Returning to Canada - Abandoning Permanent Residency?

[KJ79 0]

I am a permanent resident (just under 3 years) living in Texas. I am a Canadian citizen. My American husband would like to study abroad in Canada, and I would like to go with him. However I understand this will mean I have abandoned my US permanent residency, forcing us to start all over and re-apply for return to the states as husband and wife.

Obviously I dont want to jeopardize my permanent resident status, and I dont particularly want to go through a whole immigration process again...

What options do we have?

(Re-entry permits appear to only apply to travelers... I would be employed in Canada...)

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

I am a permanent resident (just under 3 years) living in Texas. I am a Canadian citizen. My American husband would like to study abroad in Canada, and I would like to go with him. However I understand this will mean I have abandoned my US permanent residency, forcing us to start all over and re-apply for return to the states as husband and wife.

Obviously I dont want to jeopardize my permanent resident status, and I dont particularly want to go through a whole immigration process again...

What options do we have?

(Re-entry permits appear to only apply to travelers... I would be employed in Canada...)

Just travel back to the US when needed? too bad you haven't gotten citizenship yet.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Is there a way to keep your permanent residence in the US - maintaining an address, bank accounts, etc? Give the indication that your husband's studies in Canada are only temporary and that he isn't taking steps to immigrate to Canada, apply for a receive re-entry permits and file US taxes as a Canadian non-resident (non-resident in Canada, that is). It may be worth an infopass appointment to ask an immigration officer about how best to undertake this. I would think you should be able to work in Canada and not be considered a resident. Upon crossing the border you would not declare yourself a returning resident and you would not apply for health benefits as these actions would indeed cancel your US residency. Do some more research - it may be doable with a bit of planning and some careful actions. It also depends on how long your husband's term of study will be. If all else fails and you lose your US residency, if your husband is admitted to Canada with a student visa (has legal status in Canada), you may be able to do a DCF to regain US residency when you are prepared to move back.

Edited July 1, 2008 by Kathryn41

[KJ79 0]

Thank you for the tips... I would assume that for the situation you described above, that would mean my Canadian employer would have to make arrangements to employ me as a "foreigner" (US permanent resident)...? eg. I would be working under my US social security number, and not my Canadian SIN?

[Kathryn41 3,205]

No, you would be working with your Canadian SIN and they would be taking the necessary deductions - but at Income Tax time you would be filing taxes with both Canada and the US. The countries have a tax treaty so you can claim a foreign tax credit on the income tax paid for employment outside of the US so you avoid double taxation. You may want to talk to Neiks - she lives in the States and works in Canada so deals with a non-resident Canadian employed in Canada situation.

[warlord 73]

To put it simply if you are moving to Canada then you will be abandoning your Green Card status. You cannot just come back to visit the US every 6 months, it doesn't work like that. Anything over a year and without a really good case, INS will assume you have abandoned it.

Employment is a sure fire way to notify the INS that you are no longer residing in the US and broke your residency status.

Best bet is to get Citizenship. Not sure about the Re-entry permit in this case. Usually those pertain to extended vacations or for working for US companies outside US borders. Working for a Canadian company like you are describing does not qualify I'm pretty sure.

I'd just get the citizenship and then you wouldn't have anything to worry about, otherwise you are risking having to do the entire process from scratch again if you ever want to move back to the US. Seems the INS is starting to be more agressive now when it comes to this sort of thing...