Shep & Kali

So I guess I need some yenrouJasiV help.

My fiancée and I, after much soul-searching, decided that her moving up here to Canada is the best move. We have a TON of questions -- most of which have been answered, but some are annoyingly hard to pin down answers to.

1. If I'm in Montreal and she's in Atlanta, and we're getting married in Atlanta, where do I get my marriage license? Canada or Atlanta?

2. We're waiting on her Rehabilitation from the Canadian gov't (8-year-old DUI) -- she sent in the form in early July, and we're hoping she can come up and visit in November (with marriage and move next March). Does that sound reasonable? Would the border folks really turn away my SPOUSE at the border for an 8-year-old DUI?

3. I know that she can ship her goods up here without paying duty, but what's the cheapest method? We're paring down her stuff before the move, but we're basically talking about 1000 books, some kitchen stuff, clothes etc. Probably about as much stuff as would fit in a large well-packed pick-up.

There don't seem to be any "moving to Canada!" forums that are as comprehensive as VJ, but if you can recommend any resources, I'd be grateful!

Thank you for all the replies; I'll try to track that book down. Selling the house vs. renting it for income has always been a wrestling match in my mind, but that's probably financial-advisor conversation material.

I've just spent 45 minutes browsing various forums, so maybe my search-fu is weak, because I can't believe this hasn't been asked before.

I own a house in Canada, and given the current real estate crash in the USA, and the fact that I should be moving down in early '09 (I hope), houses might actually be affordable when I get down there.

But I have a fuzzy idea that there's some sort of financial penalty for transferring money from country to country, like if I sell my house for $100,000 (for the sake of round numbers), and transfer my $100,000 in savings and RRSPs to the States (again, round numbers), I would get some amount deducted for bringing it into the USA.

I'm aware that there is a penalty to cashing RRSPs before retirement.

I also know that I need to declare amounts worth more than $9,999 at the border.

I'm wondering what I need to know about selling real estate in Canada to transfer the cash to the USA.

Is there a levy or duty or "bringing money into the country" tax or something I should be aware of?

That is helpful! Especially squaring away the Target Visa vs. In-Store card question.

I've just made a few phone calls, and a nice woman at Transunion confirmed that U.S. and Canadian credit ratings really are two distinct files, BUT she said that any interested party can order a copy of your Canadian file from any Equifax or Transunion office, not much more expensive than ordering a U.S. credit report.

She also had the rather good idea of just ordering your own copy of your credit report to carry around with you and show people.

Read through the thread but I still have a couple of questions:

1. I don't get down to the States very often: are there any "regular" U.S. bank credit cards I can apply for from here in Canada to use/pay off?

2. If I get the Target card next time I go down (March), can I use it to shop online at Target? I make three trips a year, and it doesn't seem to be a very practical way of building a credit score if I'm not down there every two weeks.

Actually, let me expand on that.

3. Is the "Target Credit Card" that everyone is talking about the Target VISA, or the Target-only card? The Target site says you will be considered first for a VISA and then for a Target Card. And yes, I know you have to apply in-store, but I was just seeing what you could do with their card online.

4. The AmEx credit card is worthless for building an overall rating, as it transfers "internally" and does not affect your overall U.S. credit score, yes?

Followed up to that thread.

I did try searching, but the signal-to-noise ratio of these forums is pretty bad. A few clear answers here would also be appreciated.

Read through the thread but I still have a couple of questions:

1. I don't get down to the States very often: are there any "regular" U.S. bank credit cards I can apply for from here in Canada to use/pay off?

2. If I get the Target card next time I go down (March), can I use it to shop online at Target? I make three trips a year, and it doesn't seem to be a very practical way of building a credit score if I'm not down there every two weeks.

So: K1 filed in July, and a notification about missing information came a couple of days ago, so we know that somebody is looking at it, at least.

Looking ahead, I see one big hurdle for our life together Stateside: while my Canadian credit history is good (credit cards, LOC, bills paid off, house purchased, etc.), hers is not so good. She's not a fan of credit cards and a lot of the consumerist madness that surrounds them, so she lives pretty much a cash-only lifestyle: cashes her check at the bank and does her major life payments (rent) through money orders and the rest (phone, utilities) in cash. Which I think is super cool, but credit agencies take a dimmer view of.

So as Cap'm Credit, I'd like to start building a credit history from Canada pending the move down.

The simplest option, I'm GUESSING, would be to see if I can find a U.S. bank that would give me a credit card, then start purchasing things and paying it off immediately. Since it's probably about a year to moving, I can get a good chunk of credit history built up if I make that my primary card.

But I'd like suggestions and pointers on how I can start building my credit history in the U.S.A. from Canada pending my visa.

Thoughts? Thanks!