USC Wife & Permanent Resident of Canada moving back to the States

[mtlguy 59]

Hi everyone,

My wife is a USC who became a Canadian Permanent Resident a few months ago. We've been married just under 2 years. Before becoming a PR in Canada, my wife used to fly back and forth to visit me and spend about 50% of the year with me here in Canada.

The reason she keeps going back to the US is mainly to be able to see her kids (teenagers) and experience life with them as they grow. Now that she's a PR in Canada, we assumed she'll keep doing the 50/50 between the US and Canada. Unfortunately, this setup has been taking quite a toll on everyone; especially the kids!

Long story short, we decided it's best if I move with my wife and kids to the States. We started looking into the process, and I guess I would be needing to file for IR1 Visa.

As I understand it, the first step is for my wife to file the I-130 petitions for me and my kids.

What we got confused about is the definition of her "residence" while filling out the G-325A form. Where was her residence? Well, We got married back in 2011. She spent 50% of the time in Canada AND maintained her house in the States as well. Recently she became a PR of Canada, but STILL maintains her house in the States as well. So what on earth should we write down for her residence?

We don't want to misrepresent a fact as to avoid any complications. (not that it's not complicated already!!)

any thoughts from the community?

Cheers.

[NikLR 13,227]

If you file from Canada, using a Canadian address (which I assume is also her legal address) your I-130 petitions will likely go faster than if she files from the USA. Especially so if her home in the USA is in Georgia.

This is due to the USCIS sending the petitions you send to the lockbox, to the National Benefits Center. If the NBC does not adjudicate the case themselves, they send it to the local office of the petitioner. If the petitioner is filing from abroad, there is no local office for the NBC to send the petition to so they adjudicate it themselves, usually within 3 months. The wait times on I-130 petitions vary greatly because of this mumble jumble. It's hard to tell if someone from April will have their NOA2 first or if someone who is still waiting from last Sept will get their NOA2.

(NOA = Notice of Action. NOA1 = first NOA that you receive saying your cases are received and giving you a receipt number. NOA2 = 2nd NOA that lets you know the result of the petition)

[mtlguy 59]

Thanks for the input.

We're surely sending it from here in Canada. I heard back in the day DCF was available in Canada, but was later revoked (don't know why!!).

The part I'm still unsure about is the time before she became a Permanent Resident of Canada - during this time, was her "residence" still in the United States, although we were married AND she was spending half of the time in Canada?

by the way, what's the definition of a "legal address"? can you have 2 legal addresses?

[NikLR 13,227]

Sure why not? She has her PR now right? So she's legally a resident of Canada, so has an address in Canada as such. She can maintain a US address is if she chooses to as a USC. Canada is a bit different than the USA for residency because of health care, but I think that's really the only major issue.

[mtlguy 59]

She sure is one of us now kudos to the Canadian immigration too.....processed her file and made her a PR in Canada in about 5 months.

I guess the opposite is not true. I heard it takes about 2 years to get a green card through marriage!!

[NikLR 13,227]

She sure is one of us now kudos to the Canadian immigration too.....processed her file and made her a PR in Canada in about 5 months.

I guess the opposite is not true. I heard it takes about 2 years to get a green card through marriage!!

Nope, took me about 8 months. (9 months until the actual green card was in my hands!) Should take you guys less if you file from Canada and they don't send it to a local office.

Most people complain about how long it takes to get a PR card, but that's because they move there first and it takes 6 months for the initial part vs 90 days. /slaps people (used to take a year for the initial part... they changed it in 2012 I think... took my ex-manager 2 years to get his PR card)

[Ryan H 3,812]

I heard back in the day DCF was available in Canada, but was later revoked (don't know why!!).

USCIS implemented a procedural change regarding initial intake of I-130 petitions which was in order to file a petition from abroad, a USCIS field office had to be in the country. Otherwise, the petition has to be sent to the lockbox in Chicago.