Can I work/stay in Canada 2-3 days a week if I am a conditional resident

[moemac59 193]

So I stayed in touch with some of my former co-workers in Toronto and we were talking about the office. My former co-worker mentioned that they would love to have me back on a part time basis..work partially from home telecommuting but come into their office Tuesday's - Thursday's. I live 2.5 hrs from Toronto in Western NY and am seriously considering this as the money would be fantastic fantastic benefits (3 weeks paid vacation plus 1 week paid off between Xmas and New Year's plus bonus). No medical benefits though because i would have to get insurance here in the US.

What I want to know is, if I find a room to rent for 2 nights a week to stay up there, how will this affect my conditional residency? Can I just tell US customs when I come back that I was away for business? I am applying for permanent residency in November of this year.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

As long as you retain your residency in the US, there is no reason you cannot commute across the border to work. There are a number of Canadians married to Americans, residing in the US, who live near the border and work in Canada. You would probably want to get a Nexus card to facilitate your border crossing, but as long as you have your green card and are residing in the US, there is no reason why you cannot continue to work in Canada. You may wish to consult a cross border tax consultant to ensure you are getting the best tax advantages, and yes, you are right, you would still require health care coverage from the US as you are not a Canadian resident so not entitled to provincial health care.

It's definitely do-able.

[moemac59 193]

As long as you retain your residency in the US, there is no reason you cannot commute across the border to work. There are a number of Canadians married to Americans, residing in the US, who live near the border and work in Canada. You would probably want to get a Nexus card to facilitate your border crossing, but as long as you have your green card and are residing in the US, there is no reason why you cannot continue to work in Canada. You may wish to consult a cross border tax consultant to ensure you are getting the best tax advantages, and yes, you are right, you would still require health care coverage from the US as you are not a Canadian resident so not entitled to provincial health care.

It's definitely do-able.

Kathryn,

That is great news and I already have a NEXUS card which is super handy as the only bridge that I cross at is Whirlpool in NIagara. I figured as much about the tax consultant. Thanks again.

[warlord 73]

The problem isn't the working, it's the residing in Canada for those 2-3 days while working that could be an issue. Good thing is you are maintaining a main residence in the US, however, this could be a problem when questioned at the border as they may feel that you are not maintaining the rules of the GC (by residing outside of the US for work for a non-US based company).

So may need to look into that a bit more. If you were just commuting back and forth each day then that wouldn't be an issue. So it may just depend on the border guard if they want to pull you in and question your intent and residency further or not. So just be prepared to prove you are still maintaining US residency every time you cross back over to the US...

[markgina 2]

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Edited February 27, 2014 by markgina