Rustbelt

Good  morning everyone,

I know this question has been asked before, but I have to admit that the activity on my wife's file is kind of weird.  She filed her application for citizenship on October 4, 2016 and did her biometrics here in Phoenix on November 16th, 2016.    We have put in two inquiries with USCIS regarding the timeframe for processing since it's now outside the processing window according to their site for the Phoenix field office.  The last response for the last inquiry was that the file was "in transit to the Phoenix field office and may take two weeks".  Recently she received a second request to go for biometrics again on December 29th, 2017.  Does this mean that an interview comes next because the finger prints originally taken are over a year old or does this simply mean nothing?AC

Any insight on this topic would be appreciated.

Thanks so much,

Steve

Good evening everyone,

I wanted to ask a question here on the forum that I hope someone can answer. My wife is ready to file for citizenship and of course as a part of that, tax transcripts are needed. For the actual interview, tax returns are supposed to be brought along. The fact that we we through the OVDI process after having lived in Canada for 4 1/2 years concerns me. Form 906 is the closing agreement between a party and the IRS for settlement which was over and done with almost two years ago. OVDI is a dirty word among expats who have had to go through the program largely because the Treasury department hasn't quite figured out that regular folks need bank accounts to pay for rent, groceries, car insurance, etc. also. We spent a whole lot of money and have nothing to show for it except perhaps peace of mind, but nonetheless, has anyone else gone down this road with going through OVDI and then filing for citizenship later on?

If so, I would appreciate it if anyone's experiences could be shared.

Thanks so much for everyone's time,

Steve

If you own part of a house, boat and car that may be seen as having ties to the US, but as Neiks said, as long as you have strong ties to Canada, you should be fine. No-one ever asked how much stuff I kept in the US or what property I owned there; I also did not volunteer this information. Only answer what you're asked, and do so honestly. So long as they were sure I was returning to Canada within a reasonable period of time and spending more time in Canada than the US, they were okay.

- Steve's wife

Living in a border town, I crossed almost daily. I was either taking Steve to work or visiting him. Sometimes I was just there for dinner, sometimes I was there for several days. Steve had a place in the US close to work, and we also had a place in Canada. It didn't affect the process at all and I kept very detailed records of my crossings, plus carried all my proof of ties every time I crossed. I'm self-employed, but took proof of contracts with clients as well as utility bills, rent payments, credit card bills, etc. I only ever had a difficult time in secondary once when crossing, plus on one occasion when I flew back from England to Philadelphia. The "tough questioning" seemed to consist of a lot of repetition of "so you're really living in the US, then" and me saying "no, I live in Canada, and I have evidence of my ties to Canada". The sticking point was my being self-employed (they really didn't like that).

As long as you have clear proof that you are living in Canada, you should be fine. Especially as you're working for someone else. We did retain a lawyer but frankly it was a waste of money. (She was lovely, but we really didn't need her).

- Steve's wife

Well, I'm glad you got to speak to someone who was marginally helpful! I doubt the corporation paper has any relevance at all, but you *might* be able to get some information about the corporation itself out of it. If this business wasn't actually owned by your dreadful ex-manager, you might get more information/cooperation from the actual owner of the business.

I would still put a complaint in writing to the CRA, however. I can't believe there's no-one there that wouldn't be interested in someone breaking the law so egregiously.

At this point I think I would be doing two things:

1. Contact your former MP/MPP & see if they can/will help

2. Contact a lawyer & see if they can do a suitably threatening letter for you to your ex-employer. A general "send the T4 or else" letter shouldn't cost too much for a lawyer to do - maybe a couple of hundred, if that.

3. Consider contacting the mall management and/or local press. (Yeah, drastic I know, but you want to put pressure on these people!)

- Steve's wife

Be sure you're calling the international tax office in Ottawa if you're calling from the US. Yes, dumb I know, but they're the ones who you need to call first (of course, they'll probably tell you to call the regular folks first, but at least you can then tell the regular CRA folks that the international tax office told you to call).

Having done a fair bit of talking to clueless people at the CRA I suggest the primary purpose of your call should be to find out where to send a letter explaining your situation/complaining about your former employer. When you file your taxes, if you've left Canada it has to go to the international tax place anyway.

As for your taxes - put in the amounts you can to the best of your abilities and send a cover letter with your Canadian and US returns explaining the situation. Tell them that you have done your very best to be accurate but your former employer is not complying with the law and not providing you with a T4.

Here's the link for the international tax office:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/cntct/international-eng.html

The number is: 1-800-267-5177. If that doesn't work, use this one: 1-613-952-3741

Fax no. is: 1-613-941-2505

Good luck!

- Steve's wife

Thanks brocku I was traveling most of the time, physically I lived in canada for 2years 8 months, what do you suggest I do now ? do

I need to go back to Canada for sometime to maintain my PR ?

You need at least 1095 days (3 years) physical presence in Canada to be eligible for citizenship in the past five years on the date of your application. Two years 8 months is not enough to qualify you for citizenship. You can maintain your PR by being physically present in Canada for 2 years in five as mentioned, but you will almost certainly have to prove that you were there when you renew your PR card in Canada by completing a Residency Questionnaire for CIC.

The RQ looks at your ties to Canada as well as your physical presence. Things like, do you have any of the following in Canada: a bank account, a permanent home, a job, where your car is registered, where your driver's license is, location of family. Being a LPR in the US is not going to help your case with CIC, I'm afraid.

The other thing to bear in mind is that you can't leave the US for more than 6 months without putting your LPR status in the US at serious risk. You can apply for a "returning resident" permit in the US, but you need to be able to demonstrate your intent to return to the US after, say 9 months or a year. They'll be looking for ownership of property, family ties, etc., just like the CIC is looking for with the Residency Questionnaire. It is very difficult to maintain PR status in both countries, although I know of someone who has managed it for 10 years through maintaining a business and residences on both sides of the border.

- Steve's wife.

Thank you for your quick answer ,

I hope you are right and they dont care,

as I recall they did require a copy of the canadian LPR card when we applied for the k1

but like I said I hope you are right ,

as for returning the Canadian LPR card ,

does anyone know what can happen since it is already expired and still in my possession ?

can that cause a denial of entry if we deside to visit canada in the future even if I show my US GC ?

what do I have to do to get this card returnd to CIC if I can not handed over in person ?

Sorry, you posted just as I was typing. It won't be a problem as long as you take reasonable proof that you haven't been living in Canada all this time on an expired PR card. Just take a copy of your lease, driver's license, other proof that you're living in the US next time you cross the Canadian border; they'll have you fill out that form and that will be it. You might be able to find more answers on www.cic.gc.ca. I'd suggest calling them, but I've never been able to call from outside Canada.

- Steve's wife

I don't think they'll care about your LPR status in Canada. And just as a review; to maintain LPR status in Canada, you only have to be physically present in Canada for two out of every five year period. To get citizenship in Canada you need to be physically present in Canada for at least three out of every five year period. So you could have up to three years from the date of your leaving Canada before you lose your PR status in Canada.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about it. The Canadian PR card must renewed every five years anyway and if you don't apply to replace it, it will expire. I would wait until you're next up in Canada and hand it in then. You'll have to fill out a form giving up any claim to PR status I believe, and that will be the end of it.

- Steve's wife

I have UK/Canadian citizenship and am now a US PR. I still cross the border pretty frequently for work (by car) and am always a little dubious as to what I should declare as my citizenship. So I tell them all three. I'm Canadian (because that's what's listed on my Nexus), and British (because that's the passport I travel on), and a US PR (because they need to know I LIVE here).

They always look a little puzzled. One asked me if I couldn't make up my mind (hey I was born with the British one, lived in Canada, so got that one, and my husband's American, OK?). Another didn't know what a "PR" was & asked all the usual "where are you going, what are you doing, how long will you be here" questions. *Rolls eyes*.

I'm looking forward to getting the US citizenship so I can just show them that passport & be done with it!

- Steve's wife

Continuing in the "I Met A Wild Animal" theme . . .

We took a trip out to California a couple of years ago (well, Steve was working, but I tagged along). So I headed up to the Sequioa National Park (which is awesome, BTW), and did the whole Wow Look At That tree-hugger kind of thing. It was great!

But for all the time I spent up in the woods, I didn't see a bear. Not once. Not even a tiny glimpse of a beary behind.

UNTIL . . .

I was driving back down the road out of the park and halfway down the mountain as I came around a hairpin bend I Saw A Bear. S/he was just meandering across the road about 20 feet in front of me, as laid back as you please. Amazing. Of course, I freaked a bit because I had a trailmix bar sitting on the front seat and the windows were down (OMG, what if he wants to eat it!!!!) But I guess he wasn't that hungry because he just kept right on meandering down the road in front of me.

- Steve's wife

When I did my interview back in October for my IR-1 the interviewer was very, very, very clear that I was NOT to cross back into Canada until I had my green card. I actually challenged him on that (very nicely, of course), but he was insistent that no green card = no leaving the US. Unless I got AP.

He was wrong. I called the POE (Peace Bridge) to double check his information and they said categorically that providing I had my passport with the I-551 stamp in it I was good for up to a year.

I crossed several times between POE and getting my green card. No worries. Had to explain what I had in my passport one time to the BG at the booth, but no trouble at all.

- Steve's wife

Other than a return plane ticket, what counts as "Strong Ties" to Canada? My wife is flying down on Sunday to visit me for the next two weeks.

I used to take an entire binder of utility bills, rent payments, contracts with clients (I'm self-employed), auto/renters insurance documents, credit card bills showing all my regular "Canadian" shopping, EZ-Pass records (I'd cross at the Peace Bridge which has a toll-booth) - this latter to demonstrate that I crossed often, but also returned often I was never asked to produce any of it, but because I crossed so frequently I didn't want to take any chances.

- Steve's wife

I see where people are going with the immigrant intent, but let's be serious are they really going to be asking details about how you spent your days visiting? I highly doubt it.

The most ideal option is to cancel the trip and get married immediately and file AOS and then you'll for sure have status to travel back in August for the Canadian wedding. If you can get friends or family to meet with whoever needs to be met with now, and then go visit as soon as you are cleared to travel, it would be your best option.

But I think if you really wanted to go on the trip, get married right when you get back.

I went the IR-1 route, so maybe I'm missing something subtle here, but I thought that if you crossed on anything BUT a K1 visa with the intent to get married that you were risking immigration fraud and thus a ban. So even if you say "oh, I'm just going back to work on my TN visa" at the border, if you get married the day after you arrive back in the US in anything other than a very basic ceremony, I would imagine that sooner or later in the immigration process the question of when you decided to get married is going to come up. And that, as I understand it, is the problem. Because if you have marriage plans in the pipeline when you're entering the US on anything but an immigrant visa or K1, you're risking screwing up the whole thing. Sure, you might not be quizzed at the border, but it's a gamble. And if you get married in short order after returning to the US, isn't someone going to question what your intent was when you last crossed the border? I just can't see saying "oh, I got married the day after I came back, but no, when I crossed the border I had no intention of getting married" and having it fly . . .

- Steve's wife

Thanks again, guys!

Now I have one little wrinkle that needs to be ironed out.

We're planning a trip home to Newfoundland (i.e., we've bought the tickets already) from March 30-April 5, in order to meet the string trio, the photographer, the officiant, do the tasting and view the reception/ceremony building in the park, etc.

Do you think I'll be okay to get married here in New York (we were thinking Feb. 28, since that's our "anniversary" already), then go to Newfoundland, come back quietly on my TN on April 5 (which will have 5 months left on it at that point), and then put in all our paperwork on April 6?

I see, for example, in Warlord's timeline that it was only a month between his application and getting his AP. I'll have nearly 5 months form when we get back until we're scheduled to leave for the wedding, so that should be plenty of time, right?

I thought of mailing the package before we left (in March sometime), but that would cause problems if my application is in process and I try to come back in on my TN, correct? Because I would then have dual-intent, yes?

Or should we just wait until we come back on April 5 to get married? If we get married in February, and then I come back on my TN visa, without having started the AOS process, am I guilty of dual-intent? If so, we can just wait until we come back from the planning trip in March/April, get hitched lickety-split and file the papers that week, which is really no different than my first scenario above.

Thanks so much for your input, folks! I'm so glad that I got panicky today and started doing more research on this stuff, or I never would have wandered in here!

Adam

In a word, no.

If you get married before leaving for NF, when you arrive at the border, you will be entering as the apouse of a US citizen, you are on a non-immigrant visa (TN) and you will almost certainly run into issues. You COULD avoid the subject at the border and/or lie, but nobody here will recommend that you do that because if you are found out, it will cause huge complications further down the line. I see only one option here: Get married in February and cancel your trip to NF; take care of the AOS stuff before you go back to NF.

- Steve's wife

We were only 10 miles apart. For a while it was about 120 miles (Toronto to Buffalo). But then it was Fort Erie to Buffalo while the GC process was going on. In fact Steve lived further away from downtown Buffalo than I did! I was very familiar with the Peace Bridge crossing.

Ant+D+A, you can't be that far away from us at all . . .

- Steve's wife

Our situation was a little different to most here as I used to have a green card, moved to Canada and lost it, then got it back again just this past November . . .

When we moved to Canada, Steve had to file a US tax return because he's a US citizen (obviously) and all US citizens must file a tax return regardless of where they live. We weren't sure if I'd have to or not, but, as it turns out, based SOLELY on the fact that I was married to him I HAD to file a tax return. Regardless of my alien status . . . Yeah, I was pleased about that, I can tell you (so I lose my green card but still have to file taxes - wasn't there a revolution about this?)

So, the choice was:

1. File married filing separately as a non-resident alien (1040-NR for me)

2. File married filing jointly (regular 1040)

We chose no. 2. and I therefore had to include my worldwide income, just like Steve, because for tax purposes only I was filing as a resident (based on Steve's citizenship) even though we were not physically resident. When it came down to it, we basically just had to show that we were domiciled in Canada, paid taxes to Canada and that was the end of it.

YMMV and I'm no expert on taxes anyway.

- Steve's wife

The requirement to file US taxes is based on citizenship (or PR status). If you are a PR, you have to file US taxes whether or not you have income, whether or not you're actually present in the US.

The requirement to file Canadian taxes is based on a) residency and B) Canadian-sourced income (especially if you want to get the "non-resident" withholding back).

Not a tax expert, but Steve had to file US taxes all the time he was in Canada because he was a US citizen (and I had to file also because I was married to him). He had no US-based income for most of that time . . .

The IRS is actually quite helpful if you call them up. So is the international tax division at CRA.

- Steve's wife

Strictly speaking, you can't bring anything over the border that doesn't belong to you (I once had enormous trouble from a CO because I happened to have three of Steve's shirts in the car). Do what minnew suggests. Have a letter, copy of the K1 visa, etc., so they know that they're bringing it with her permission. There's a form for "unaccompanied goods" that should probably be filled out. It allows shippers (and presumably anyone else) to bring items over the border that don't belong to them.

OTOH, they could call it a gift and bring it over that way.

- Steve's wife

I'd send it in with a cover letter & whatever your K1 documentation is. Send it in without the SSN & explain that he doesn't have one yet. That way you cover all your bases.

FWIW, I can't see how you would need to register. You're not an immigrant; you're a legal non-immigrant. Until you get your green card I can't see how you could be counted as an immigrant. IANAL, but I have worked as a paralegal & have read enough statutes to say that I believe your interpretation of the law to be correct.

- Steve's wife

I'm starting to think about gathering all info I need for the interview, whenever that may be. For the people that did the Electronic filing at NVC, in your interview letter does it mention that they need to see the original documents like the DS-230 or birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc? I don't want to miss anything.

Thanks!

We sent everything as scanned copies via email AND originals by hard copy (NVC wasn't really clear on what they wanted). For the interview, if we had duplicate "originals" (like certified copies of our marriage certificate from the court - as close to original as you can get), we took those with us. Otherwise we took the copies & swapped originals for copies.

- Steve's wife

We're right on the border, so my mail goes to a PO Box over there. We have a business and different last names too, so to redirect to the US was going to cost around $340. For six months. It was cheaper to redirect within Canada, rent a PO Box and drive the 15 miles over the border to pick it up.

. . . those of you denied entry surely were told why, and that you'd have to get a fiance or spousal visa . . .

Actually the one time I came close to being denied entry, I asked the BG what the specific issue was (had I been visiting too often? Didn't have sufficient proof of ties with me?) and she just said "because that's the way it works, honey". Uh, okay. And this was a full year after my I130 application had been sent in. I pointed out that I had an application in process too.

So, frankly, it really depends on the BG on whether you get a helpful answer or not and get admitted or not, even after presenting everything they ask for. Did it help that she was visibly Muslim? Probably not. But then my being self-employed never helped me much at the border either.

- Steve's wife.

im going to file for this form to find out if the accountant i talked to last night is right or not. he kept telling me i had to file as a resident of Canada. and i kept telling him there is another way to do it w/ me as being non resident.

how long does CRA process NR73?

Bank on about 6 weeks for processing of the NR73 - maybe longer.

But you will be considered a part-year resident of Canada, unless you happen to move on Jan 1st at midnight. To my knowledge, there's no getting around that. The NR-73 is most useful where you have ties to both countries and it's not clear which one would consider you a resident for tax purposes (yep, that does happen).

- Steve's wife

Doesn't really matter. You'll need to do them both at around the same time so you know how much "foreign tax credit" to claim, amongst other things, but it's a minefield for the unwary. Some major pointers:

1. As a Canadian resident, you can offset any taxes you pay to the U.S. against what you owe to Canada.

2. As a US resident, you can offset any taxes you pay to Canada against what you owe to the U.S.

3. You will pro-rate your taxes for each country if you have been a part-year resident in both countries (i.e. the year you move, you will almost certainly be a part-year resident in both the U.S. and Canada)

4. If you get any tax refund from the U.S. (or Canada), this will be deducted from your "foreign tax credit". Translation: If you paid $5,000 in taxes to the U.S., but it turned out to be an overpayment and you got a refund from the IRS of $1,000, you will only be able to offset US $4,000 against whatever taxes you may owe to Canada.

5. RRSP/401k/IRA contributions can get tricky. You *may* end up paying taxes on these contributions in the country they are not "home" to. (i.e. you might have to pay taxes on any 401k contributions you made while still a tax resident in Canada). Just keep it in mind.

I really do strongly recommend that you use a professional for this first year. It can be really complicated. We've been dealing with cross-border tax issues for 5 years and it doesn't get any easier . . .

- Steve's wife