Canadians in US for more than 6 months

[Delmark 0]

Hi,

I am a Canadian and I understand that Canadians can stay in US for 6 months in 12 months period without visa. I am interested in living in Minneapolis for 2 years with my 3 year old daughter for Autism treatment. My husband will stay back in canada and pursue his job. We own house in Canada and have family as well.

What do I need to do in order to be able to stay in US for 2 years for treatment.

Any experience, guidance is appreciated.

[Jawaree 717]

You can stay 6 mths prior for that ending about 5 wks ahead you ask for an extension of 6 mths,

how will medical bills be paid? I would not give CBP that reason unless you have insurance to

cover US medical

[Hypnos 6,576]

You won't be able to be in the US for 2 years under the circumstances you describe.

[canadian_wife 1,785]

Be careful, provincial health care will only cover you if you are a resident, being out of Canada for 2 years - you will cease to be a resident and you may lose your provincial health care. On top of that, how will you pay the medical bills in the U.S.?

Good luck

[az2014 381]

You can VISIT the US...not LIVE there.

[Delmark 0]

I am planning to buy insurance in US.

If I show the insurance to cover the bills and letter from the institute providing the treatment, would that not be enough?

Should I contact the embassy and get approval (of course by showing all the docs I mentioned above) before moving even for first 6 months.

Don't people go to US for medical treatments?

[Ash.1101 1,755]

I'd stay in Canada. Autism care in the US is incredibly expensive and some of the best treatments, such as ABA therapy are NOT covered by insurance. While there are some places that do amazing jobs at various autism treatments, the US is considered very behind when it comes to both affordability and accessibility for these treatments. Some people wait more than a year JUST for the autism diagnosis.

My daughter has autism as well, She's 8 years old with the communication skills of a 3-4 year old. When she was 5, she had almost no speech other than scripts and behavior wise was pretty awful. Dealing with the insurance companies has almost been more of a hassle than raising a child with autism.

Right now, I'm waiting on insurance to get a paper from my daughters doctor showing that she passed a hearing test 3 years ago so she can continue speech therapy, which mind you, she started AFTER the said hearing test showed her hearing was fine. Insurance had her take the hearing test 3 years ago just to get speech services, now they need proof they did that years ago to continue services. lol.

But as others said, once you move to the US you and your daughter will no longer be covered by Canadian insurance. Generally they also will not cover anything they CAN provide, and they can provide treatments for autism. Whether it's the treatment you want, doesn't matter too much to them.



I would look into more options in Canada, be it in your province or not. As an American I would love to take advantage of Canadian services for my daughter.



If you do plan on coming to .. live here. You can't really do it on the visitors visa. Just because Canada is so close to America doesn't mean Canadians don't get denied. You don't want to come here, file extensions and then them realize that you're living here and deny you.


Also, do you really only plan on staying for 2 years? It's better for the family for autism therapy to be continuous with the provider. Splitting up the family and having one provider for 2 years, then coming back together as a family and having another provider for who knows how long can actually back track any progression your child is making.



Insurance for Autism care is NOT easy and it's NOT cheap. You need to make sure you can even do this before coming in here. I do not believe you can buy insurance from the market place on a visitor visa. You would have to use travel insurance, but I don't think you'll get travel insurance either because of the circumstances.



http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/tips-and-advice/travel-safety-tips/visiting-united-states/

Further, foreign visitors on short-term visas as tourists, i.e., not students or temporary foreign workers, do not have access to buy their own health insurance from the healthcare marketplaces.

You need to do a LOT of research, as this can get INCREDIBLY expensive.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

I am planning to buy insurance in US.

If I show the insurance to cover the bills and letter from the institute providing the treatment, would that not be enough?

Should I contact the embassy and get approval (of course by showing all the docs I mentioned above) before moving even for first 6 months.

Don't people go to US for medical treatments?

People do, but they usually come from countries that CAN'T provide the medical treatment needed.

http://www.***removed***/visitor-visa/visitor-visa-usa-medical-treatment.html

Also, most insurances will NOT cover all of what you're asking, even if you could just buy insurance here, which you won't be able too.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Teddy B 17,251]

Like posted above, there is no insurance company that will cover pre-existing conditions for a non-USC. And if you come to the US for an extended period of time you will lose your eligibility for Canadian health care, which could end up hurting you & your child in the long run if you decide to return to Canada and you or he needs healthcare. Better off to stay in Canada and get treatment there rather than split up your family, cost yourself a ton of money and put your future healthcare in jeopardy. Canada's healthcare is just as good if not better in some areas than the US.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Teddy B

[Cathi 5,609]

You can't just move to the US

[Boiler 43,397]

What Insurer is going to provide Travel Insurance for a known event? And as I expected and others have confirmed the Canadian system will not pay for it.

Unless you have the money to fund treatment everything else is moot.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

Just as a friendly side note, I'm going to assume that you just found out the diagnosis for your daughter and I know you're probably frantically searching to get the best of the best for her. That is absolutely understandable.

Don't worry, you guys will be okay. Research what you have in the area, join support groups, even if they're just facebook groups. Try to find people to network with, and when ever you gain a resource, ask them about MORE resources.

It is VERY tough as a parent with a newly diagnosed child. Sometimes there is no aim, they just say go get treatment and expect you to be able to figure it out. You can have behavioral therapies, speech, occupational, ABA therapies, parenting classes, autism conferences, etc.. The things you can do to help are endless, but sometimes not easily obtainable and not obvious or just shown to you.


Google is your best friend, google everything you can think of, google autism resources for your town, cities near by, anything that can get you into more resources.


BUT REMEMBER, take care of yourself. If you're over whelmed it is okay to sit back and take a break. Your little one can't take care of themselves, they need you to be a strong mommy so they can be the best they can be. Don't spread yourself too thin.

Parents of children with special needs are 75% more likely to be ill than children of "neurotypical" parents, since they spend most of their energy taking care of their little ones and don't always take the best care of themselves.

Everything will be okay, and I'm sure that you can find something in your area that can help and provide you with more resources. I wish ya'll the best of luck! =]

Edited October 11, 2016 by Ash.1101

[Umka36 781]

I'm not sure if this is offered around other parts of the US or in Canadian schools, but does the local school district offer Early Learning education for preschool aged children in your area?

I only mention this because my 3 year old son is attending all day preschool that offers speech, occupation, and etc. We won't be getting a final diagnosis for our son until later this year from his psychologist, but the school's evaluation team said he met certain criteria to qualify for the service.

OP, I feel for you and wish you the best in finding the right support group/organization that can better assist you and your daughter.

[Ash.1101 1,755]

I'm not sure if this is offered around other parts of the US or in Canadian schools, but does the local school district offer Early Learning education for preschool aged children in your area?

I only mention this because my 3 year old son is attending all day preschool that offers speech, occupation, and etc. We won't be getting a final diagnosis for our son until later this year from his psychologist, but the school's evaluation team said he met certain criteria to qualify for the service.

OP, I feel for you and wish you the best in finding the right support group/organization that can better assist you and your daughter.

Agreeing!

Here at least, they do offer a special needs pre-school class at our local school district. They start at three, and will do a basic test to see if there are any delays of any kind. In my daughters case, it was prior to her autism diagnosis, so she was labeled as having a noncategorical speech delay, that allowed her to join the special needs pre-school program for a year and a half before pre-k. She's in 2nd grade now and has about a 50/50 day. 50% in the special education, 50% in the regular class. Unless she's having a bad day then it could differ.

But check out the school systems! No harm in inquiries.

[Delmark 0]

Thank you guys.

No, the diagnosis is not new and there isn't anything that we have not inquired about locally, in the province and outside as well.

My daughter is taking ABA therapies and will be going to special pre-school next year but it's not just the progress I want. It's unfortunate that money and borders can restrict the best of care sometimes.

@Ash.1101& Umka 36 - I appreciate your thoughtfulness.