kc247

Not sure if this is a good place to post this as most people may live in th US. I went through the whole visa process previously but haven't been active on this site because my husband and I moved back to Canada. 

We had a baby in November and since my husband is a US citizen I know we can claim it for our baby. Does anyone know how to do this? All I can find online is form N-600K that is $1,170. Anyone know if that is what we have to do??

Thank you for the info. Just saw that the I-131 is $660 so definitely not filing that. Will probably just have to surrender my green card next time we come and if we ever need to move back will reapply. Chances are that will not happen. I was more thinking citizenship for years and years into the future. 

I lived in the US from 2014-2019. I still have my 10 yr green card and just crossed into the US to visit. The customs officer told me to go to a USCIS office and apply for a travel document so I don't lose my green card incase I want to apply for citizenship. I assumed I would have to give up my green card at the border. Is citizenship still a possibility? I moved away 10 months ago. The only reason I didn't apply before we left was because my husband had a job offer in Canada and we left quicker than originally planned. 

Just now, Lil bear said:

USCIS and CBP still think you are an LPR. Voluntarily surrender the GC .. and hence the LPR status .. at POE.. you will be required to sign the I 407 form .. and then request to enter as a Canadian  citizen.  
https://www.uscis.gov/i-407

Thanks I will just do that!

4 hours ago, missileman said:

Personally, I would surrender it at the border.....  I would not attempt to enter the US as Green Card holder.

Seems that you have already voluntarily given up the right to hold it.

I wasn't planning to enter as a greencard holder. Just take only my passport and enter as a visitor since I am a Canadian Citizen. 

My husband and I moved back to Canada in May 2019 after living in the US for 5 years. He is now a permanent resident of Canada. Anyway, we are traveling back to the US in 2 weeks to visit his family. I have a 10 year greencard which I know will be no good to me since we have moved. Do I still bring it with me? Or just leave it and travel with my passport? I am a bit worried they will take it from me...which I know makes no difference in the end since I am technically no longer a US permanent resident but I worked so hard for it I would be a bit sad if they took it 😂. 

Finally got my approval notice!  Dated 6/4/18!

34 minutes ago, shradhak said:

Hi everyone, 

 

My I 751 extension expires Jan 31st and I'm trying to get an appointment at the Newark/New York USCIS office for a few weeks now but have failed. I did manage an appointment with them in early Nov but the officer refused to stamp I-551 saying it can only be stamped 30 days prior to expiation. Now I'm so close to expiration date and can't manage an appointment. Two questions: 

 

-Anyone know how to get an appointment/any 'tricks' to use? I have been trying for a few weeks and all times of the day/night. 

-If I can't get I-551 stamped by Jan 31st then what? If i don't plan on leaving the country can I have it stamped after the date as well?

 

Thank you so much. 

 

 

Have you tried at midnight?  I tried for a couple weeks to get an appointment here in Salt Lake without any luck and was getting worried because I am going home to Canada end of Feb and my extension expires Feb 9.  I managed to get an appointment finally yesterday morning by checking as soon as I got up for work (about 6:45am).  I have heard midnight is when new appointments open up so either staying up late or waking up early is the best chance, but you may need to try multiple days in a row. 

On 11/15/2017 at 12:49 PM, Name O Boy said:

If you ever move you need to send two address change forms. One is AR-11 send by the immigrant spouse and I-865 sponsor's Notice of Change of Address. CSC is taking forever and the average processing time is around 15 to 16 months. 

Two change of address forms?  I moved and filled out a form online.  Do I need to do something else?  I don't want to miss important letters! 

Yeah good point, I will just have to miss work. Hopefully I can make up for the hours somehow. Of course with my luck it gets scheduled on a day I work and I only work twice a week! Oh well what can you do!

I got my biometrics appontment a couple days ago and it is scheduled for Thursday Dec 8 in SLC. The problem is I work Monday and Thursdays during the week and though I could get the day off I can't make up those hours. I would try and do a walk in but I don't live close to the office and I hate to waste the day going and be turned away. I am worried if I send the letter back to be rescheduled they will schedule be after Dec 26 and I am going home to Canada for 2 weeks. Can I send a letter with my appointment paper asking for my reschedules appointment to be a Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday and to be either before Dec 26 or after Jan 9? Or will they just ignore it and reschedule it. I just hate to lose the day of work when I am going away soon for 2 weeks..but will if I have to! And if I sent the letter tomorrow would they even get to it before my scheduled appointment??

I had my medical almost 2 years ago so I can't remember exactly, but I know I didn't have to get any vaccines, I had them all done when I was young & in high school, I just went to the hospital and got a copy of my vaccinations. I think some of them needed to be done within a certain amount of years, but I had only been out of high school for 5 years so I was up to date. So you might not have to get any. Have you checked the website and compared your vaccines to see if you are up to date? That is what I would do and if you need any then you will know what you need.

I got my voting packet, but yes I had to say that I plan on returning and say the date. I do plan on returning, don't know the exact date but just guessed if all went well when we would go back ideally. My brother got his voting packet as well, not sure what he put for returning, but must of put something! Neither of us have been gone more than 5 years though.

Completely up to you I changed mine when I applied for Permanent Residency, so my green card has my husband's last name. I changed nothing in Canada. Honestly, if I moved back I don't know if I would even bother! Legally you can go by either (from what I have heard). If i thought about it more beforehand, I probably wouldn't of changed it on anything. I was too stressed getting married and all the immigration stuff, I just automatically though I better change it. So my drivers license and green card has it as my husband's, as for official documents that is it.

One thing my Mom told me when I had mentioned to her whether to take his name or not, was that it would be a pain to have children and not have the same last name as them (don't know if this would apply to you or not). I like my maiden name better than his, maybe it is just because I have had it my whole life! I don't think my name sounds good with his last name. I have been married for a year and a half and still when I write a signature I have to think twice about what name I am signing. I still haven't changed it at the bank, so when I get my pay cheque I have to sign both names...my fault for not changing it though. I apparently have to get a SSN in my married name in order to change it, which is a day trip. Which is why I say it would of been easier to not to of bothered changing it, but that is just me.

I have never had issues with buying one way tickets, I have often bought one ways each way because I find a good deal and it ends up being cheaper. They aren't going to know unless they ask anyway. If you are going on a K1 there would be no reason to buy a return.

The last time I read, Canada doesn't prohibit dual citizenships.

As far as US is concerned, you can keep as many citizenships you had before becoming a US citizen. But if you apply for citizenship of any other country after US, you would have to give up your US citizenship.

Good thing about Canada as well, that you don't have to maintain residency, or pay income taxes if you don't live there. Not the case with US residency.

That doesn't sound correct to me? I am quite sure a US citizen can move to Canada and eventually get Canadian citizen without renouncing their US citizenship...

I know what you mean! I desperately want to move back to Canada, preferably back to NS where I am from, but would really take anywhere. I love my job here and it makes me sad to think about leaving it, but I miss my family (and my dog!) so much. It has been over a year but I wish they were just a drive away like my husband's family is for him. I'm not sure about the whole immigration process though, but I do hear it is easier to go to Canada than what we had to go through immigrating to the US. I miss healthcare in Canada, I don't have good insurance here because I don't get it with my job, and my husband is still a student. I had to go last week for an ear infection and that wasn't fun. Nothing crazy expensive but I miss just being able to go and not worrying about the money.

Hopefully you guys can decide what is best for you. I have never been to Vancouver but we have thought about it being an option to move to when my husband is finally graduated (1 more year!).

12 YEARS!?? I have thought about it with my younger sister, if she ever wanted to move here or anything, it will probably never happen, but I have thought about what if something happened to my parents, both me and my brother live in the States & she is only 18. Anyways..forget about that if it is 12 years haha, I will be back in Canada long before that I hope!

Fabulous!! I"m so happy for you!! Congrats!!!

Thank you! You have the same dates as me, yours should be anytime now too!

Just got a status update, they mailed my card today!

Wish I waited a week to send my EAD renewal..oh well, I am guessing they will see it and realize I got my Green Card and do nothing with my renewal??

And also remember that you have to file an FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Report) which gets sent to a different Gov't agency for all investments or bank account information you have outside the US. This includes any Canadian retirement plans or bonds etc that you have, including all Canadian bank accounts.

You can file this up until June I believe as is filed separately than your taxes (though think you can do it on TaxAct online if you use that). I just file mine online separately from my taxes. But this is something that not many people knew about, and even I just found this out 2 or 3 years ago and had to gather up all my past information which was a pain and fill out all the previous years with a letter explaining why I didn't file the FBAR...

Here's the site.

http://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/main.html

Do you have to do this no matter what? I only have a few hundred in my bank account from Canada, hardly use it except for EI and to pay my student loans. I thought I read somewhere that it had to have had over $10 000 in it over the past 5 years or something like that, but I could be wrong!

I applied as soon as I moved and had no issues at all. Maybe I was just lucky though. I applied online and filled out the form they mailed to me. Then when I got my EAD I faxed them a copy. I probably had to send a copy of my visa at some point but honestly don't remember clearly...I did way too much scanning of everything back then to remember what I did with it all! I also just had 'Quit' on my ROE and had no issues.

You should be applying for jobs when you get your EAD, I kept a list of everywhere I had applied to in case EI called and wanted to know, but they have never.

I use to call the number to do my reports, I would call as early as I could and then usually within a few hours I'd get a call back. Lately I have been doing paper forms (I only have 2 weeks left of EI now anyways), because I work too late in the day on Fridays to call and get a call back the same day, and I only get a small portion of my EI so I'm not as desperate to have the money as I was before, since it takes quite a bit longer to process when you do the paper forms.

Because you were only in the US for part of the year you will need to file both a Canadian tax return and a US tax return for 2014.

I came in May of 2013 and this is what I had to do.

You only claim on your Canadian tax return what you earned in Canada up until the time you moved.

You only claim on your US tax return what you earned after you moved. (If you still had Canadian income coming in AFTER you moved- whether it be in a Canadian account or not) you will need to claim that on your US tax return.

Also, you definitely need to let Revenue Canada know that you are now a non-resident so that for the 2015 tax year, you will only have to file a US return.

So...I don't need to report the income I made in Canada from January-the date I moved. But the pay I got after I moved, from work I did before I moved (since I got my vacation pay paid out to me) I do need to report?

Sorry...I keep seeing different answers and am so confused about it all!

I have been searching and searching the internet for the past couple weeks trying to find the answers to all those questions! From what I have read, you still have to report your income you made in Canada for the whole tax year, even if you (like me) only worked before you moved to the US. I still haven't found a for sure answer about EI, but I do believe you declare it. Mine stayed in my Canadian account the whole time and I mainly use just to pay my Canada student loan each month. I believe there is a form you use that exempts the foreign income from being taxed.

Hopefully someone else with experience in this can help us out with the answers for sure!

Uhhh you don't do Biometrics again?

I can't seem to find a definite answer, from what I see online you normally do, but also I have seen if it is within a year that they process it you don't have to. I hope you're right though! That's why I put a copy of my appointment notice from last April in with my renewal packet.