Help with my understanding of what it means to bring a parent to the US

[eckoin 211]

I am a Canadian citizen who just (this month) received a conditional permanent resident status via marriage. I'll qualify for applying for citizenship in three years like others in my position, and my life has nothing to do with my mother, whom this question is about. 

 

My mom is a naturalized citizen of Canada. She wants to live in Florida, legally, and work as a hair stylist. Something that doesn't qualify for TN or H1B. 

 

She is begging me to sponsor her to come to the US when I'm a citizen, so in at least three years. I have two reservations, and I'm not sure if I'm correct on these two, nor if I'm missing other issues. Any advice much appreciated. 

 

1. She seems to think that she can maintain residency in Canada (Ontario specifically) if she lives there for 6 months. In order to be considered a resident, you need to reside in Ontario for 6 months + 1 day. But in order to maintain the green card requirement, you need to do the same in the US, right? So she can either maintain residency in the US but not Canada, or vice versa, but not both. Is that correct? 

 

2. She has a chronic health issue that requires regular monitoring by a specialist. Of course this is not an issue in Canada, she pays her taxes, she's a citizen, she lives there, she qualifies. If she comes to the US, based on point #1, I don't think she'll be able keep both residencies. Her US medical insurance will be through the roof, no? If she just doesn't get insurance and doesn't pay her medical bills, I'll be responsible as the sponsor. Alternatively, she pays a ton every month for insurance with an obvious preexisting condition. 

 

Am I wrong on any of this? Am I missing anything else?

 

I'd love for her to live closer to me, but I just don't think she understands the full picture, and I'm not sure I do either. I'd like to get your thoughts to pass on to her for consideration. 

[Boiler 45,516]

1. The only real way she can go back and forth like that is once she has acquired US Citizenship.

 

2. Pre exisiting are not charged more but obviously Insurance only pays part of the costs and there will be uninsured costs she will need to cover. Age is a rating factor so it will not be cheap, quite what the situation will be in the future is a difficult call, nobody knows.

 

Anyway none of this will happen anytime soon and what the future holds is anybody's guess.

[eckoin 211]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

1. The only real way she can go back and forth like that is once she has acquired US Citizenship.

 

2. Pre exisiting are not charged more but obviously Insurance only pays part of the costs and there will be uninsured costs she will need to cover. Age is a rating factor so it will not be cheap, quite what the situation will be in the future is a difficult call, nobody knows.

 

Anyway none of this will happen anytime soon and what the future holds is anybody's guess.

Yeah, on #1, I was under the impression that she has to pick her residency country or it won't work. 

 

On #2, I'm really not well versed. My whole family (husband and children) are on my insurance plan, but it's through work. My husband never had medical insurance and paid the penalty before I added him to mine. I think, by current law, you can't deny people for pre-existing conditions, but they can still be charged a lot, no? I think my mom just severely underestimates how much that would be, she seems to think it's $100 a month. My employer provided plan for three people is $250 a month and my employer pays $1,200 a month, plus we have a family deductible of $6,000. I can't see my mother's individual plan being less than $700 a month with a deductible, but she's on Canada wavelength and doesn't seem to get it, and defaults to #1--Canada will bail her out. 

 

It won't. 

[hz101 3]

23 minutes ago, eckoin said:

I am a Canadian citizen who just (this month) received a conditional permanent resident status via marriage. I'll qualify for applying for citizenship in three years like others in my position, and my life has nothing to do with my mother, whom this question is about. 

 

My mom is a naturalized citizen of Canada. She wants to live in Florida, legally, and work as a hair stylist. Something that doesn't qualify for TN or H1B. 

 

She is begging me to sponsor her to come to the US when I'm a citizen, so in at least three years. I have two reservations, and I'm not sure if I'm correct on these two, nor if I'm missing other issues. Any advice much appreciated. 

 

1. She seems to think that she can maintain residency in Canada (Ontario specifically) if she lives there for 6 months. In order to be considered a resident, you need to reside in Ontario for 6 months + 1 day. But in order to maintain the green card requirement, you need to do the same in the US, right? So she can either maintain residency in the US but not Canada, or vice versa, but not both. Is that correct? 

 

2. She has a chronic health issue that requires regular monitoring by a specialist. Of course this is not an issue in Canada, she pays her taxes, she's a citizen, she lives there, she qualifies. If she comes to the US, based on point #1, I don't think she'll be able keep both residencies. Her US medical insurance will be through the roof, no? If she just doesn't get insurance and doesn't pay her medical bills, I'll be responsible as the sponsor. Alternatively, she pays a ton every month for insurance with an obvious preexisting condition. 

 

Am I wrong on any of this? Am I missing anything else?

 

I'd love for her to live closer to me, but I just don't think she understands the full picture, and I'm not sure I do either. I'd like to get your thoughts to pass on to her for consideration. 

I calculate health insurance premiums for work, and i know your mom's health insurance will be at least about $1,000 a month if she gets decent coverage. One way she could save money is if she works for a company that offers health insurance to its employees.

Edited December 28, 2018 by hz101

[Unlockable 7,314]

26 minutes ago, eckoin said:

She has a chronic health issue that requires regular monitoring by a specialist. Of course this is not an issue in Canada, she pays her taxes, she's a citizen, she lives there, she qualifies. If she comes to the US, based on point #1, I don't think she'll be able keep both residencies. Her US medical insurance will be through the roof, no?

The above part in bold is the biggest deciding factor in her decision to immigrate here. She will be giving up provisional healthcare to paying hundreds to thousands of dollars per month here in the US. I think she is in denial about losing the healthcare because she has a strong desire to cone here.

 

Although she would still be a citizen of Canada, by being a LPR in the US, she would be giving up the provisional healthcare. You need to find an expert or legal counsel in order to make her understand this. You can even call around to certain US insurance companies to get quotes to continue the monitoring of her condition.

 

This is one of those sit downs at the kitchen table to discuss if the person fully understands what they are giving up. If she comes to the US and her condition worsen, the costs could be astranomical.

 

Also, are you even able to add you mom to your jobs health insurance?I know many company insurance dont allow this.

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by NuestraUnion

[mushroomspore 3,044]

1. You are correct on residency. She cannot maintain both while she is a US permanent resident. 

 

2. Also correct on her US health insurance being through the roof if she moves here. Given that she has a condition that requires monitoring, why does she even want to move to the US then???? 

 

The other thing to consider is the possibility that the US immigration system may see some changes before you become a citizen. Not saying that the government will get rid of the parent-petition category but who knows how they might decide to change it or what-have-you?

[eckoin 211]

Just now, hz101 said:

I calculate health insurance premiums for work, and I your mom's health insurance will be at least about $1,000 a month if she gets decent coverage. One way she could save money is if she works for a company that offers health insurance to its employees.

I thought $700+, but $1,000+ makes sense to me. And obviously you can't go without. Thank you for your input, I will need to have a serious talk with her and I'd like to be as accurate as possible to help her put the situation in perspective, because she seems really naive at this point. 

[mushroomspore 3,044]

Just now, eckoin said:

I thought $700+, but $1,000+ makes sense to me. And obviously you can't go without. Thank you for your input, I will need to have a serious talk with her and I'd like to be as accurate as possible to help her put the situation in perspective, because she seems really naive at this point. 

She's definitely being naive. US permanent residency has a lot of rules and her health will not help her financially here. I'm Canadian, had to give up my OHIP and am severely annoyed that I had to. At the same time, I'm not even 30 yet and have no health issues and neither does my husband. It's a totally different story for your mom. 

[hz101 3]

1 minute ago, eckoin said:

I thought $700+, but $1,000+ makes sense to me. And obviously you can't go without. Thank you for your input, I will need to have a serious talk with her and I'd like to be as accurate as possible to help her put the situation in perspective, because she seems really naive at this point. 

The rate depends on what level of coverage she wants and also if it is an HMO, PPO, POS etc. Since you said she has health conditions. I assumed she would like to get better coverage than the cheapest one.

[eckoin 211]

11 minutes ago, NuestraUnion said:

The above part in bold is the biggest deciding factor in her decision to immigrate here. She will be giving up provisional healthcare to paying hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. I think she is in denial about losing the healthcare because she has a strong desire to cone here.

 

Although she would still be a citizen of Canada, by being a LPR in the US, she would be giving up the provisional healthcare. You need to find an expert or legal counsel in order to make her understand this. You can even call around to certain US insurance companies to get quotes to continue the monitoring of her condition.

 

This is one of those sit downs at the kitchen table to discuss if the person fully understands what they are giving up. If she comes to the US and her condition worsen, the costs could be astranomical.

 

She has friends in the US, who came on a tourist visa and stayed. When they have medical bills, they don't care, because they're ####### and have zero interest in who pays their bills as long as it's not them, so they claim homeless and walk away, since they have nothing to lose. She seems to have extrapolated from this that medical bills are not enforceable. Or something. 

 

Just very out of touch and confused. I need a dinner table discussion with her and I'm collecting facts right now. She doesn't want to stay illegally, so she can't do illegal stuff. She needs guidance... I guess. 

Edited December 28, 2018 by eckoin

[eckoin 211]

10 minutes ago, mushroomspore said:

1. You are correct on residency. She cannot maintain both while she is a US permanent resident. 

 

2. Also correct on her US health insurance being through the roof if she moves here. Given that she has a condition that requires monitoring, why does she even want to move to the US then???? 

 

The other thing to consider is the possibility that the US immigration system may see some changes before you become a citizen. Not saying that the government will get rid of the parent-petition category but who knows how they might decide to change it or what-have-you?

Honestly, she just wants warmer weather. Honestly, that's why I originally moved to the US for work. It sounds kind of sad, but it meant a lot to me; I hate winter, so does she. 

 

I love Canada otherwise. It's a wonderful place to live. The snow and salt just really get to you if you're not the type to appreciate snow related activities in the meantime. 

 

Definitely taking the current immigration system changes into consideration, but my mom's been bugging me about this question, and I've held off on discussing it. I feel like now's the time to put it in perspective, because the medical and residency requirements will not get better. They just might get worse 

[Unlockable 7,314]

5 minutes ago, eckoin said:

She has friends in the US, who came on a tourist visa and stayed. When they have medical bills, they don't care, because they're ####### and have zero interest in who pays their bills as long as it's not them, so they claim homeless and walk away, since they have nothing to lose. She seems to have extrapolated from this that medical bills are not enforceable. Or something. 

 

Just very out of touch and confused. I need a dinner table discussion with her and I'm collecting facts right now. She doesn't want to stay illegally, so she can't do illegal stuff. She needs guidance... I guess. 

Then I hope fellow VJ members who are from Canada can help you with facts about the immigration journey and sacrifices.

 

@mushroomspore already shared. Hopefully, @Going through and @NikLR and other Candians can chime in.

[Just Paul 4,595]

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I don''t think you can sponsor your parents until you are a citizen. 

 https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/bringing-parents-live-united-states-permanent-residents

 

 

[eckoin 211]

2 minutes ago, Paul & Mary said:

 

Yep, it's 3+ years from now. But she's calling me non-stop and is making plans... And I don't want to lead her on. She needs to understand the stipulations before she makes a decision to abandon one amazing country for another, with her current situation. She seems to think that US and Canada are the same. 

[Boiler 45,516]

Nearer 5 years, she can make plans got her health care.