Spending time in Canada after getting GC

[mattUsUkr 5]

Does anyone have experience of temporarily moving out of the US after getting their green card? My wife has an interview scheduled for the AOS (via K1 visa) soon, and we've debated living in Canada while working remote US jobs. Or maybe even spend most of the year in Canada, with a a few trips to the US. I'm trying to figure out what options are safe vs having the potential to cause issues for returning to the US if decided to live here in the end.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-820?language=en_US this says a PR can leave as long as it's not for over a year. I take that to say that if we return the to the US every year (most likely 2-4 visits a year), there shouldn't be a problem.

 

Does anyone have experience or advice on if my take on this is accurate, or about other info I may be missing?

Thank you.

[elmers 293]

8 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

over a year

If you're outside the US for more than 6 months, it could impact your PR status: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

[Boiler 45,525]

Are you both also Canadian, you show a Ukrainian flag.

[Crazy Cat 41,886]

41 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

Does anyone have experience of temporarily moving out of the US after getting their green card? My wife has an interview scheduled for the AOS (via K1 visa) soon, and we've debated living in Canada while working remote US jobs. Or maybe even spend most of the year in Canada, with a a few trips to the US. I'm trying to figure out what options are safe vs having the potential to cause issues for returning to the US if decided to live here in the end.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-820?language=en_US this says a PR can leave as long as it's not for over a year. I take that to say that if we return the to the US every year (most likely 2-4 visits a year), there shouldn't be a problem.

 

Does anyone have experience or advice on if my take on this is accurate, or about other info I may be missing?

Thank you.

A Green Card holder cannot "live" in Canada or spend most of every year in Canada .  To do so will risk her US residency.  It would also delay her ability to file for US citizenship.  I would seriously consider delaying any move out of the country for a few more years (until she has naturalized).  

[JeanneAdil 6,510]

Citizenship?

Would you be able to live legally in Canada?

why do the green card for the US if you don't want to live here?

it is for family unification to live in the US

 

and have you looked into the tax issues ? 

we have a tax treaty with Canada but filing for both countries means a lot of work and the USC still has to pay into USA SS and medicare

[SalishSea 17,835]

2 hours ago, mattUsUkr said:

Does anyone have experience of temporarily moving out of the US after getting their green card? My wife has an interview scheduled for the AOS (via K1 visa) soon, and we've debated living in Canada while working remote US jobs. Or maybe even spend most of the year in Canada, with a a few trips to the US. I'm trying to figure out what options are safe vs having the potential to cause issues for returning to the US if decided to live here in the end.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-820?language=en_US this says a PR can leave as long as it's not for over a year. I take that to say that if we return the to the US every year (most likely 2-4 visits a year), there shouldn't be a problem.

 

Does anyone have experience or advice on if my take on this is accurate, or about other info I may be missing?

Thank you.

US GC is not intended for living abroad and visiting the US a couple of times per year.   She risks losing it by doing this.

[mattUsUkr 5]

I'm American and she moved here from Ukraine.

 

The idea was to temporarily spend time aka 'live' there, while still keeping my house & health insurance here in the US, with a plan to return to the US full time after a couple years. Living up north is just something we've both been interested in as a temporary thing (kinda like how some people have the travel bug).

 

Thank you for that USCIS link. Sounds like absences from the US for less than 6 months are allowed, but with multiple of these, an officer can reject a naturalization application. To me it sounds like it could be safe if we were to spend 5 months in Canada one year, then again the following year, and then if we had 3 full years in the US before applying for naturalization, there wouldn't be much concern of whether or not we reside in the US (quote from the USCIS link that we need to be mindful of: "In some of these cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time.")

 

As I'm at the beginning of pursuing this idea, I haven't looked into all the details of doing this from the Canadian side, but I did read it can be fairly easy if a resident of the US has a remote job (sure, with some additional tax headaches), so I thought I'd look into what it means for the US immigration process first, which is the most important part for us.

[PaulaCJohnny 713]

16 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

I'm American and she moved here from Ukraine.

 

The idea was to temporarily spend time aka 'live' there, while still keeping my house & health insurance here in the US, with a plan to return to the US full time after a couple years. Living up north is just something we've both been interested in as a temporary thing (kinda like how some people have the travel bug).

 

Thank you for that USCIS link. Sounds like absences from the US for less than 6 months are allowed, but with multiple of these, an officer can reject a naturalization application. To me it sounds like it could be safe if we were to spend 5 months in Canada one year, then again the following year, and then if we had 3 full years in the US before applying for naturalization, there wouldn't be much concern of whether or not we reside in the US (quote from the USCIS link that we need to be mindful of: "In some of these cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time.")

 

As I'm at the beginning of pursuing this idea, I haven't looked into all the details of doing this from the Canadian side, but I did read it can be fairly easy if a resident of the US has a remote job (sure, with some additional tax headaches), so I thought I'd look into what it means for the US immigration process first, which is the most important part for us.

You can’t just go to Canada and live there. You need a visa like everybody else. There is no residency special conditions for US citizen to live in Canada. 
You can sure visit, her too if she apply for a visitor visa.

[mattUsUkr 5]

1 minute ago, PaulaCJohnny said:

You can’t just go to Canada and live there. You need a visa like everybody else. There is no residency special conditions for US citizen to live in Canada. 
You can sure visit, her too if she apply for a visitor visa.

Yea I'm not just going over and living there. Like I said, "I haven't looked into all the details of doing this from the Canadian side, but I did read it can be fairly easy if a resident of the US has a remote job (sure, with some additional tax headaches), so I thought I'd look into what it means for the US immigration process first, which is the most important part for us."

[PaulaCJohnny 713]

9 minutes ago, mattUsUkr said:

Yea I'm not just going over and living there. Like I said, "I haven't looked into all the details of doing this from the Canadian side, but I did read it can be fairly easy if a resident of the US has a remote job (sure, with some additional tax headaches), so I thought I'd look into what it means for the US immigration process first, which is the most important part for us."

No, is not easy. Canadian immigration is in my opinion most difficult than immigration to the US. I know because I did all the process. Again, there is no special benefits for US citizen (maybe the English part if you are not going to a Province that’s speaks French).

Your wife’s green card if for her to be a resident of the US, she cannot just apply and go to live in another country.

 

I really recommend you to study really well the immigration process in Canada.

 

This link is exactly for you. Even have a video. Good luck 

 

https://www.canadavisa.com/moving-to-canada-from-the-u-s.html

Edited June 12, 2022 by PaulaCJohnny

[Rocio0010 5,579]

6 hours ago, mattUsUkr said:

My wife has an interview scheduled for the AOS (via K1 visa) soon, and we've debated living in Canada while working remote US jobs. Or maybe even spend most of the year in Canada, with a a few trips to the US. I'm trying to figure out what options are safe vs having the potential to cause issues for returning to the US if decided to live here in the end.

Then why obtain a US residency if she doesn’t plan on living here? It could be perceived as her abandoning her resident status. 
 

[Unlockable 7,314]

*** Thread moved to General Immigration section of the forum.

 

VJ Moderation

[Mike E 11,739]

9 hours ago, elmers said:

If you're outside the US for more than 6 months, it could impact your PR status: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter-3

Nope. 180 days. 

[African Zealot 1,455]

You can substitute any other country for Canada. The bottom line is you’re risking her green card. Yes people have been gone for five years and gotten back into the USA without a word from immigration etc, however not being discovered doesn’t mean it was acceptable. All it takes is one zealous observant immigration officer and she could be in trouble depending on the pattern and lengths of travel. There is no cast in iron determination aside for the 6 months and 12 months rules as already pointed out. Remember the idea is you get a green card to make your principal dwelling place in the USA.

 

Quote

 

An officer may also review whether an applicant with multiple absences of less than 6 months each will be able to satisfy the continuous residence requirement. In some of these cases, an applicant may not be able to establish that his or her principal actual dwelling place is in the United States or establish residence within the United States for the statutorily required period of time.^[10]

An LPR’s lengthy or frequent absences from the U.S. can also result in a denial of naturalization due to abandonment of permanent residence.

 

My advice is err on the side of caution when dealing with immigration. 
 

Enjoy!