ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
CanadaPOE
FYI:

When I was figuring out my taxes this year, I had to figure out when I ceased to be a Canadian resident. The info was in a tax document but is repeated on this federal government website:

http://www.cra-arc.g...s/lvng-eng.html

The formula says it's the latest of 3 dates: when you enter the US, when the last of your spouse or dependents enter the US, and the "Resident since" date on your GC. For a K-1 holder, it makes quite a bit of difference. My latest of those dates was 5 months after my PoE, For a CR-1 holder, I'm pretty sure that your GC gets dated the date you activate your visa. There might be some fudge-factor around "the date you leave Canada" which leaves room for an interpretation of "the [final] date you leave Canada".
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-08-15 21:16:00
CanadaPOE
I assume that if you move to the US, you'll be living in your husband's current place. if he can add you to his mortgage/lease/rental agreement, then problem solved: you will have and be maintaining a US residence. From then on you can activate at any time, and just try to make sure, over the next year or two, you spend well over half your time in the US.

A 3-4 month "vacation" in Canada is perfectly ok as long as you have some kind of provable, documentable US residence. If this is (or can easily become) the case, driving down, activating, and driving back should be no problem at all. Maybe try to spend a coupe hours in the US so CBP don't actually see you donuting in their parking lot and heading back, but it should work out ok. I don't think the extra expense of flying is necessary. As long as you have a documentable official US residence, staying in Canada for a couple more months shouldn't be a problem.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-08-14 12:26:00
CanadaPOE
It's not so much that you can come and go as you please - rather it is that once you get an I-551 stamp, you are a GC holder, and you are held to the same standards for US presence and residence as any other GC holder.

Which is to say you can leave the US and return freely provided that you have and are maintaining a US residence, that you do not spend more than 6 months outside the US without maintaing a US residence, that you do not spend more than a year outside without first getting a reentry permit, etc.

If you use your visa and get the I-551 stamp, and then turn around, return to Canada, and don't come back to the US until November, you will be in exactly the same position, from CBP's point of view, as someone who gets a GC through any other means, then leaves the US for a ~3 month vacation in Canada, leaving no visible US residence behind. You will virtually certainly be fine, but that won't make CBP any more confortable with it.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-08-13 10:57:00
CanadaChest X-Ray?
The Vancouver medical clinic told me to take it to the consulate. The consulate didn't look at it, but told me to have it out at the PoE. The PoE didn't look at it. I don't think I took it to the CS for the I-693, but I might have. Now it's sitting on my closet shelf, where it quietly passed into official expiration and irrelevancy this past April.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-04 12:24:00
Canadaplz need opinions
I'd rather tell someone to expect increased scrutiny, and tell them how to make light, reasonable preparations to deal with it, and have them be massively relieved when it doesn't materialize, than tell them everything will be fine and not to worry, and have them be shocked and frightened when some CBP officer whose cheatin' wife ran over his dog as she left him for his brother that morning decides to haul them into secondary because they don't have a file of ties to Canada with them.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-03 15:30:00
Canadaplz need opinions
You can expect the higher level of scrutiny to continue on any future visit you attempt to take to the US. Make sure you limit your luggage, have a return ticket, and bring lots of proof of ties to Canada if you try again.

But don't worry about your future visa. It will be under a completely different category of entry, so even if you get flat-out denied entry on a visit attempt, you'll still be able to enter on your eventual K-1 visa with no problems at all. Denials/complications in the two entrance categories - Canadian Tourist and Fiance Visa - are tracked separately, and problems in one do not affect attempted entrances in the other.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-03 08:10:00
CanadaAnnotation on Visa
"PET." will stand for "Petition" - the I-129F petition your USC honey initially filed for you. "PETR" almost certainly means "Petitioner" in this context.

When the I-129F is approved, it's only good for a relatively short period - a few months. The precise period is written in your I-129F NOA2 approval notice. Theoretically, if you don't have your consulate interview and get your visa approved within that period, the consulate could make you start all over with a new petition. But they never do that. The vast majority of consulates, as long as you are in regular ongoing communication with them regarding your visa application, will "automatically" extend the validity period of your approved petition to include the interview date, particularly if it is their scheduling backlog that pushed the interview back past the petition expiry date.

This appears to be exactly what has happened in your case, and it's quite common. It's a little unusual to put it in the annotations field on the visa itself, but the annotations field is very free-form, and different consulates can put quite different things in there.

Now that the visa has been issued, the expiry date of the petition is basically meaningless to you. You have until the visa expiration date to enter the US, and you have to get married within 90 days after that. Those are the deadlines you need to worry about.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-06 12:04:00
CanadaPOE

I agree...did you tell them that you wanted to import your car? There should have been a form you filled out and they should have stamped for when you want to register your vehicle. You had to fill out an HS-7 form, and then they gave me a customs declaration form as well to fill out. They stamped the customs declaration, HS-7 and my compliance letter with a big red Department of Homeland Security stamp.

At least if you are in Ft. Drum, you don't have that far to go back to do the import!!

You will have to go to a PoE to import your car, before the DMV will register it. If your PoE is close you can do it there, but if there is an international airport closer you can call the CBP "Deferred Inspection Unit" at the airport. Make an appointment and bring your car (plus compliance letters and proof of ownership) and they can import your car and give you the paperwork the DMV will need to register it.

You'll want to look up the blue book value of your car before you go. They'll need it for one of the import forms.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-20 15:05:00
CanadaQuestion about application for travel doc. - AOS

Good questions and answers, they help all of us in the same situation. For AOS are these the only forms needed: I 485, I-765 and I-131? Thanks!

Yes. If you entered on a K-1 visa, you need to file just the I-485, I-765, and I-131. If you are adjusting status from other visas, you usually need to file an I-130 as well, but for a K-1 entrant, those three are all that's needed.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-21 12:12:00
CanadaQuestion about application for travel doc. - AOS

Hi everyone,
Here's another of my crazy questions...

In the I-131 application for travel document, part 7 question 1 "how many trips do you intend to use this document" the example on here says to select "more than one trip". So, in the letter I have to attach to that form, do I specify all the trips I wish to make with the document? I mean, I know I want to go back in May for a reception we're planning back home, but do I invent other ones? I don't know if I'll want to go again until I get my green card...

And also, in the supplement letter, I have a concern. The paragraph state "I have not at any time accrued 180 continuous days of unlawful presence within the U.S". Well, when I first met Chris, I spent 180 days here, flew back home on the 180th day just before filing for the I-129F. Never faced an issue at the border or at the interview, since I flew back in time. So am I ok to write that statement down on the supplement? I just didn't want to write something that might be untrue. I mean, I think I'm good but I just want to make sure that my situation is ok with that statement... Does that make any sense? :wacko:

Thanks again for the help, getting closer to being done with the package, just a couple more forms, and a couple more crazy questions! :lol:


Canadian tourists, unless informed otherwise by CBP at the time of entry, are allowed into the US for 180 days. You do not begin to accrue "days of unlawful presence" until those 180 days are up. If you spent exactly 180 days here on your visit, at least some, and probably all of those days were lawful presence. Therefore, you in all likelihood did not accrue any out-of-status days from that trip. If you don't have 180 out-of-status days from other trips, you should be ok to write that statement on the supplement.

On the I-131, I specified "more than one trip". For the reasons for travel on the I-131, I listed my brother's then upcoming wedding, possible medical emergencies involving my elderly grandmother, and various miscellaneous visits to family and friends. My I-131 was approved after 45 days, no problem.

You don't need to worry if the stated trips never come to pass. It's not like they check. The vast, vast majority of AP documents never even get used. My brother had a small ceremony early, my grandmother stayed healthy, and my GC showed up before I could even think of going back to visit. As long as the stated reasons are legitimate and plausible, you'll be fine.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-09-21 09:35:00
Canadaimporting car into US
When you get to the border, in addition to your normal visa stuff, to import your car you will need a compliance letter and proof of ownership. You should also have looked up the blue book value of the car. At the PoE, after all the visa stuff is done, you tell them you want to import your car. They will look at your compliance letter and proof of ownership. You will fill out a form with name, US address, VIN number, value of the car, and some other stuff. They will stamp the form, and you take it with you. Done.

Later, as you settle in to the US, you take your compliance letter, your stamped import form, and your proof of ownership to the local DMV, and they will register your car, give you US plates, and mail you a title deed.

Money-wise, the compliance letters vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer, from 50-200 dollars. The PoE don't need any money for the import form. The DMV will want $150-$200 for the titling and registration. Part of that may be, depending on the state, a 1-2% import tax, if the car is sufficiently new. So if you're unsure of it's value at the PoE, you might want to guess a little low.

Selling a car in the US should be no problem, if it's been properly imported and registered, as above. Bear in mind you might have a hard time selling a car with the speedometer in km/h. The selling process will involve writing the new owner's name on a blank on the back of the title deed. Possession of that paper in apparently 9/10ths of the law for who owns the car.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-10-15 02:06:00
CanadaDo you have to be in the US before you ship your goods?
Something someone else here did in a similar situation was make all the moving arrangements in advance, drive down, and cross the border. Then the first thing they did was go to an import brokerage or Kinko's and fax their I-94 back to the shipping company, proving that they're now in the US and releasing the shipments.

Edited by HeatDeath, 21 October 2010 - 02:41 PM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-10-21 14:41:00
CanadaWhat to do with the Ontario Plate?
I kept my Manitoba plates. They're in my closet, on the shelf next to my chest xray from the medical! :D

My father-in-law still has a set of Idaho plates (we live in Utah) from his youth. I don't think any place's DMV really wants them back.

[They definitely don't want my front one. 50000+ km of highway driving and it don't look so good anymore. :o :D ]

Edited by HeatDeath, 22 October 2010 - 03:34 PM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-10-22 15:31:00
CanadaWhich letter gets me in the Consulate door?
Montreal might handle things different, but here's how it went for me at Vancouver.

They sent me a Packet 4 letter with my interview date, which said to bring it to the interview. This is what normally gets you in. Note that it was basically a printout. It wasn't on letterhead or anything. I emailed them to try to reschedule/expedite my interview for work reasons. They changed my interview date [They were very reasonable]. I asked if I should still bring my original interview letter or the email with the updated date. They said the email, and also said that I would be on the list given to security and they would be expecting me.

So since you're on a list with security , it really doesn't matter too much, I don't think. Bring both to be on the safe side, but I'm pretty sure you can just show them the email printout, and that will corroborate with their list and should be enough.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-10-27 22:51:00
CanadaConsulate: Toronto Ontario
If they do, that's really really new, and has somehow escaped the notice of everyone here. Possible, but very unlikely. Are you sure that's not the consulate you entered on the I-129F?

In all likelihood, what will happen is that USCIS will (or have already] send[t] your approved petition to the National Visa Center. NVC will look at the petition, see "Toronto" as the consulate, become slightly confused for about 10 seconds, look up your address in their database, come to the conclusion that Montreal is the proper consulate for your visa application, and send your petition on to Montreal. You should expect to see your Packet 3 come from Montreal in a few weeks.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-08-16 15:44:00
CanadaPOE
The biggest problem is time spent at the border. I PoEd a few times with busloads of Canadian tourists going skiing in Minnesota. It usually took a good 30-45 minutes to cross the border, and this was pre-9/11, when all CBP really had to do was walk down the aisle eyeballing everybody's birth certificate [no passports required back then !]. I don't know what the process is like now, but it's probably more time consuming.

And that's where the question mark comes in. My PoE in July 2009 with my K-1 visa took over 90 minutes. That's a little longer than average but 45 minutes is far from unheard of. You need to check with the bus line to ensure that they can accommodate your extra delay at the border while they process your K-1. You definitely need to contact both the bus line and the border station you'll be PoE'ing through. Let us know what you find out.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-11-25 13:25:00
CanadaVancouver Hotels
It's not the nicest, but it's the cheapest and by far the most convenient - The Burrard Inn [www.burrardinn.com] is on the same block as the Woking medical clinic, on the same side of the street. Believe me, that's really nice when you have to start lining up at the clinic at 5:45 AM.

Edited by HeatDeath, 03 December 2010 - 09:43 PM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-12-03 21:42:00
CanadaSo you think you know everything about Canada, eh?
I'm inclined to agree. The Harper "Conservatives" are basically US mainstream Democrats.

If you look at the Utah map for congressional districts, Salt Lake City is joined, by a thin strip, with almost the entirety of south eastern rural Utah, in a pathetic and desperate attempt by the Republican-dominated state government to gerrymander the congressional district boundaries to prevent the comparatively liberal SLC electorate from reelecting a particular Democrat representative - Jim Matheson. I'm Republican by inclination, but once I get my citizenship, anybody who's ever approved of this affront to basic democracy has permanently lost my vote. I'm glad Matheson won this last election [by a healthy margin, mind you], and keeps winning, no matter how ridiculous the District boundaries grow. Serves the corrupt b*st*rds in the re-districting committee right! But I digress.

Anyways, this representative, Jim Matheson [a single isolated splotch of blue in a vast, vast sea of red], while officially a Democrat, is more right wing than a lot of the Republican representatives from more liberal states (Massachusetts and California come to mind) and is FAR more right wing than anybody in the Harper caucus.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-12-06 00:00:00
CanadaSo you think you know everything about Canada, eh?
19/20

I got the last one wrong. But I contest that.

I really do think
Spoiler
for cryin' out loud!
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-12-04 17:14:00
CanadaHolier then thou attitude
Maybe it's just Winnipeg, Manitoba, but there's a pervasive anti-Americanism in the culture there so thick you could cut it with a knife. My now-wife came up to visit me the summer before we got engaged, and she did not come away with a positive impression. We were in a nice restaurant, and these two drunken idiot businessmen were loudly talking smack about Americans two tables down. I should've belted one of them, but I'm a little too Canadian for that. :) Anyways, GOOD LUCK trying to get her to move up to Canada after that! [Wasn't gonna happen anyways, but that sure didn't help!]

Even my grandmother, before her Alzheimers got bad, used to talk smack about Americans and would have to specifically qualify to exclude my now-wife from her comments.

"Americans are ok, but would you let your son/grandson marry one?" :)
OK, they never actually said that, but I know they've thought it. I know they're not entirely at peace with my plans to get American citizenship.

Yeah, that bugged the heck out of me, even years before I got married and moved down here.

Edited by HeatDeath, 19 October 2010 - 01:16 PM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-10-19 13:16:00
CanadaChanging Interview Appointment?
I don't know about Montreal, but Vancouver were able to move my K-1 interview from end of May 2009 to end of April 2009 because I told them I was a teacher and my work needed to know ASAP whether or not I was coming back in September. I just emailed them the day I got my Packet 4 letter and they were very prompt in responding, and very reasonable about moving the interview.

Email them and give it a shot. At the very least, it won't hurt.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-12-31 13:23:00
CanadaUSC'S Attendance at interview

Did you say - 'well if you'd cut the small talk and the questions, I might get to them a little quicker'? :P


Him: Where's your fiancee ?!
Me: <quizically> Uhhh.... She's in Salt Lake City?
Him: <snapping> Well what's that mean to me ?!
Me: <slightly stunned silence>

I think it's one of those mid trick thingies where they throw you off balance right away to keep you docile and honest through the proceeding. Wasn't fun. First thing I did after getting through there was pull into the first tow to fill up on cheap American gas and call my fiancee. First words to her over the phone were "I'm in."
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-05 02:39:00
CanadaUSC'S Attendance at interview
When I went through Vancouver in 2009, my petitioner not being there wasn't a problem at all. Wasn't even mentioned.

The border officer at the PoE a few months later, on the other hand...

The first question out of his mouth was a very pointed query about why my fiancee wasn't with me. Go figure. :)
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-04 11:08:00
CanadaCanadian Christmas Presents?
Did anyone get anything Canadian for Christmas?

I'll start things off:

My wife got me the complete DVD sets for Kids in the Hall and Corner Gas. [She'd never heard of either, but they were on my list.] Corner Gas is so awesome. I've watched most of the first season already. I haven't heard that much concentrated Prairie accent in a year and a half! Very nostalgic.

Anyone else?

Edited by HeatDeath, 31 December 2010 - 11:44 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2010-12-31 11:44:00
CanadaImmunization Records for Medical...

you only need Hep B if you are 18 and under and you only need Hep A if you are between 12 months to 23 months old...

http://www.panelphys...munizations.htm

That's what the medical clinic in Vancouver was thinking when they checked them off as "Age Inappropriate". But the Civil Surgeon in Salt Lake City wouldn't do my I-693 unless I went to a public health clinic and had them done. Their reasoning, they said, was that there is a non-trivial amount of Hep floating around in the local population.

But you shouldn't need to have those done prior to the medical exam in Canada. Just get what the Canadian medical clinic tells you you need, and worry about the rest later.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-05 10:10:00
CanadaImmunization Records for Medical...
The medical clinic in Vancouver said a male my age (34) only needed Varicella (or verbal declaration of chicken pox), MMR, and TDap. My elementary school vaccination records are long buried at my parent's house, if they even still exist. So I had blood tests done to verify Varicella and MMR. Manitoba Health wouldn't give me TDap, so the Vancouver medical clinic arranged for me to get it the same day as the medical, at a travel clinic a few blocks away.

After I entered the US, the civil surgeon wanted me to get a Hep vaccine before they'd transcribe my vaccination record, so i got that too.

Edited by HeatDeath, 05 January 2011 - 02:12 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-05 02:12:00
CanadaHow to go about getting the Immigration Physical?
It depends a lot on what exactly you are applying for. If you are in the process of applying for a spousal visa, then yes, you will need to do your medical when you return to Canada, which you will eventually have to do for the visa interview in Montreal anyways.

If you are simply adjusting status from being a Canadian tourist, you stay in the US and get your medical at one of the many Civil Surgeons listed on the USCIS website. If the CS is telling you that you need immunization records from Canada, and the Canadian doctor is being a pain, do what colleens said above: get titre tests for the vaccines you can, and just redo the rest. I remember my Canadian doctor was very reluctant to write any kind of letter or release any kind of records for the purposes of immigration. Just sidestep the Canadian doctor as much as you can.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-17 11:58:00
CanadaCanadian police checks..
When I was doing my K-1, I got my police report very early in the process. It said on it that it was valid for 6 months, and I was a little worried because it looked like my interview at Vancouver might occur after it had expired. I emailed Vancouver and they said that regardless of what it says on the police report itself, they accept it if it's less than a year old.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-01-27 11:33:00
CanadaGet a job before Green Card?

Not necessarily until adjusted but until you submit AOS, if you also submit the work visa with it. I got my work auth about a month before I got my GC.

Just to clarify, by "work visa" he means "I-765 EAD application", and by "work auth" he means "EAD card".

Once you have an EAD card in your hand, you can work for a US employer. If you file the I-765 at the same time as the rest of your AOS packet, which you should do as soon as possible after you marry [as in, in the next couple of days], you should get your EAD card in about 6-10 weeks.

Edited by HeatDeath, 10 February 2011 - 11:43 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-02-10 11:40:00
CanadaHow long does it take to get a Vancouver interview?
I sent in my Packet 3 stuff in mid-April 2009, and they initially offered me end-of-May 2009, but I told them my work (I was a teacher) needed to know if I was coming back next year as soon as possible, and they were able to fit me in on April 30th, only 2 weeks later.

Obviously the timeframes may have changed, but they may be willing to negotiate the timeframe if you've got a really good reason to expedite the interview.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-02-12 16:21:00
CanadaTraveling to US After Interview Without Using K1
My interview at Vancouver at the end of April 2009 was assigned. I sent in my Packet 3 checklist around April 15, and they initially assigned me May 30, but I asked if it could possibly be moved up because my work needed to know ASAP whether I was coming back for the next school year [I was working as a teacher at a school, and told Vancouver that, per their own instructions, I couldn't do anything irrevocable, job-wise, without having a visa in-hand.]. I know i was spectacularly lucky and no one should count on having an interview expedited like that, but Vancouver was at least open to negotiation. But they did do the assigning themselves.

Montreal's processes now are totally different. They have an on-line self-scheduling setup of some kind. I don't know the details. But Vancouver [almost 2 years ago, MAN how time flies!] definitely assigned you an interview date. I don't know if they still do.

As to the original question, I delayed sending in my Packet 3 info for a couple of months because I was planning to visit my now-wife in early March and had planned to get the last I-134 documents and relationship evidence from her then, before sending in my Packet 3 checklist. We weren't in a huge hurry because, as I said above, I was working as a teacher and couldn't just walk away until the end of the school year at the end of June, anyways. Just make sure you send in your packet 3 stuff well before your approved I-129F petition expires.

I visited my now-wife twice during the K-1 process, actually. Once just before the I-129F NOA2 arrived, and once, as i just said, a couple months after my Packet 3 had been issued but before I sent in my Packet 3 checklist and got assigned my interview date. But I didn't try to enter the US with an approved K-1 in my passport and not use it. I just waited out the rest of the school year and moved down in mid July.

Edited by HeatDeath, 24 February 2011 - 12:01 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-02-24 00:00:00
CanadaPacking my car today...
Ah, packing the car... That takes me back.

Did you know you can fit 16 full photocopier paper boxes into 2-door Pontiac Sunfire, if you don't have to carry any passengers? :)
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-03-21 10:47:00
CanadaChange visa-issuing post for K1 visa?
If she lives in Vancouver, and you two are applying for a K-1, then the NVC has made a mistake, and your issuing post should be Vancouver. Montreal will notice this, and should transfer the approved petition to Vancouver on their own [they're still backlogged, and won't want to handle anything they don't have to! :)].

Just to make sure, wait a couple of weeks for Montreal to receive the petition and contact them directly. They will almost certainly transfer the application to Vancouver, if they had not done so already, if you so request, since she should be going through Vancouver anyways.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-03-08 12:48:00
CanadaTransferring consulates
Hmmm, that's odd.

As far as I know, Vancouver has been, and should still be handling K-1 visas for beneficiaries who live west of the Manitoba-Ontario border. Montreal handles K-1 visa applicants from Ontario eastwards, and all Canadian spousal visas. If that policy has changed no one here has heard about it, and there's been no announcement.

And yet, you're the second K-1 couple from Western Canada I've heard of getting assigned to Montreal in the last 2 weeks.

I'll give you the same advice I gave them:

Wait a couple of weeks for the petition to get from NVC to Montreal. Then call or email Montreal with the consulate case number from your NVC letter and ask them about it. Chances are they will have noticed the error [made by NVC] and transferred your case to Vancouver themselves, because that is where you should be. Give Montreal a week or two to notice it and then follow up with them. As far as I know, Montreal are still recovering from their backlog, and won't want to handle any case they don't have to.

Let us know what they say.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-03-23 00:30:00
CanadaVancouver/Montreal
Because he has already had his medical, a significant part, though not all, of the advantage of Burrard Inn is no longer relevant. Burrard Inn's greatest advantage is being next door to the medical clinic. It is a 20 minute walk from the consulate.

Whether or not Burrard Inn is a compelling choice for you depends mostly on how much you're willing to spend on hotels, versus walking distance. Burrard Inn remains one of the cheaper hotels in that end of downtown Vancouver, but there may be other hotels, somewhat more expensive but somewhat closer to the consulate, that represent a better tradeoff of cost versus walking distance for you.

But I stand by the initial advice for anyone who has to do a medical while they are in Vancouver - the Burrard Inn is by far the most convenient and inexpensive hotel for having to get to an early morning medical exam at the Woking Medical Clinic, bar none.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-04-09 23:22:00
CanadaVancouver/Montreal
If Vancouver have asked for his Packet 3 checklist then Vancouver have his petition at the moment, and he should schedule the interview for Vancouver. They would not have asked for the checklist if they didn't have it.

Once he has a letter or email from Vancouver showing his Vancouver interview date he will be able to book the medical at the clinic in Vancouver.

Try to book the Vancouver interview for a Thursday, or alternatively a Wednesday afternoon if necessary. The reason being that the Vancouver medical clinic only does medicals on Wednesday morning. If the interview is Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, that lets you do everything in the minimal period of time. If the interview is also Wednesday, it's very doable but a bit tight. If the interview is Thursday, it's a nice easy schedule.

FYI, a good hotel for the Vancouver trip is the Burrard Inn: http://www.burrardinn.com. They're a little on the budget side, quality-wise, but very inexpensive for downtown Vancouver, and they're literally next door to the medical clinic, on the same block on the same side of the street, which is awesome when you have to arrive to the medical at 5:45 AM.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-04-06 10:46:00
CanadaCanadian filing taxes for the first time in the US!

Hey fellow VJers!

I'm posting here as you guys are a better wealth of knowledge than the US accountants we've talked to so far.

I am Canadian citizen married to a US citizen and am trying to figure out the 'right way' to file taxes in the U.S. I moved to the U.S. in September 2010, and have not worked here. However, I do have earnings from earlier in the year from Canada and also RRSP contributions from previous years (not 2010); I will be submitting my final Canadian tax return.
For the US taxes, can I simply file with my husband as a married couple without reporting my Canadian income? Is this something that requires a professional accountant, or can this be done on our own with programs like Turbotax?

Thanks! :)

You do file jointly with your husband as a married couple. You DO have to report your Canadian income though. You can use the Form 2555 Foreign Earned Income Exemption, to remove it again so you don't get double-taxed on it.

The Deluxe Edition of Turbo Tax can do a 2555 or a 1116 (Foreign Tax Deduction) for you.

The 2555 is a better deal: it subtracts the foreign income right out of the earned income. The 1116 only gives you a tax deduction of some percentage of the foreign tax you paid. Use the 2555 if you qualify.

Any competent accountant should be able to parse the instructions on those forms, and Turbotax can do it for you as well.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-04-07 23:13:00
CanadaMontreal question re: previous marriages...
Generally speaking, whenever any immigration process requests an "original" marriage certificate, what they really mean is a certified copy - printed off, signed, and usually embossed by the county marriage office. By "original", they just mean they don't want you running one off at Kinko's.

We sent a certified copy of our marriage certificate with my AOS papers. It was no problem at all. We don't even have the original. The original - the piece of paper I, my wife, the officiant, and the witnesses signed and dated at the ceremony - is filed at our local county's records office. We can get as many certified copies from them as we want, but they will never give us the original back.

Edited by HeatDeath, 04 May 2011 - 09:34 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-05-04 09:32:00
Canada2010 Tax thread - For Canada and the U.S.

9. Normally, no income means no refund. However, there may be some tax credits that apply to you. In 2009, I had 400 dollar refund, with no taxable US income, because of the way the "Making Work Pay" tax credit was worded. But I think they fixed it this year so you can't do that anymore. If you do have a refund, they would mail a cheque to you. I think most Canadian banks could handle a US government cheque, but there would be a processing delay and probably a small fee. You'd have to ask at your local branch.


Turns out you couldn't do it last year either. Oops. :blush:

They really should have checked that before they sent me the check. :bonk:

Oh well. Now I get to learn how to fill out a 1040X. Sigh. :unsure:

Edited by HeatDeath, 18 March 2011 - 11:16 AM.

HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-03-18 11:15:00
Canada2010 Tax thread - For Canada and the U.S.

I have posted in here before but still have some questions.
I am the US citizen but I am living with my husband in Canada with him. (Have been for two years today)
I haven't earned any worldwide income and we got married in May 2010.
He is not immigrating to the US but we are currently awaiting Canada's decision on our application for me to immigrate there.

I just now found out that I need to file a US tax return since I got married last year. I have never filed a US tax return before because it wasn't needed.
Now I am not sure what forms I need to fill out, where to mail it to, etc. I am planning on filing as "married filing separately" since my husband doesn't have an ITIN or SSN. And I know that I should fill out the spot as NRA or NR in the spot where it asks for his SSN number. And I will include a letter explaining our situation.

I just want to make sure I am going about things in the right way.
Here are my questions:

1. Usually when you applied as "married filing separately" you would both be filing separately but my husband doesn't need to, will he get in trouble for that later on?
2. What address do I mail the return to?
3. How long does it take to get a reply back about it?
4. Do I apply with my address from the US or here in Canada?
5. What forms do I need to mail since I am living abroad with my husband?
6. What is tax with-holding?
7. My income is zero, how would I fill this out?
8. Will my husband's income play a factor into my return?
9. Will I get a refund even with no income, if so would they mail it abroad and could I still cash it here?

I know we got to get this done soon so I would appreciate any answers/tips you can give to us soon. I just don't want to get in trouble later on down the line and looking for a fairly simple way about this. Looking forward to your responses. Thank you!

Ok. I just finished my taxes, so I'll take a swing at these. :)
BTW, this page on irs.gov has links to the most commonly needed tax forms and, more importantly, their instruction documents: http://www.irs.gov/f....html?portlet=3
The whole setup is very similar to USCIS's forms area. You have form PDFs, and instruction booklet PDFs. If you can follow USCIS instructions, IRS instructions aren't really any harder. :)

1. Since your husband is neither a US citizen, national, nor resident, he has no tax obligations to the US government whatsoever. Even if he eventually becomes a US resident, his tax obligation would only start then. So no, he won't get in any kind of trouble :)

2. The table of addresses can be found on the last page of the 1040 instructions PDF, which includes an entry for being outside the US: http://www.irs.gov/p...s-pdf/i1040.pdf

3. 6-8 weeks I think.

4. Use the address in Canada.

5. Depends on what your sources of income are. If you have a Canadian bank account, or any kind of interest or dividends, you will need a Schedule B. If you have RRSPs, you will need Form 8891s for them. If your sources of income have been taxed already by Canada, you will need a 2555, and maybe a 1116. If you have no income, you can probably just use the 1040, or maybe even the 1040-EZ. Check the 1040-EZ instructions to make sure you qualify: http://www.irs.gov/p...pdf/i1040ez.pdf

6. That's the taxes your employer, if you have one, holds back from your paycheque. Your tax bill draws from your withheld money first. If there is any withheld money left over from your taxes, they give it to you. That is your tax refund. If your taxes total more than what was withheld over the course of the year, you need to write the IRS a cheque for the difference. That's if you're working for a US employer. Reporting Canadian income to the IRS, and taking Canadian government withholding into account, is significantly more complex. But it sounds like you don't have to worry about that.

7. You enter a 0 in line 7 of the 1040 [Line 1 on the 1040-EZ], where it asks for wages, salary, and tips. Easy :)

8. No. You are doing "married, filing separately", so all of the numbers are just your information - his information doesn't enter into anything.

9. Normally, no income means no refund. However, there may be some tax credits that apply to you. In 2009, I had 400 dollar refund, with no taxable US income, because of the way the "Making Work Pay" tax credit was worded. But I think they fixed it this year so you can't do that anymore. If you do have a refund, they would mail a cheque to you. I think most Canadian banks could handle a US government cheque, but there would be a processing delay and probably a small fee. You'd have to ask at your local branch.
HeatDeathMaleCanada2011-03-18 01:10:00