUCKS - just in case any Bruins fans see this

meauxna

ooh ooh, I know why you couldn't find it!

Visas for residing in the US (Permanent Residency = "green card") are generally tied to employment or close family members.

I can't think of a visa for you for living in the US but not working.
Check out the pinned thread here (really really read me) and see if anything rings a bell for you.
(IE through your wife's work)

ukcanuck

Thanks for the reply,

All I could find was the green card which is not really what we wanted to do as it takes forever if at all without family or family. I work for a UK based company with offices in Canada and affiliates in the US but not in my field. I make a lot more up here than I would down there. So we want to live but not work down there. Trust us to be odd......

Have looked at TN1 but again my work category doesn't fit.

My wife is a stay at home mom which isn't on the list of occupations for some reason

Thanks for the help and unless someone comes up with any little used little known visa class then it looks like we are stuck to the six month rule for Canadians once the OH becomes a citizen.

At least it wasn't me being thick and looking in the wrong places

Cheers

meauxna

That will not help you either; you can't live in the US for 6 months of the year by virtue of being Canadian. What will you do about the kids and school? What about your Canadian health insurance (most Ps have rules about length of time in country)?
Even as a Canadian, you need to meet the guidelines for being a genuine 'tourist' if that is how you're presenting yourself at the border.

ukcanuck

Sorry meant to say that when we retire we can do the six months and then live up here for six, if the kids can't do school etc then the whole idea is a no go.
The OH would love to live somewhere warm, we looked at the med area when we moved from the UK but the future for our kids would have been in question if we moved to say Greece for example

You really have to keep up with the part of the conversation I am having in my head as well as what I type

Thanks again for the advice and I have read the thread you pointed out and really liked the flow chart.

Cheers UKCANUCK

meauxna

heheh.. well, the schools in Greece are actually pretty strict! That happens to be where we were living before we moved to the US (my OH is British).
We're neighbors here, too, you know. We're just down the freeway from you a bit, in Oregon.
I don't blame your OH for wanting somewhere warmer, especially this year!

(lol at that flow chart.. not too sure about it myself. You must be the last Canadian, btw, with no family members in the US!)

ukcanuck

wow greece to Oregon thats a swap

Our issue was with what happens after they finish school as we could and no doubt you could the country having financial "issues"

Nope no family in the US as first generation Canadian and all family in the UK, no forethought by any family to move there - very poor show really they moved to places like Spain etc where I can get into without issues.... no thought for others

Has your spring been as wet and drab as ours? Last year we had a glorious spring and summer which helped really sell the OH on staying here but so far this year has been a wash out - lets hope the summer gets better.

meauxna

Ugh, the weather last year and this has just been awful, not up to standards at all. But, we live in one of the nicest, mildest climates on the continent. It's actually pretty great overall (I transplanted from N California & it took me a couple of years to 'drink the KoolAid', lol). The climate in Greece reminded me a lot of N Calif actually, and it's a shock trying to adapt to that 120F every day in the summer.

Funny about the kids staying there, tho if they are young, that is a real concern. I know at least one English gal who got sort of 'stuck' there. Greece is a hard nut to crack if you have to earn a living.

Another haha about family.. half of mine is from Nova Scotia, so thanks to reorganizing the law a couple of years ago, I'm now US/CAN. I'd love to spend a couple of years up your way one day. We really live in a beautiful corner of the planet.

MarylandNed

Whether you work remotely in Canada or not is completely irrelevant for US immigration purposes. So you need to determine how (or if) you can move to the US. There are specific visa categories that would allow someone to move to the US to live - either temporarily or permanently. Unless you fall into one of those categories, you're simply dreaming. Here are the relevant links. There's one section for temporary visitors and another for immigrants.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1286.html

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigra...ypes_1326.html

ukcanuck

Thanks for the links and I have looked at these previuosly during my search for a visa class that suited our situation. The last hope was to ask here to see if anyone had any inside knowledge on a little known visa that would allow us to live in the US.

Everyone I know who lives in the states and works elsewhere has a US spouse but I am pretty sure that my wife wouldn't be willing for that option as she is english

It is definitely looking like extended holidays until we retire then we will do the snow bird travel.

Canada is a great place just not as warm year round as we would like......

Thanks again

UKCANUCK