Originally Posted by penguinsix

Dual citizenship used to be frowned upon, and now is tacitly recognized (more of a 'turn a blind eye toward'). Of course, once a US citizen you must use your US passport to enter the US and you have the tax liability.

During the oath, you 'renounce' all alegiances to other countries, which satisfies the US that you have 'abandoned' your other citizenship. But other countries don't recognize taking the oath as abandoning your citizenship, as they have different procedures, so it is sort of a 'wink wink--nudge nudge' thing as long as you pay taxes, use the US passport for entry and register for the draft, etc.

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

My parents (who are both retired) came over a couple of years ago... they fell in love with our lifestyle!!!. We have had lots of discussions about them moving here over the past 6 months.
My OH is looking into becoming a US citizen... I do not want to go this route as along with my British passport I have my Canadian citizenship (once a Canadian passport is surrendered, it's never given back).
As I understand it, unless one of us is a US citizen, they will not be able to move over here whilst we are on L1/L2 visa's?
I also quoted them $1000 per month for health care, is that about right or are there other things to take into consideration?
They have a lot of equity in their home, plus both have private pensions and some money stashed away...
I don't want to steer them in the wrong direction... and I don't want to see them losing their hard earned savings.

Regards
Tracey

Originally Posted by Elvira

Ian who posts on the Immigration forums has UK + CA + US...

No need to pay a lawyer...

Originally Posted by Bob

they can have CA, UK and US citizenship, that isn't a problem...you have to be a USC to sponsor folks, which you can apply for once you've had yourGC for 5 years.

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

FIVE YEARS... holy smokes... glad I started asking the questions... I have been misled quite badly by others!
Looks like looooooong holidays for my folks!

Originally Posted by Boiler

You do not have a GC now. L?

So say 1 year to get GC

5 years to be able to apply for Citizenship

1 year to get it

1 year to sponsor parents

Those 1 year times are variable of course, could be quicker or longer.

Originally Posted by Elvira

There are a lot of misperceptions about US immigration and nationality laws. You might want to check out www.uscis.gov.

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

We are on a L1 visa, mine is actually an L2 (spouse) which does not allow me to work (my SS# is for tax purposes only). My lawyer is processing my work visa, shouldn't be too long before I get that... it's more of a money thing than anything!
We have been looking into GC's but because my OH has been away so much lately we just haven't applied ourselves to the task! Looks like we are going to have to 'buck up' and get sorted!
I had no conception of the time frame involved, very naive of me... I am really glad you guys have given me this info, at least I now know what I am up against.

Originally Posted by Elvira

(1) You do not need a lawyer to file for an EAD.

(2) Nothing is going to happen about your GCs unless your husband's employer is willing to sponsor him for it. What does his contract say in this respect?

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

My Oh's employer wanted him to get his green card last year, they were even offering us a loan to cover the cost (which we would only have to pay back if he left his position within 4 years).
He wasn't very happy with his employers at that time so didn't take the offer up... I think it's still on the table (and he is alot happier with his employers now!)

Originally Posted by Elvira

Gosh that may have been a daft move! Once he has the GC he could switch employer (unless they tie him into some sort of contract - which in any case *might* be breakable).

NB: The cost at the time would have been less than a couple of grand (assuming fees for both of you and a couple of kids), but they are going up soon (in June I believe, though I may be wrong)

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

FIVE YEARS... holy smokes... glad I started asking the questions... I have been misled quite badly by others!
Looks like looooooong holidays for my folks!

Originally Posted by ScillyBrit

We are on a L1 visa, mine is actually an L2 (spouse) which does not allow me to work (my SS# is for tax purposes only). My lawyer is processing my work visa, shouldn't be too long before I get that... it's more of a money thing than anything!