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mattUsUkr

Spending time in Canada after getting GC

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Ukraine
Timeline

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.

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Filed: Timeline
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


N-400

04-13-2022: Applied online; case received

04-15-2022: Biometric reused; case being actively reviewed

12-09-2022: Interview scheduled for 01-20-2023

01-20-2023: Recommended for approval, Oath Ceremony Will Be Scheduled

01-23-2023: Oath ceremony scheduled for 02-16-2023

02-16-2022: Oath taken, naturalized, journey OVER!!

 

RoC

04-14-2021: Package mailed

04-16-2021: Package delivered

05-04-2021: Text received (LIN)

05-05-2021: Check cashed

05-07-2021: I-797 received , GC extended by 18 months

05-28-2021: Biometrics waived -|- Case updated to Fingerprints taken
06-04-2021: Biometrics letter received (dated 05-28-2021)

05-10-2022: New card being produced

05-11-2022: Case approved

05-12-2022: Card mailed

05-16-2022: Card received; also received approval notice letter

 

Marriage based AoS
07-14-2018: Priority date
07-31-2018: Biometric review complete
07-31-2018: RFIE (I-864 related)
11-29-2018: Case ready for interview; EAD card being produced
06-04-2019: Interview scheduled
07-11-2019: Interview; new card being produced

07-18-2019: Card delivered

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Wales
Timeline

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


“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Taiwan
Timeline
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).  


20 years, US Air Force- Retired

Registered Nurse- Retired

IT Professional- Retired

______________________________________

January 26, 2023:  Oath Ceremony completed at the Plano Event Center, Plano, Texas!!!😁

February 6, 2023: Passport Application submitted in Dallas, Texas.

March 21, 2023: Passport Delivered!!!!

IT IS FINISHED!!!!!

In summary, it took 13 months for approval of the CR-1.  It took 44 months for approval of the I-751.  It took 4 months for approval of the N-400.  It took 6 weeks for Passport. 

 

 

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Morocco
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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

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Filed: AOS (apr) Country: New Zealand
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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.

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Ukraine
Timeline

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.

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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.

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Filed: K-1 Visa Country: Ukraine
Timeline
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."

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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 by PaulaCJohnny

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Filed: Citizen (pnd) Country: Argentina
Timeline
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. 
 


From AOS to ROC (So far)

 

AOS😎

Filing date: 10.17.2019

Biometrics: 12.12.2019

RFE: 01.15.2020

RFE response: 01.22.2020

RFE response acknowledgment: 01.30.2020

READY TO BE SCHEDULED FOR AN INTERVIEW: 02.07.2020

INTERVIEW SCHEDULED: 02.07.2020

(hold on, this is where it gets interesting)

INTERVIEW DATE: 03.18.2020

The day before: rrrrriiiiiiing riiiiiiiing *my cell phone rings as we were loading the car to spend the night at a hotel prior to our interview. Interview cancelled because of COVID.🙄🙄😷🤒

READY TO BE SCHEDULED: 03.19.2020

RFE FROM THE FIELD OFFICE FOR US TO SEND THE EVIDENCE: Somewhere in early April.🙄

EVIDENCE SENT: 04.14.2020

CASE APPROVED: 04.29.2020.

GREEN CARD IN HAND: 05.01.2020🟩

 

ROC (so far).

PACKAGE RECEIVED AT PHOENIX LOCKBOX: 02.01.2022.

NOTIFICATION (TXT): 02.04.2022. LIN service center

BIOMETRICS: 03.28.2022 (USCIS Case tracker update Case Was Updated to Show Fingerprints Were Taken) and also email update *biometrics used from AOS*

 

N400 (So far)

Online filing and receipt date: 01.30.2023

 

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

 

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“When starting an immigration journey, the best advice is to understand that sacrifices have to be made... whether it is time, money, or separation; or a combination of all.” - Unlockable

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Myanmar
Timeline
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. 

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Ghana
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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!


sᴛᴏᴘ sᴀᴄʀɪғɪᴄɪɴɢ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴛ ᴀᴍᴇʀɪᴄᴀɴ ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ɢᴜɴ ᴠɪᴏʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʟᴛᴀʀ ᴏғ ᴀɴ ᴀᴍᴇɴᴅᴍᴇɴᴛ!


ᴀ ᴄɪᴛɪᴢᴇɴ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ 

 

 

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