redmen99

1. No, if he is not a US Permanent resident or Citizen, he has no obligation to file a US Income Tax return.

2. You send it to Austin, TX, or you can file electronically. If your husband does not have an ITIN, you have to file by mail.

3. A while...

4. Use your Canadian address

5. YOu would file a normal 1040. But would exclude your foreign income using Form 2555. YOu would also have to file an W-7 to get an ITIN. YOu have to go to an acceptance agent to have them verify his documents. A list of acceptance agents is on the IRS website.

6. Not sure what you mean..

7. If your income is 0... you have no obligation to file as you have no worldwide income.

8. See question 1 and 7

9. See question 1 and 7

When did your husband leave Canada. That is an important question. Once you answer that, we can answer the rest.

Ziggy,

My husband left Canada March of 2010. Not sure that it matters, but he got his first job in the US in April. Thanks for the help!

Help! I'm so confused! I'm reading the US Tax guide for Aliens but I don't see anything about EI payments in there. My husband was unemployed and on EI his entire time in Canada in 2010 (until March) and for like a month in the US. I'm not sure if he received a T4E or not. If he received that form, do I need to report his EI income on the unemployment line and then file the Tax Credit form 1116 for that money? If he didn't receive the form, should I just fill out my forms as usual and not worry about his EI payments?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!

My hubby (the CR1 visa holder) and I are moving later this month. I know he needs to notify someone in the system of his new address, but for the life of me I can't remember who we have to notify. Anyone know?

Are you sure you can apply for jobs without a SSN? Well, apply yes, but could you actually start working at a job without one?

My husband did. But his card came in a few days after he started his job, so he had to wait to get paid until his employer had the number to put in the system. So his first check was delayed a week. No biggie.

whoops

Hello everyone,

So I am patiently waiting for my SSN to arrive in the mail. I have created a list of things to accomplish, but wondered if I can do any of them without my SSN, and just with my VISA.

For example: PA driver's license, Cell phone plan (contract), apply for jobs.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks

You can apply for jobs without your SSN, but that's about it. Here are two links that will come in handy for getting your PA drivers licence and for registering your car.

http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/new_residents/driver_license.shtml

http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/new_residents/motor_vehicle.shtml

Read it closely. And a little FYI, when you go to get your license, take a check or money order. They do not take cash. Same with most title agencies where you have to go for your registration.

You can't open a bank account either without a SSN, you are are pretty much stuck until that comes in, unfortunately.

If your SSN doesn't come in within 3 weeks of entry, you will need to go apply at the SS office. My hubby had to do this back in March. After he did that his card came in the mail in about a week. Just in time for him to start his new job....

Good luck!

redmen99 - problem with his credit check ?

did they verify him (from his I-9) on e-verify, at all ?

The bank told him something along the lines of that none of the addresses listed to confirm his identity didn't match, but he is not on the lease to our apartment, only I am. Once he moved here we haven't moved again, so the address SS has is correct, whether they add that to your credit report, I don't know.

I'm not sure his I-9 was verified or not with his present employer. Is that something that has to be done? I remember working in HR a long time ago (1991)and we just took the I-9 form wrote the info on it and put it in that employees file and never verified anything.

He starts his new job on the 21st, so I guess we'll find out if there are any issues then. The new employer did a background check on him using his SSN. well, they're not going to find much are they since he just got here.... He said the guy talked so fast that he barely comprehended when he starts and what time to be there. **sigh**

I brought my husband to the US from Canada back in March. He got a job right away which was great but he wasn't happy at this job, so he found another one. This new company did a background check on him as a prerequisite to him starting. No problem, he gave his SSN and told them, I just moved to the States in March and had a Canadian background check done from my current job, plus the one immigration did not too long ago. They came back saying there was an issue with his credit check, but didn't say what it was, they later said it was ok.

He had kind of had the same issue when he went to open his checking account. If I hadn't been with him and if the bank manager on duty didn't know me they probably would have denied him opening an account at this bank because his credit didn't match to an address or anything.

Has anyone else had this happen or have any idea what the issue could be? His SS# did not come automatically, he had to go to the SS office and apply for one, but that shouldn't matter.... We understand he has no credit here to start off with, but are not sure that is the issue.

Any ideas?

Sam&Ben, thanks for that info! My husband still banks with TD and has a credit card with them in Canada. He really wants to get a US card so there will be less fees and that is really invaluable information for him.

Thank you so much for sharing!

i did tell them i wanted to import it and they didn't do anything, i gave them the letter i had from Kia and everything and like i said they just walked around with it LOL one of the officers just told me that all they could do was just stamp it that they saw it and it was ok but nothing to do with the importation of it mind you now it was a Saturday and the "guy" who does it wasn't there but i figured someone would have looked it up to do it. By the sounds of it from the DMV they just do a check on the Vin and issue the tags but i don't know if thats the correct way for me to do it, Just trying to do things right.

When I called the auto tag place and told them we were importing a car from Canada and asked what we needed to register the car, they specifically said that they needed 2 copies of the paperwork from customs (or the 2 copies of the carbon form if they used it) along with the letter from the car manufacturer. I was told that in PA, they send all the paperwork to Harrisburg, and it may take up to 2 weeks for us to get the new tags for the car.. which is fine for us, that gives us more time to have it inspected.

They advised over $2800 in fees to move my balances over to a US account (which was way over what I was expecting to have to pay)

Perhaps that was for a same day transfer? They do not charge for eft transactions (takes a few days for your money to get to your other account), but if you want your money transferred within 24 hours, they do charge a fee.

sorry to be bumping an old thread but when i crossed last saturday nothing was done with my car they looked at it and said go to the dmv in the state and if anything declare it at customs at the nearest airport, what was supposed to happen at the POE? i had a compliance letter that i showed them and they walked around with it for a while and that was that. the officer that activated my visa did take the make model and Vin # so i'm stuck as to what to do now since i can't do anything until my SSN card gets here, Ohio requires it for license and tags/registration of my car. Technically if i go to the DMV they do an out of state inspection and call it done but the problem is the car was never "officially" imported to my knowledge anyways. I don't want to encounter problems visiting Canada and what not.

When you register your car, you need to have the documents that they give you when you imported it. So you need to go to your nearest customs place and have them fill out the paperwork. This all should have been done when your visa was activated. Did you tell them that you wanted to import your car?

My husband's letter didn't come in on time when we crossed, but we were able to import his car when he entered because fortunately, his car had the proper sticker under the hood. The officer asked that when we got the letter from Mazda to mail him the original. Since we had ours emailed to us, there was no original, so I mailed him a printed copy of the emailed letter. We haven't heard anything back from them, so I guess it was ok. I guess we'll find out when he goes to register his car this week....

Thanks for bumping this thread cause it reminded me that we need the letter from Mazda to register his car! I would have totally forgotten all about it...

One of my husband's credit cards was just "closed" because they thought his recent transactions were possibly fraudulent. He never told them he was moving to the US. So when he called they told him that they are going to issue him a new card and send it to him here in the states. So if you have credit cards that you still want to use, I suggest giving them your change of address. It would then be up to them if they will allow you to keep the card or not.

As far as a bank account goes, as long as you have enough money in there to cover the fees, they can't close it on you.

I have used CH since 2005 with NO problems. Most of my transaction shave been under $1000, but have had a few in the big buck range,lol thats how much I trust them! I used them for the first time since being acquired by Western Union a few weeks back prior to heading back to Canada on a short visit. Still the exact same process, but i thought (maybe) the exchange rate was a tad less than what it had been in the past!!

There are NO fees if you do it Electronically (EFT), takes around 4-7 BUSINESS days for the transaction to take place. Thays from the time you initiate the exchange, until its in the desired bank account. On average for me, i would say 4 days, but that depends on both of ur banks.

Very easy to set up, it doesn take a bit of time to initially set up the account, as you have to provide them some info that requires verifying, such as ur ID and ur bank info. You can get that info to them by a few different methods 1)snail mail 2)fax or 3)scan and email it in thru their secure email! I scanned/emailed it in. For ID I believe you can use ur passport, drivers license and birth cert. Not sure, but u may have to provide 2 sources. If u can email or fax it, you can have the acct set up pretty quick, same day or next. As well they call you (at ur desired time) to verify the info! At least they did back in 2005!!

I have always found them extremely friendly, but trailmix did find 1 grumpy guy,lol I ran by their head office in Victoria BC many times when I resided there!

As wel they offer a wire service for same day $$$ transactions, but they do charge a fee AND i believe your bank MAY charge a fee as well! Good for emergency cases!

But so far so good under Western union, in short no fees if ya do it EFT.

They will walk you step by step thru the trades, its very easy! You see the exchange rate, so its not a suprise. You can almost make it a casino game as you can either 1)accept the exchange rate 2)just cancel the transaction or 3) hit the refresh button by the exchange rate and try ur luck, it may go up, down or stay the same!! Of course the rate doesn't jump a whole lot, but if ur dealing with big $$$$,it can make a difference.

I did have 1 minor problem, but it wasn't with CH, it was when I added a new bank to my account. CH had sent the bank a fax, but the bank didn't respond. So CH initiated a 3 way call between me, my bank and them, and within minutes the problem was solved, excellent service!

As well I think you can put in a rate your looking for, and if the rate ever gets that good, it will send you an email, but I have tried it that way!

Wow! What a review! Thanks for your time in typing all that. It is very much appreciated. After reading that to my hubby he feels a bit better about using them.

My hubby, being the procrastinator that he is, has finally realized that he needs to get money into his Canadian account to pay his bills and he is looking for the cheapest way to get money up there. I found a thread on here about Custom House and know quite a few of you use the service. I went to the site and see that they are now a Western Union Company. Has their service changed any since they switched over? Do they charge any fees to transfer your money to Canada? Is it still as easy to use as it was previously? Do you still pick a rate to transfer your money? Any info would be most greatly appreciated...

Thanks!

My husband went to the SS office last Tuesday as well, very close to closing time. His card was in the mail this morning.

You might want to try lowering the price. For $500, someone can get a real nice brand new tv and not one that is 5 years old with no warranty.... The hubby and I recently purchased a 3 y/o HDTV for $300, I can say, we really overpaid for that tv and looking back we both said we should have bought brand new.... but if the price was lower, we wouldn't mind so much...

Just a suggestion.

My hubby got 2 welcome letters, 1 early last week, 1 last Friday, got his greencard on Friday, but no SS# yet. He drove to the SS office today in the pouring rain and they told him he should have it in 2 weeks. Hope it comes soon, he's starting his job on Friday, and he has to write them a letter for their file stating that he understands he will not get paid for any hours worked until he shows them his Social Security card... Oh what fun!

They told me 2 weeks for my new card when I changed my name, but I got it in 2 business days tops.

Thanks everyone!

Great news! Congrats to you and your husband.

Has your husband gone to the local SS office to apply for his card?

Not yet. He POE'd on March 8th, so I'm going to tell him if its not here by Monday that he should go. He drove by the SS office yesterday when he got lost coming home, so he knows where it is now.

Congrats! My husband lost his job when I moved here, and has been looking for over 2 and a 1/2 months now. you guys are lucky! Good luck with a speedy SSN lol

Oh no!!! That's horrible! Good luck to you both in finding something.

That is good!! Yay!! When does the job start? Maybe the SSN will be in before then.

Where's he working?

He starts next Tuesday. He's working for an agency who placed him in a Computer Operating job near King of Prussia, PA. Hopefully his card will be in before that, but if not, I'm sure they can come to some sort of arrangement.

My hubby had an interview today and he got the job! He's extremely excited especially considering he's only been here just under 2 weeks. Now if his SS Card would come in, he can get paid.....

When is your company's next Open Enrollment for benefits - you know, the time of year when can enroll family members. If that is coming up shortly you could wait til then.

Since I deal with insurance stuff in my current job, I can tell you that Life events wouldn't include 'a visa status change'...usually, marriage, divorce, birth of a child etc.....However, your husband moved here and lost his former job (and therefore probably benefits) right? Our company considers a spousal loss of job a 'life event', that may work for you as well....You may want to explain to them that Canadians don;t get a letter from the gov't saying we're no longer eligible You just aren't covered if you don't live in the province. perhaps you could point them to the website for Ontario's health care eligibility or print them off something from it?

Open enrollment is in October, and I'll be laid off by then. My job is being outsourced to Ireland.... He was laid off last May, and was living off his severance package, then EI kicked in, so loss of job won't help us either. So I'm now looking at the OHIP site and trying to find something on there that I can use for loss of insurance, but all I keep finding is Long Term Care stuff. The search continues... Thanks for the suggestions!

Has anyone had issues adding their new PR spouse to their health insurance with their employer? I just tried to add my husband to my insurance with my employer using his visa status as a life change and they told me that "unfortunately becoming a permanent resident is not a life event". But that if I can find proof that he is no longer covered under OHIP, then I can have him covered. Where can I find something that says this? I told them I can pretty much guarantee that I won't get a letter from the Canadian government saying that. But was told that if I find something official stating that he lost his coverage, then I can add him.

I am beyond ticked off right now! Oh, and I only have until April 8th to prove it... GRRRRRRRR

Ah, really? I already done some calculations myself, I don't think I owe. Not with the insane amount of interest I'm paying on stu loans...

Well, the wife's green card came today. That was quick. But I don't really care about that so much, we want the SSN lol Well we do, but now we want the SSN. As soon as that comes in, time for the wife to get a NY drivers lic. Can my wife carry around her Ontario and NY drivers licenses? I know in NY, you can't carry around another NY license but what about an Ontario one too...

I believe they will either make her surrender her Ontario license or punch a hole in it which renders it invalid. From what I read on the DMV site in PA that is what they do, but I'm sure someone else will be able to confirm.

redmen I see your interview was the 1st - did your SS card come yet?

The hubby's SS card didn't come in yet. Just the welcome letter yesterday... He's getting impatient since he's been on a few interviews already...