US Canadian couple living on both sides of the border

[dlabout 0]

Hello all,

My wife and I have what may be an unusual situation. I live in Rochester NY and she lives in Toronto. She has 2 sons that are in their teens and she wants to stay close to their father until they graduate school.

We got married while she was on a visitor visa in March this year, and as per the terms of that visa she planned and did only stay for the weekend.

We go every weekend to one or the others house. I have no intention of moving to Canada and she won't be able to move to the US until the boys are grown (about 5 years).

My question comes down to, will we have trouble down the road applying for her immigration. We didn't want a fiance visa because she wouldn't be staying. There isn't a reason for us to apply for PR for her as she plans to stay in Canada for the short term. Our plan is to file the I-130 when the youngest gets into his senior year and hopefully she can finally live under the same roof here in Rochester.

Thanks for any advice you might be able to offer.

-Doug

[aaron2020 11,652]

Hi,

Not a problem waiting to apply.

Apply when she is ready to move to the US.

Remember to go see your accountant. You will need to file "married filing separately" so only your income is taxable. If you want to file "married filing jointly," then her income would need to be reported on your joint tax return.

Best of luck.

[Adil & Jeanne 296]

You are married so when you are ready, you need to file spouse not financee visa

and you can file jointly (depending on her income and whether is would hurt your tax obligations) by applying at tax time for her ITIN (form W7)

this helps to show comminging of finances

If married for over 2 years when she comes, her green card will be for 10 years and you do not have to do the expensive ($1070) Adjustment of status

[Ortolan 381]

If you apply for a resident visa in 5 years, you'll apply for an IR-1 visa (since by that time you'll have been married over 2 years). I'd suggest you begin immediately documenting shared finances, living wills, beneficiary designations...that kind of stuff. Save holiday cards and photos, documentation of trips taken together, charge cards you have together. In essence, you have 2 homes, one in Canada and one in the U.S. You stay together on weekends. Document it. What they'll want to see is concrete evidence that you have a bonafide marriage together, so these kinds of materials will be very useful in establishing that, especially since you have a bit of a unique living arrangement right now.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Ortolan

[EM_Vandaveer 2,443]

You are married so when you are ready, you need to file spouse not financee visa

and you can file jointly (depending on her income and whether is would hurt your tax obligations) by applying at tax time for her ITIN (form W7)

this helps to show comminging of finances

If married for over 2 years when she comes, her green card will be for 10 years and you do not have to do the expensive ($1070) Adjustment of status

Adjustment of Status is not done with IR-1/CR-1, regardless of the length of the marriage at POE. ROC (Removal of Conditions) is unnecessary with an IR-2/10-year GC after POE. ROC is $590.