Udella&Wiz

On 3/24/2021 at 9:06 PM, CGs_Mother said:

This is the whole point of my thread. Covid-19 is bringing new realities and possibilities to working remotely. Because of Covid-19, I can demonstrate I will not be a burden to my spouse, and our combined income, or even mine alone, is enough to sponsor both my child and myself. 

The US Government does not move quickly or adjust to changing requirements like global work mobility. You cannot sponsor yourself in the scenario you're suggesting - which I think is what I see you asking? Your US spouse will either have the funds/income or a co sponsor.

Am I the only person who didn't feel an ounce of guilt not declaring my engagement ring? My now husband asked me to marry him on one of my trips there. I came down ringless and returned home with a ring - how on earth would the Canadian border patrol have had any idea whether I left Canada with one a few days before? To be fair - i moved permanently to the US 10+ yrs ago so it all came full circle.

Sounds like number of things are contributing and coming together at the same time which makes it all worse. You mention having more supportive family back home which I totally understand since I feel that way, but I think the shoe would just be on the other foot for your husband in Canada - how would he feel being away from family - he may say fine but we all know here how homesick you get when you can't see family? No way to tell until you do it of course- but there are no instant fixes in this situation. If it's 6-8 months to apply outside Canada, by that time your EAD will come through, you'll be able to find employment. Since seasonal or temporary employment (which undoubtedly doesn't include healthcare) isn't cutting it - what are the opportunities for permanent work - health care isn't necessarily as bad through your employer as you think. We personally pay the same premiums as I used to pay for supplementary care back in Canada for just myself and daughter...albeit we have deductibles, but we're able to handle those. Understanding healthcare is complicated and I work within HR and Benefits - took me a good couple of years to understand it solidly and we answer questions daily from American born employees trying to understand!

You don't have to travel there, the internet has so many resources for investigating locations and figuring out cost of living in a  new place....what about commuting an hour in either direction - where does that and him? Here in the DC area, and hour commute would be considered normal, in fact people might be excited.

Perhaps a move to a different city would be worth it for your husband's work opportunities? Sounds like you're close to having your EAD also (judging by your timeline...do you know what the hold-up is?) If you think there are job opportunities for you than that will make life so much easier once you have 2 incomes....it was also rough for us when I'd been off since arriving on the K1 and we'd gone through most of the savings we planned to use while I was off but getting the EAD and being able to actually apply for jobs and work made it bearable.

I'd consider - if you move back to Canada and apply for your husband's status from within - how long will he be unemployed while he can't work? Would you be able to find work immediately wherever you'd live - you would have a wait period of roughly 3 months without provincial healthcare after re-establishing residency, not sure how quickly your husband would have coverage too?

Waiting on AOS can be a strain, I'd stick it out a little longer - once you're authorized to work you can make the decision about whether staying the 3 yrs to get citizenship is worth it for you.....it's a bit of a jump to wonder if it's worth it now when you haven't passed the first hurdle....after AOS its relatively peaceful for almost 2 yrs until ROC - you guys will be able to get back to 2 incomes, make some decisions about where you want to live etc.....

I really think it's industry specific and area of the country specific. I live outside DC and there are literally thousands of positions unfilled in IT (hundreds at my company for example) which don't require citizenship (of course some do as well). The pay for me is better than anything I would ever get back home doing the same IT role. My starting salary at my first US position 9 yrs ago was instantly almost 15K higher (in US dollars) than my exact same position in Waterloo ON. I don't think I've lucked out, it's just the industry and the demand.

Really - it's less complicated than it sounds. I filed my Canadian  as usual (used to do it had written because it was simple). Yes....I had to state married on my Canadian return (I got married in late Nov here in the US after arriving on a K1) and then of course he had no Canadian social....so his income (totally NOT Canadian) etc.....was NOT involved in my Canadian return....just his name.

Turbo Tax literally asked every intelligent question and we reported my Canadian income as my World wide income on the his US return. I was not taxed twice and he claimed me as a dependent.

Reminder - you have to present co mingled finances and tax returns in future USCIS stages....doesn't hurt to start filing taxes jointly from the get-go. For me this was how I did it - I'm sure others may have other opinions. We tried filling out the US taxes both ways (with and without me...but we were married and had to note it 'I think" )and it was no less advantageous to include me so away we went.

10 yrs later I can confirm no negative impacts from doing that.....Uncle Sam has successfully taken my money for the last 9 :|

I moved in Nov a few years back - I filed Canadian as expected since I'd worked 11/12 of the year in Canada and had Canadian income - my US husband also claimed me on his US taxes that year (using Turbo tax - it asked all the right questions) and included my World wide income (aka - my Canadian income converted to US dollars, which was a wash due to tax treaties). We didn't pay taxes twice.

On 8/19/2017 at 9:56 PM, NikLR said:

I used RBC.  You can open Canadian and US accounts.  They will allow you to open an unsecured credit card in the USA based on your Canadian credit as well. 

 

Others have used TD. 

This is the single biggest sticking point many of us find.....being able to open a credit card when you have no US credit. It may be advantageous to your future if you do. presumably you'll need to write checks for rent or other items...and Canadian checks won't be easily accepted, if at all.

Hands down - US banks in my experience have fewer fees (or rather none depending on your situation) and you can use debit literally everywhere (hello $1 egg mcmuffin!)....so ATM flexibility may not be as huge as you think (depending on how you bank). I deposit checks online with a banking app - literally never set foot in a physical bank. 

1 hour ago, DJ14770 said:

Thanks for the posts, but we are squared away now and will be going "home" on Tuesday together.

Oh good - glad you're one of the ones 'bringing the average down'!

Pretty normal - assuming you'd get it in a week was perhaps overly hopeful in hindsight. Nothing sounds off though.

Asking for an individual and her husband who are both sending in their N400 pkgs.....can they/ should they file both applications together in the same envelope or keep them entirely separate?

Thanks

All you need to do is apply for US citizenship when you're eligible. 'Dual' means you have both, but there is nothing to do on the Canadian side, you just continue to have what you already had. There's no guide because its is just applying for US citizenship - use that guide.

Good luck if you decide to.

What makes you think you need to do anything, they're just telling you that you have credits in those areas which can be contributed to in the future, which you likely won't because you've moved here and won't be filing Canadian tax returns if that was your exit return. You don't have to file a Canadian return unless you have Canadian income, which you likely won't.

I would call your creditors, some may allow you to continue paying, some may not and want you to pay off the loans prior to moving out of the country - then you'll know what you're looking at. Are you a Canadian citizen? How long have you been gone? You may want to consider that you may not have any Canadian credit in order to obtain a loan. While you may have had credit when you lived there before, my understanding is that over a period of time and financial inactivity (the types of things which report to credit bureaus) you no longer have any credit - or rather you're a noob again  Someone here I'm sure could confirm that length of time or whether they experienced issues on returning to Canada initially.

Its no difficult at all to change your name when you come on a K1 - you simply file your AOS (Adjustment of status) in your new married name,(your marriage certificate is your proof of change). Everything you receive after that from USCIS is in your new married name. I applied for my SSN in my married name (marriage cert as proof) and every piece of US id I've ever had is in my married name.

All I had was a list on a spreadsheet , 3 suitcases of clothing, Kitchen - 4 boxes, 2 tvs, 1 computer, Linens - 2 box etc.........

Just have the list of what she has, they don't care how you're getting to Seattle, they just care about your point of entry into the US.  I'm sure it will go smoothly.

Agree - since you're within the US don't include any photos.

My citizenship interview was 10 minutes long, during which they reviewed my application, any supporting documents and had me do the written and oral tests. I was not asked about my finances, let alone my USC husband's finances. As long as she (and by extension you)has filed taxes yearly she is in compliance. 

I think your wife will be fine.

7 hours ago, K&Kir said:

@TheSmiths

Hello! Just found this forum and wanted to ask....

 

Once you turned in AOS and IV packages to NVC, what were your options on interview dates? I am wondering approximately how many months Montreal is quoting for interview date?

 

Thank you!

The OP is a K1 and not the same VISA type as you, they had a choice to select their own interview date while I believe IR1/CR1 receive an interview date/time. You may want to look at a few recent Canadian VJer's timelines who are the same type to get an idea.

The Tax hit on cashing out an RRSP and then on top of it the exchange rate? That's quite a chunk you'd lose.

Here's my thought on #3 only

If you plan to become a US citizen, you have to fulfill a residency requirement for a certain period of time prior to applying for US citizenship (look up the calculation on here or elsewhere). Living out of country, which is what you're proposing, would affect that. The residency clock resets once you're out for a certain period of time over the course of a certain period...so just know that it 'might' take longer to satisfy the residency requirement before you can obtain citizenship. In addition, you should keep track of every trip and length of time you've been outside the US....you'll have to report trips outside the US on your application or potentially when you renew your GC.

By living the majority of the year outside the US, you would not be fulling the spirit of what an LPR is, which is for an individual who wishes to reside in the US. The border guards can easily take an interest in why this so called PR seems to be traveling out of the US for long periods of time(BG - purpose of your trip? You...to...work...), your card is scanned each time you enter the US, the trips are documented. If it were me I'd be inclined to have a family member do the apartment renting or whatever else so you don't appear to be signing a lease which would show intention to reside in Canada.

7 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

I do not have insurance through my employer... 

Employers also have a duty to take reasonable care with sensitive information.  Colleagues and myself  at a previous job received an interesting settlement after our employer shared similar details.  Being careless about it does not make it ok.

Ahh, makes sense then that you may not have supplied your SSN. I didn't say anyone was being careless with data though (the appropriate security measures are taken, files are exchanged securely, encryption is used etc...), only that a great deal of personal information is exchanged by companies in the data they send their benefits vendors

39 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

HR systems required fields are not law.   I understand they're required to ask, but no one has to provide it to them. I got my annual statement of coverage and my SSN is empty - BCBS sent me a couple letters asking for it, I replied with the IRS information and my preference to use my birth date as identifier. 

Your company has your SSN, they pass it on - trust me. All your personal data gets passed on. Our employees are constantly surprised what data is passed on to benefits vendors. Sometimes employee only, frequently spousal and child SSNs are not stored at the employer level. I see your point about using the dob as your identifier, just be forewarned that your company doesn't need to ask your permission before they pass it on when complying with government regulations.

The first answer in that link is this. They file the 1095 by SSN with the IRS which is the usual , sure way to associate an individual across systems

A1. Your health insurance company is required to provide Form 1095-B, Health Coverage to you and to the Internal Revenue Service. You will use information from the form to prepare your individual income tax return. The law requires SSNs to be reported on Form 1095-B

21 hours ago, Lemonslice said:

It is not a requirement.  You can be identified by other ways/show proof of coverage.  https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/questions-and-answers-about-reporting-social-security-numbers-to-your-health-insurance-company

 

 

It kind of is...... I work in HR systems and it is a required field in the files we send to the vendors. It became a requirement as a result of the ACA. While it can be skipped initially.

As an HR person - it's an Affordable Care Act requirement now. Your Benefits provider will require it very soon after adding your new spouse if not at the time you enroll so sooner he goes to the SS Office, the better. Technically they can start the enrollment without it.

It's not grounds for denial, its simply a requirement. Generally you have 30 days from the 'Life event' (aka the wedding date) to enroll him. Sounds like you've already spoken to your Benefits/HR team. They may be able to put off the need for the SSN knowing he's in the process of applying for it.

".....health plans have to send the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information about health plan members and their insurance coverage, including their Social Security number (or other tax identification number)..."

9 yrs ago - it wasn't a requirement when ia arrived but now it is.