don_mar

I just did mine. I used Turbotax and filed as deemed resident. If you lived in Canada for less than 183 days, you need to file as a non resident I think. If you have foreign address, you can’t do Netfile, but Turbotax allows you to download and print the forms. You can manually fill out the form too, download it from CRA website.

I just did mine. I used Turbotax and filed as deemed resident. If you lived in Canada for less than 183 days, you need to file as a non resident I think. If you have foreign address, you can’t do Netfile, but Turbotax allows you to download and print the forms. You can manually fill out the form too, download it from CRA website.

When I recently imported my car, they didn’t ask for any forms. The officer took the registration and compliance letter, came back with a letter for registering the vehicle. No duty either, she said she estimated the value of the vehicle too. As for CBP, you may have to give them a call. I thought you have 10 years to import your belongings so you should be fine.

When I recently imported my car, they didn’t ask for any forms. The officer took the registration and compliance letter, came back with a letter for registering the vehicle. No duty either, she said she estimated the value of the vehicle too. As for CBP, you may have to give them a call. I thought you have 10 years to import your belongings so you should be fine.

I already received the card. I actually activated the card in March just a few days before the border shutdown. This time we were not allowed into the office. We imported our 2 vehicles and we waited outside. An officer came out, took everything she needed, and came back with the paperwork for us. Everything went smoothly. The whole immigration process was just bad timing for me from the beginning.

My wife and I married in November 2018 and we started our immigration journey when we filed the I-130 on December 5, 2018.
 
Along the way, I’ve learned some valuable lessons and experiences that I would like to share with the community. It may be helpful to anyone who plans to start their immigration journey from Canada to the United States.
 
Travelling to the US
 
Prior to meeting my wife, my travels to the United States was limited to rare family trips. I met my wife in a developing country where she was completing her fellowship. We maintained a long-distance relationship, where I visited her 4-5 times in this country, but also started visiting her in the US starting from January 2017. By mid-2017, I decided to apply for a Nexus card, which ended up being a great investment at $50 USD for 5 years. Looking at my i94, I have visited my wife 20 times in the US since 2016 (22 times if you include transits through the US).
 
The Nexus card made it easy for me to visit my wife, even as I go through the immigration process. In total, I have visited my wife 12 times since we filed the i130 (anywhere from 6-26 days), all of which through Toronto Pearson Airport. I have visited her throughout the immigration process, last of which is a final trip a week prior to my interview at the US Consulate General in Montreal. With the Nexus card, I have not had any issues crossing at Toronto Pearson Airport. I always bring my employment information, bank statements, etc. but have never required to show them.
 
I was careful to limit my visits somewhat as I didn’t want to qualify for the Substantial Presence Test requiring me to file my taxes with the IRS.
 
Preparing for the Move
 
I did file my 2018 taxes with my wife jointly with the purpose of obtaining an ITIN. I learned through trial-and-error that the W7 needed to be filed with our tax return (there was a lot of misinformation when I contacted the IRS and was turned away at the IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center with the W7 alone). The ITIN allowed me to apply and obtain my professional license in California (a tax number is required in California) and apply for a secured credit card (I hoped to jump start my credit score).
 
With regards to building my credit score, I am still not 100% sure whether what I’ve done will help. I will be sure to update this thread when I find out. I obtained a secured credit card with my ITIN and was added to my wife's credit card as an authorized user. In preparation to obtain more US credit cards when I move, I’ve developed a cross-border relationship with my Canadian bank and obtained an AmEx card to take advantage of the Global Card Transfer program.
 
To transfer my assets to the US, I started liquidated my assets in 2018, converting my CAD to USD gradually using Norbert’s Gambit with Questrade over the past year. This gave me a better return than through TD bank and Transferwise. I essentially took CAD from my TD CAD account, sent it to Questrade, performed Norbert’s Gambit, sent USD back to my TD USD account then transferred it cross-border to my TD America account. Aside from some commission fees to Questrade for the Norbert’s Gambit (note there are tax obligations for capital gain, which is negligable as it implies that you the USD/CAD conversion has worked in my favor, and you need to be familiar with CRA's superficial loss rule), I was able to move my money to my TD America (US-based) account with no other fees. You need to be aware of your CRA/IRS reporting requirements for having foreign bank accounts exceeding a certain threshold.
 
Anyway, that is it for now. My interview is next week and I will be sure to add to this thread as I continue through my visa journey.
 
 

I believe this thread is for Canadian applicants only.

Yes you can...but it is limited to 35 weeks.  https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-outside-canada/eligibility.html

I think you should get another email soon. If not call them and ask for an update.

welcome to the club! Did you get an Case Complete email? Anyway you may want to join/follow this thread, it's for April/May but there are a few from June:
 
 

see if this helps:
 
 

We are in BC, nothing is free here!

We are in BC, nothing is free here!

Thanks for the detailed review! Can't you get the TDap for free at a regular clinic or your family doctor's?

Thanks for the detailed review! Can't you get the TDap for free at a regular clinic or your family doctor's?

Hi everyone, 
 
I have recently completed my medical exam in Surrey, BC with Dr Cheema and I wanted to provide a review of my experience for all the applicants that may be curious as to how it went.
 
My experience at Dr. Cheema's office was very positive! The time it took being there was a little over a hour (15 min waiting after TDap shot). The ladies at the front desk were polite and helpful. Make sure to double check the info on the forms they give you with your personal info since my birthday and email had been incorrectly entered, but they kindly corrected it. After I was called inside, I was weighed, my height taken and then Dr. Cheema asked me some medical history questions. The questions were standard health questions, no surprises. Since I have always been in good health there was nothing of particular medical concern. I had all of my vaccines in order ( MMR 2 doses and TDap at birth and second dose later on) but I requested another TDap (paid $45) since I wanted a booster which is recommended once every 10 years. Just to clarify though, they told me this booster was not specifically needed for the K-1 requirements but I thought it might be helpful to have an up-to-date vaccine record for the AOS and for my peace of mind. The price was also good compared to travel clinics in my area. After the questions, he checked my blood pressure, lungs, eyes and vision test (bring contacts or glasses!), ears and he pressed on my abdomen, basically the kind of standard medical exam I have also had in the past. I was very glad that it was not more invasive and that I didn't have to change/undress, and also that he was very polite and put me at ease. I had read on here other reviews which pointed out that as long as the applicant doesn't have any major medical concerns the medical exam is fast and easy. Can't stress enough how thankful I am for other medical exam reviews on this website since it gave me a lot of peace of mind going into my appointment. 
 
After leaving Dr. Cheema's office I followed the instructions given by the ladies at reception to go to LifeLabs nearby for the bloodwork and to another building for the chest x-ray. The building for Lifelabs had sufficient parking and the process there was pretty fast, probably less than 20 min.
 
Afterwards I went to the Medical Imagery Clinic. Although it is like a 1 min drive away from the lab the location/parking I found to be awkward and kinda tricky. I spent a lot of time trying to find the right entrance and parking. The address seemed to direct me to its old location whereas the clinic is in the building next door (instructions written on a paper on the door of the old location). Parking is available at the back of the new building, but when I was there it was all taken. I had to find street parking but some of the streets appeared to only allow residents to park. Thankfully I found parking on 82nd street. In total the chest x-ray took about 45 min since the place was packed. Apart from the parking situation everything else went smoothly.
 
Thanks!
 
Side note - for anyone interested, there is a great thrift store in the area called Talize (highly recommend it) and also a small one called Penny Savers  

Where did you find this that Canadian PR would be void once you have US Green Card? How does status in the US matter to Canada? I don’t believe this at all. However, if you stay less than 3 years period out of 5 years even then too your Canadian status does not get void. You have to voluntarily renounce your Canada PR status by notifying the authorities. Your Canadian status doesn’t get void automatically. 

My case complete is May 14, right after they responded to my inquiry online. Maybe bugging them actually helped?  I'm still waiting for the interview to be scheduled.

Just following up on this thread since I’m sure I won’t be the only person in this situation in the future. I did call the CRA and was told I would still receive my tax return for the 2018 tax year and I received my full tax return benefit via direct deposit from claiming my foreign tuition tax credits as a student in the US. 
 
If you’ve filled out TL11A forms as a student to claim foreign tuition credits as a student, you are still entitled to claim the benefit on taxes on Canadian income once you’ve left the country.
 
I got my green card last August. Stayed in Canada and worked until November 2018 before resigning and leaving permanently for the US. I called the CRA to advise them I left the country following that to cancel my GST cheques and provided my US tax information to my Canadian bank.
 
I filed my tax return for 2018 in March 2019 and tried to e-file. I found out you can only file through paper filing as a non-resident which delayed my return. After paper filing, CRA processed my return and I still got my full return with tuition tax credits included on both my employment income and the federal income tax taken from my cashed out pension lump sum payment.
 
Some of the guidance earlier in the thread may still apply to other situations, just not foreign tuition tax credits on Canadian income earned.
 
I hope this is helpful to anyone else who ends up reading this who has a similar situation.

So I’m actually now done with this process. I used to work for a hospital in Toronto. They’ve had my situation before and they don’t tax people as non-residents that are working at their hospital as the CRA doesn’t view Canadian citizens working in Canadian institutions who haven’t cut ties yet as non-residents for tax purposes. 
 
I was taxed as a Canadian resident as usual on my paychecks until I left. Once I called the CRA to give them my exit date, I became a non-resident. The CRA confirmed that they were unconcerned with the date of my activating my green card for their purposes.
 
Also being a Canadian resident for tax purposes and being a green card permanent resident in the US have distinct and separate criteria that can overlap in situations such as these. 
 
I also comfirmed with the CRA that I will still be able to carry over my tuition tax refund benefits as a non-resident on income earned in 2018. If you’ve filled out TL11A forms as a student studying in a foreign institution and have tuition credit amounts to claim on your taxes when you return from your education abroad to Canada to work, you keep those perks on Canadian income taxes even after you’ve become a non-resident. Any unclaimed carryover of foreign tuition credit amounts will also be kept for you to claim later if you ever choose to return to Canada from the United States to work.

After I submitted all my documents and it got accepted, I got an email saying NVC is working with US Consulate on scheduling my interview

Not exactly.  Vancouver, and all international airports in Canada have US pre-clearance.  That means US Customs and Border Protection agents clear you into the US while still at the airport in Canada.  The POE to the USA, in this case will actually BE Vancouver, BC, CANADA.  
 
THAT says NOTHING about whether he will need a transit visa or just an Electronic Travel Authorization.  I don't know a definitive answer for that, but he WILL clear Canadian Immigration in Canada, walk through the airport, get a boarding pass and THEN present his passport visa and package to US Immigration before proceeding to his boarding gate for his flight to the USA.  THIS, I do know, because I've done it.
 
It would have been far wiser to have a definitive answer on this question BEFORE purchasing the ticket.  No?

mine just got approved!
 
NOA1: December 1, 2017
NOA2: August 27, 2018

mine just got approved!
 
NOA1: December 1, 2017
NOA2: August 27, 2018

mine just got approved!
 
NOA1: December 1, 2017
NOA2: August 27, 2018