K1 Dual Citizenship - Canada/US

[torrell17 0]

Need some serious help to answer these questions.

Question 1.) When do you apply for a dual citizenship???? My fiancee from Vancouver, BC doesn't want to lose her Canadian citizenship. When should she start applying for a dual citizenship?? Does she start once after the AOS has been approved???. She'll be moving to Seattle next month so we still have to go through the AOS process.

Question 2.) How about filing for taxes once she gets to the states??? She has some CDN retirement funds and want to keep it there. Once she gets a job in the states, does she start filing taxes for both Canada/US??? Does she include the CDN retirement funds when she files for taxes next year in the US??? Is it best to transfer her CDN retirement funds to US???

Question 3.) How long does it take for the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to be approved????

Thanks Everyone!

[Inky 1,111]

Need some serious help to answer these questions.

Question 1.) When do you apply for a dual citizenship???? My fiancee from Vancouver, BC doesn't want to lose her Canadian citizenship. When should she start applying for a dual citizenship?? Does she start once after the AOS has been approved???. She'll be moving to Seattle next month so we still have to go through the AOS process.

Question 2.) How about filing for taxes once she gets to the states??? She has some CDN retirement funds and want to keep it there. Once she gets a job in the states, does she start filing taxes for both Canada/US??? Does she include the CDN retirement funds when she files for taxes next year in the US??? Is it best to transfer her CDN retirement funds to US???

Question 3.) How long does it take for the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to be approved????

Thanks Everyone!

You don't apply for dual citizenship. You don't lose your Canadian citizenship. She has NO rights to US citizenship at all for quite a few years. Start reading the guides for Adjustment of status then removal of conditions then naturalization.

She must file an exit return for Canada and must claim all Canadian income she made on her US tax returns but she will have a foreign income credit for it and not be taxed twice.

EAD is approved in 2-3 months.

[HeatDeath 430]

Need some serious help to answer these questions.

Question 1.) When do you apply for a dual citizenship???? My fiancee from Vancouver, BC doesn't want to lose her Canadian citizenship. When should she start applying for a dual citizenship?? Does she start once after the AOS has been approved???. She'll be moving to Seattle next month so we still have to go through the AOS process.

Question 2.) How about filing for taxes once she gets to the states??? She has some CDN retirement funds and want to keep it there. Once she gets a job in the states, does she start filing taxes for both Canada/US??? Does she include the CDN retirement funds when she files for taxes next year in the US??? Is it best to transfer her CDN retirement funds to US???

Question 3.) How long does it take for the Employment Authorization Document (EAD) to be approved????

Thanks Everyone!

1 ) If she is still married to you 3 years after she gets her first green card, she can apply for US citizenship then. It isn't a choice she even has to think about for a few years yet. Applying for US citizenship will not cost her her Canadian citizenship. Unlike some countries, Canada has no problem with its citizens getting Us citizenship. No one will make her renounce her Canadian citizenship. As I said though, this isn't something she even needs to begin worrying about until after Removal of Conditions, which is 2 years after AOS.

2 ) She can keep Canadian retirement funds in Canada, though she should check with the institutions holding them - she will probably not be able to contribute to them after she ceases to be a Canadian resident and may not be able to manipulate them. Regarding Canadian taxes, she will file one more Canadian tax return, called a "departing return" for the year she ceases to be a Canadian resident. After that she does not need to file Canadian taxes. There are special procedures for doing a departing tax return that differ somewhat from a normal Canadian tax return - she might want to speak to an accountant about that. Regarding US taxes, she will need to do a US tax return for the year she arrives in the US [and every year thereafter] even if she has no US income. The IRS taxes you on all global income, but there is a form (2555) Canadians can use in their first year in the US to remove Canadian income from consideration so she will not be double taxed on it. There is another form (8891 I think) that she uses to report the Canadian RRSPs to the IRS, and she will not be taxed on their contents or growth. If she intends to manipulate the contents of her RRSPs after ceasing to be a Canadian resident, it might be worthwhile to move them to the US, but it's very hard to say - the tax costs to cash them out could be prohibitive. A proper answer to that will require the services of a good cross-border accountant.

3 ) Her EAD will be approved between 45 and 60 days after she files for it with her AOS package, which should be as soon as humanly possible after the wedding. [ideally, she should have all of her AOS forms done, packaged, dated for the day after the wedding, and ready to drop in an envelope, before the wedding. Believe me, neither of you will feel like dealing with immigration paperwork after the wedding! ]