coldwatersurf

OK after waiting almost 2 hours on the phone with the exchange, I am eligible for health care, but just have to pay more b/c our household income is high. Which means, we are not eligible for a tax credit or medicaid. which is fine b/c i expected it.

It took me about 5-6 months and my first job sucked! I went from an office manager to housekeeper, then to a prep cook, then other jobs I hated. but, my employers became one of my best references. When I finally landed a good job - almost 1 yr after I moved, I found a job as a legal assistant. Those US references really help. Plus, a lot of jobs I applied for needed an AA or BA. I never had to go through that in Canada.

I came from Canada and was making $50K per year as an administrator.

I was "hoping" to get an office job and I expected a huge cut back w/ the income I was used to. But, I think no matter where you immigrate from, you will have to start from the bottom.

My first job in the US was a housekeeper at minimum wage. It was a huge blow to my ego. But, I was so desperate to work, at that point, I didn't care. Hang in there. Learn from all the jobs. for example, I looked at the job as "collecting references" so I can find a better job.

I only put my status when the application asks

But, when I put my previous employer and the location on my resume, I think the person looking at your resume get the point that you just moved to US

Thank you. It was definitely a collaboration of hours of research including a lot of reading from Visa Journey I was able to pick up tips from different immigrant situations.

But, I really think it would have been harder to establish credit if my husband's friend did not cosign for us. he cosigned for us for 6 months. I asked the accountant at the tire company if our friend can be released as the cosigner as soon as our credit status was stable.

The only other way we could have bought a house (i think) was save a lot of money for a downpayment and apply at a credit union. When applying for a mortgage, there are a lot more that needs to be considered... not just your credit score. For example, what's your income level? how long have you been at your employment? How much are you trying to borrow? Can you afford the mortgage?

At that time, my husband has been at the same company for 5 years, and I had many different jobs in one year (b/c I had multiple part time jobs). I had one employer that I was with for 2 years (seasonal), and promoted to manager position. After 3 months of being a manager (permanent full time), that's when we applied for the mortgage. By that time, we shopped around for the right house to buy. And we found a house that was about to go through a foreclosure and we put our name right at the top of the list. And, we waited for it to be added to the market. We also chose a realtor before we applied for the mortgage.

It's a waiting game. so while we waited, I got as much stuff organized as possible.

I reported my household income

I guess my real question is - do I need to be "eligible for health premium tax credit" to purchase the health plans offered?

Take the truck crossing at blaine

I find them a lot more friendlier.

I had an Itemized list of stuff in our vehicle. I had my dad drive one car, and I drove a van. You'll be in the office for a while processing your passport, visa, and everything. Note: you cannot use the bathroom there. lol. Maybe it's changed now.

I am not clear why I do not qualify. The rep did say I am "supposed" to report household income, but if I tell her I only make half of what the household income is, she will enter the amount I tell her.

I moved here 6 yrs ago. When I started back then (when the market crashed), getting approved for a mortgage was easier for us and the interest were really low. My husband had terrible credit, and I had none. It took me approximately 2 years to clean up his credit and to build mine. When our credit score reached around 675, and when we were able to save 5% of what we needed for a downpayment, we were approved with Wells Fargo.

We couldn't have done it w/o his friend cosigning for us for a tire account. The tire account would send our monthly balances to the 3 major credit reporting agencies. We waited about 6 months. Then, I started getting credit card offers. I applied for a credit card with a limit of $250. 2 months later, they offered to increase my credit at $500. Then, so on. The trick is, leave your credit limit to where you can afford to pay it b/c it was soooo hard for me to find a job. I relied on getting a job by knowing people and using my "charm". lol. Once I got one professional reference (even for a part time/on call job), I was able to get other interviews. Living in a town w/o diversity is difficult, and all of my professional references were foreign... and they were all canadian. But, all you need is an interview. Of course, I learned a lot more about how credit works when I worked for a collection agency for 1 year as the person reporting credit.

so, I used all our personal and professional references to increase our chances to get approved for a mortgage. I was not permanent resident status at that time. I still had to lift the conditions for my immigration. But, once I explained everything, and how I established my residency, it was not that hard. it took us 1.5 months to find a house, get approved for mortgage, and move in. Just get your downpayment and organize your paperwork.

I'm in WA state. Anyone else having a problem with their eligibility with healthcare? I'm a permanent resident. I used my Alien # and Receipt number as my proof of ID. Based on the info I provided, I'm not eligible.

Also, I make too much, apparently. My household income in 2013 was $70K. My husband and I make equal income and he doesn't even need coverage as he gets it from his employer. His employer pay for them for free. I looked at the chart and i should be eligible.

finally rec'd my 10 yr green card! had a 2 yr green card which I can now disregard. I applied in January so seems like there is a 7 month wait period for California service center

I would love that feature with my bank! Unfortunately, one of our bank is only available in our state so it doesnt have cool features. I am now down to 2 banks... one joint and our own personal bank account... we had 4! I just closed the others down. hooray for online transactions. That's the only way we can do it.

then i have a bunch of choices I guess I will wait next week instead since my bank is one hour away and shifting money around is such a pain. gathering from the posts, Im still safe to send it within 60 days of my GC expiration date.

Visa Journey is always so great with info

i have a question about the fee... when it says "check".... does it have to be money order or can it be a personal check? cuz personal check would make my life much easier

Filing mine tomorrow! 2 years went by fast. It wasnt too long ago paper work was flying all over my face. gahhhh

that's too bad about voting privileges. i would really like to vote and make my opinion count. Oh well... gotta wait... April 2012 is my 3 yr mark for naturalization... gotta get ROC then naturalization... the world of immigration process is def something else!

So I'm ready to file for Removal of Conditions.... in a couple of years, i'd like to file for naturalization. I read the eligibility to be Naturalized. Kind of a pain in the ####### to pay $600 to remove condition then in a year or 2 file for naturalization. What is the benefit other than trying to remember to renew your 10 yr green card.

Also, with a permanent resident card, can I vote? am I allowed?

My GC expires on 03/12/2012. Since Xmas & buying a new home has made us broke in december, is it too late to file tomorrow since its my payday (woohoo!)? I've been fortunate with my paper work up to this point. my 90 day period was in December 17 when I received the notice. I'm a tad bit worried. However, I have a crapload of financial evidences so I am not worried about evidences... W2, deed of trust, joint accounts... I got it all.

Ideas?

thank you all... this sounds good. i have saved all the information i had from getting my k3. so i just have to collect all the recent paper work i need. i think i will be fine. we are filing divorce sometime late august/early september and it takes 90 days from date of filing to finalize and get the decree. we have agreed on all the financial stuff so it will be an easy divorce (i hope! nothing changes later)... lol.. i've worked at a law office in our county so divorce paper work is not so bad to figure out.... just hard to deal with what everything is going on... thanks for all the support here...

does anyone know what happens to taxes next year... will i need to keep in contact or can i just file single? i will not be itemizing... it will be easy filing.

Thank you Nimaan.... I am eligible to get citizenship instead of 10 year green card? or do i have to wait longer?

We have 2 joint bank accounts, we joint apartment lease agreement, a joint credit account, 2 years of joint tax returns, insurance accounts, so i believe i have some good proof. Will there be an interview for removing conditions? if so, will i be able to go to it alone? this is so mind boggling. sorry for the questions.

We are filing divorce petition at the end of august since this separation is sudden and everything is such a financial inconvenience. blah!

and thanks for the answers.. i will def check the ROC forum..

ps. VJ is freakin awesome... couldnt have done this whole immigration stuff w/o VJ'ers

Thank you

oops sorry... my mistake. im on a 2 year green card and its going to expire next march 2012 and i need to renew and i have no idea what the rules are for immigration since i will be divorced by then. and we are separating our own ways at the end of this month.... urgh life sucks

Hi All,

its been sad... but my spouse and I have decided on divorce. He no longer wants kids and I do... (down the road)..... we have a real marriage and love each other but cannot make it work w/ the simple fact we both want different things and cannot be together.

What do I do? what should he do? Do I move back to Canada (where I'm from)??? i really dont want to... i've established friends and families and dont want to have to move back... please help.

We have been married since march 2008 and i moved to US in April 2009. Im on a 2 year visa which will expire next year March 2012... I'm currently permanent resident.

bump

You don't need to file anything in Canada. HRSDC already took the 25% non-resident tax out. You must claim the EI income, but you can take the 25% non-resident tax as a Foreign Tax Credit using Form 1116.

CRA and IRS do talk to each other. If you don't claim your income and the IRS finds out some day, you will get charged the tax you would owe, plus penalties and interest from April 15 2011.

So i spoke to my tax acct. unfortunately, the guy that helped me last year doesnt work at the office anymore so someone else is helping me and she has talked to other offices near the border regarding my taxes. They said It is voluntary to file my T4E b/c it is "passive" income (it is 4K & 1K in taxes)??? and I dont need to ammend my taxes to include my T4E. Is this right? ...... she also said, if i ammend my taxes, my income would increase and I will end up paying IRS even with 1116. I stayed in US all year. I have no ties to canada. But, this is confusing. i thought I had to report all world wide income. Is this true that its voluntary? if it is, i'd rather not report it since the best situation for me is not to file it.