US Green Card AND Canadian Permanent Resident

[domegirl1978 1]

I've had surgery on my legs and both feet by one particular surgeon here in Montreal and I would really rather not use a new surgeon in the States as I have been a patient of my Canadian surgeon for over 10 years now. Thats a real concern for me, as well as my doctors that I have had here my whole life.

[SapphireDreams 71]

I've had surgery on my legs and both feet by one particular surgeon here in Montreal and I would really rather not use a new surgeon in the States as I have been a patient of my Canadian surgeon for over 10 years now. Thats a real concern for me, as well as my doctors that I have had here my whole life.

I totally see what you mean and can definitely understand that... but I think healthcare/leaving Dr.'s we know and love is just one of the downsides of immigrating to a new country and comes with the decision of immigration. I LOVE my current Dr., she is just 100% awesome in everyway... but knew as soon as I wanted to live in the U.S. I would forfeit my right to have her as my Dr. for future.

I don't envy your situation and I hope that you figure out what is best for you. Good luck

[Kathryn41 3,205]

I am going to provide a different voice. From my understanding, if you maintain residential ties outside of the US then the US has serious issues with your intent to be a permanent resident within the US. Taking up residence outside of the US with the intent to maintain that residence is considered grounds of abandonment of the green card. You can't 'live' and obtain residential benefits in two countries at the same time if one of those countries is the US.

Regarding health coverage, again, if you are maintaining Quebec residency enough to qualify for health coverage then the US immigration is going to have serious questions about whether you are really a permanent resident in the US or not. Maintaining or taking up residence in another country cancels the green card.

Regarding taxation, which country would you declare as your permanent residence for each country's taxes. If you declare Canada for Quebec/Canada taxes, then that would effectively cancel your US residency. If you declare US then you would be taxed at the out of country rate and deal with the international tax office. You will definitely want to talk to a cross-border tax expert.

It isn't a simple matter of spending a few months here and a few months there and living in both countries. You are going to have to make a decision one way or the other. The problem isn't so much with Canadian immigration, it is with US immigration. I think you need to do a lot more research still.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Kathryn41

[john_and_marlene 162]

I am going to provide a different voice. From my understanding, if you maintain residential ties outside of the US then the US has serious issues with your intent to be a permanent resident within the US. Taking up residence outside of the US with the intent to maintain that residence is considered grounds of abandonment of the green card. You can't 'live' and obtain residential benefits in two countries at the same time if one of those countries is the US.

Regarding health coverage, again, if you are maintaining Quebec residency enough to qualify for health coverage then the US immigration is going to have serious questions about whether you are really a permanent resident in the US or not. Maintaining or taking up residence in another country cancels the green card.

Regarding taxation, which country would you declare as your permanent residence for each country's taxes. If you declare Canada for Quebec/Canada taxes, then that would effectively cancel your US residency. If you declare US then you would be taxed at the out of country rate and deal with the international tax office. You will definitely want to talk to a cross-border tax expert.

It isn't a simple matter of spending a few months here and a few months there and living in both countries. You are going to have to make a decision one way or the other. The problem isn't so much with Canadian immigration, it is with US immigration. I think you need to do a lot more research still.

Which is why I bolded the part: Your U.S. permanent residence being considered as abandoned for absences shorter than 1 year, if you take up residence in another country. in post #28, but it appears to have been disregarded. Maybe it wasn't the kind of reponse they wanted to read. Maybe they will read yours and take heed.

[domegirl1978 1]

Thank you to everyone for your insight. I will definitely be looking at all options but it looks like the way to go will be to just move to Florida and give up my Canadian residency and then obtain American citizenship.

From there we can always move back to Canada as a couple and get him his Canadian citizenship as well so that we can they move back and forth between the 2 countries with no problems whatsoever.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

domegirl, that sounds like the most realistic plan. It is definitely do-able.

[Reba 2]

There are tax laws as well that prohibit being resident of two countries. You're either resident or you're not, you cannot have 2 tax homes. And why would you want to really? I'm going to hazard a guess that the tax rate in Quebec is probably twice that of Florida. Honesly, trying to illegally keep one's provincial healthcare active by paying 3 times as much tax as you need to is a bit crazed, no matter how much you like your doctor.

I suggest you go find yourself a copy of a book titled "The Border Guide - A Guide to Living Across the Border". All the tax information you need pretty much. And when you decide you can't understand it, find yourself a qualified cross border tax accountant to explain it. One who knows the tax laws in both countries, and understands the tax treaty as well.

[markgina 2]

i know this is an older post but Im in question on the same subject ............. very much so I would like to know what you found out on this same issue right now...... thank ... sorry on n old but this only place i find this same quetion

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Markgina,

What issue are you exactly concerned about? Trying to maintain Canadian health coverage while living in the US or obtaining appropriate health coverage when you move to the US.

The issues regarding maintaining Canadian health coverage when you are a US Permanent resident haven't changed in the years since this thread was first started. You still cannot do it.

If you can provide a clearer understanding of what you want to know, I can then split off all the recent posts from this 5 year old thread and our members can discuss your exact situation and provide you with more specific information to help you with whatever issues you are facing.

[warlord 72]

Maintaining Permanent Resident Status

Permanent residents who depart and remain outside the U.S. for more than 365 contiguous days risk losing their status and might need to undergo the entire petition and immigrant visa process anew if they wish to re-enter the U.S. as permanent residents. Permanent residents who obtain re-entry permits from USCIS prior to their departure from the U.S. may remain overseas for up to 2 years. Permanent residents who fail to file income tax returns while living outside the U.S. or who declare themselves as "non-immigrants" on tax returns may also lose their status

People have been misunderstanding this for years.

The rule is you need to at all times maintain US residency. You can leave to visit outside the US, but in order to keep your residency and Green Card (Permanent or Temp) you MUST keep your US ties.

Anything under 6 months, the INS has to prove you broke residency in order to revoke your GC status. After 6 months, the work to prove you maintained residency now shifts to you to prove you did not break residency status. That is what the 6 months means. People have been mistaking that as saying you can stay out and live outside the US and work somewhere else for 6 months a year and that is the mistake when people come back and next thing they realize they have their status revoked.

Remember, if you live outside the US and the INS can prove you are no longer maintaining US residency, then you are at risk of losing your status, be it one month or 9 months outside. There have been several cases of this happening on this board in the past few years of people out for under 6 months find themselves to be under removal proceedings because they make this mistake.

Anything over a year outside the US, you need a re-entry permit or you lose your status as well.

So with that, I hope this clarifys things so that you don't accidentally assume the rules wrong and end up facing a disastrous outcome...

[jxn 86]

People have been misunderstanding this for years.

The rule is you need to at all times maintain US residency. You can leave to visit outside the US, but in order to keep your residency and Green Card (Permanent or Temp) you MUST keep your US ties.

Anything under 6 months, the INS has to prove you broke residency in order to revoke your GC status. After 6 months, the work to prove you maintained residency now shifts to you to prove you did not break residency status. That is what the 6 months means. People have been mistaking that as saying you can stay out and live outside the US and work somewhere else for 6 months a year and that is the mistake when people come back and next thing they realize they have their status revoked.

Remember, if you live outside the US and the INS can prove you are no longer maintaining US residency, then you are at risk of losing your status, be it one month or 9 months outside. There have been several cases of this happening on this board in the past few years of people out for under 6 months find themselves to be under removal proceedings because they make this mistake.

Anything over a year outside the US, you need a re-entry permit or you lose your status as well.

So with that, I hope this clarifys things so that you don't accidentally assume the rules wrong and end up facing a disastrous outcome...

This post should be made into a sticky thread since the residency requirements have been misinterpreted so many times.

[warlord 72]

This post should be made into a sticky thread since the residency requirements have been misinterpreted so many times.

Yes unlike traffic tickets (the other topic that confuses people to no end), this one has a direct and possible big negative outcome as the INS doesn't care if you didn't understand know the rules even though it's right there on the governments website (posted it a some time ago in the regular immigration forum on here), but maybe I'll track it down again and post the link...