US green card and Canadian PR

[Leon]

can I just present my US greencard to the immigration officer instead of my Canada PR card?

You should present your Canada PR card when you enter Canada and the US green card when you enter the US. Canada immigration probably has your passport on record anyway and if you do not present your PR card, they will ask you why. Some airports also have separate gates for PRs

 

[sohail-khan86]

I dont understand what's so complicated. .I have both and there is no problem what so ever..us green card is granted by us govt so canadian's have no right to question about it and same goes for canadian pr card.. us have no right questioning about that so no worries.. one of the persons just replied that u have to
surrender one of them in order to get other.. that is the biggest joke of this century. ..

 

[Samilanaire]

Can a usa green card be renewed in canada if expired?

 

[margobear96]

I dont understand what's so complicated. .I have both and there is no problem what so ever..us green card is granted by us govt so canadian's have no right to question about it and same goes for canadian pr card.. us have no right questioning about that so no worries.. one of the persons just replied that u have to
surrender one of them in order to get other.. that is the biggest joke of this century. ..

Great, that YOU have no problems maintaining both, but that doesn't mean it won't be problematic for others. It'll be fine for the original poster since he/she was 1 year from US citizenship eligibility. He could land in Canada, then continue to live in the US until he got US citizenship. He can be out of Canada for 3 out of 5 years and still meet his Canadian residency obligations and that should have been plenty of time.

As for the other posters who aren't close to meeting citizenship obligations, maintaining both PR and Greencard indefinitely is certainly problematic. Living in the US and traveling to Canada twice a year for 2.5 months...that strategy meets the obligations of both countries, but is only possible if you're independently wealthy (i.e., no need to work) or have a job that allows you to telecommute. At the average US job, your vacation time is going to be between 2 and 4 weeks, nothing close to the 5 months that you'd need.

You could live in Canada and just enter the US every 6 months or so, but US immigration frequently asks how long you were out. Telling US immigration that you've been out of the country for 6 months...and having to do that twice a year for several years (say, 5 years to get Canadian citizenship)...at some point, you might run into problems. Actually, I think it's pretty likely. As a former Greencard holder, I never got sent to secondary flying through JFK and LAX, even after 6 months abroad. However, I've been sent to secondary (US) at Pearson Airport twice...I was visiting my husband frequently (but at no point as long as 6 months). So, if you get sent to secondary, it's likely the jig is up. And of course US immigration officers have every right to ask about your Canadian residency status...in fact that's probably the first question they'll ask in secondary. "You're in Canada an awful lot...you're living there, aren't you." At that point you've blown your US residency status. Could it be done? Yes, but it's pretty risky and I certainly wouldn't characterize it as "no problem". Because really, you've failed to meet the US residency obligations when you established residency in Canada.

Personally, I think the best strategy is getting a re-entry permit or N-470 to preserve the Greencard and living in Canada until you get Canadian citizenship. Of course the big sticking point is eligibility.

A re-entry permit is good for 2 years. They aren't renewable, but you can apply for another one after the first expires. However, you need a good reason for why you need another one (the form asks for "purpose of your trip" and your total time outside the US in the past 5 years). "I'm living and working in Canada" is not a good reason.

An N-470 will preserve your Greencard, but only if you're going abroad to do very specific work:
- Work abroad for U.S. Government
- Work abroad doing Scientific Research for American institute of research
- Work abroad as employee for American company that is engaging in development of foreign trade and commerce
- Work abroad to protect property rights of American company that is engaging in development of foreign trade and commerce
- Work abroad for public international organization of which USA is member
- Work abroad in Religious position with qualifying religious or interdenominational mission organization

G.L.

 

[margobear96]

Can a usa green card be renewed in canada if expired?

You should ask on a US immigration forum: http://forums.immigration.com/forum.php

 

[carlabea]

This is complicated. I am literally in between US and Canada. My PR application to Canada has been approved.

I am a Brazilian citizen and US green card holder for 20 something years and (yes, I was dumb enough to never have become a citizen). I am married to a Canadian. All my family in Brazil. Due to the marriage and illness in my family I have spent only 3 to 4 months in the US PER YEAR, since 2011 -- a lot of time both in Brazil and in Canada (but rarely -only once for 9 months-- exceeded the 6 consecutive months out of the US).
I applied for residency in Canada in Sept. of 2012, just in case we end up settling here--and was just now approved (there were problems with docs. expiring, lost mail, etc)
My husband and I are academics and we are trying to keep our options opened as we do not know which country we will find a job for both in the same city.

Last August, when traveling from Canada (when still a tourist in Canada) I passed by the US to go to Brazil and they threatened to take away my green card; even though I had spent mid January through mid May, teaching at a university. I explained that my mother had been ill in Brazil which forced to take a leave from academic job and then after she passed I took another leave to stay with my husband.
They said that I should apply for a REENTRY PERMIT--which I did, in November of 2013, but have not yet received it.

Now, here is the issue: In order to get my Canadian green card, I need to cross the US border by car and then return to Canada, so they will process my request for the Canadian PR. I am afraid that once i pass the US Border, they will threaten or take away my green card when they see the huge stamp from Canadian immigration on one of the pages of my passport.

I was told by this forum, in a different thread-- that Canada has no problem with dual residency as long as I fulfill the residency requirements.
But I am not sure US will. BTW: I never broke the US residency requirements, but an officer can make me surrender it on the bases that he suspects you are abandoning US residency, right? I do not plan that now, or at least not yet, but as I am applying for a new academic job in both sides, we will live wherever I get the job.

SOS!!!!! What to do? ( and no I no longer fulfill the criteria for applying to citizenship in the US)
thanks for your patient attention and advice

 

[Leon]

The US can revoke your green card if they have reason to believe that you have moved to another country permanently. Spending most of the time outside the US for the past years and getting PR status in another country may well lead them to believe that you have abandoned your permanent residency in the US.

Canada has no such rules but some people have had it happen to them that a Canadian immigration officer told them that they could not keep a green card and a PR at the same time and would have to pick one.

 

[todayshow]

YES, you can maintain a green card and a Canadian PR at the same time.

Unlikely in Canada, where you must live in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period, there is NO specific amount of time you have to spend in the US to maintain or renew your green card in the US.

They just cancel or take away your green card if you spend more than 6 months outside the United States AT A TIME. If you just return to the US within five months and leave the US in 10 days and spend the other five months outside the US, you can still maintain your green card.

Just return to the US once in every 3-4 months and spend 1-2 weeks in the States and then leave the country again. You can maintain your green card and they will always let you in unless you have committed a crime or you are a terrorist.

As long as you don't spend more than 6 months abroad AT A TIME, they won't take your US permanent resident status away even if you spend only a total of one month in the US within five years.

If you are applying for your US citizenship, yes, you have to spend at least two and half years within a five-year period in the US (or one and half years within three years if you are married to a US citizen) but if you are just trying to maintain or renew your green card, you just need to return to the US within 6 months and leave the US in a couple of days.

 

[Rob_TO]

Just return to the US once in every 3-4 months and spend 1-2 weeks in the States and then leave the country again. You can maintain your green card and they will always let you in unless you have committed a crime or you are a terrorist.

As long as you don't spend more than 6 months abroad AT A TIME, they won't take your US permanent resident status away even if you spend only a total of one month in the US within five years.

You should read the rules more carefully:
http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence
You may be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status if you:
-Move to another country intending to live there permanently
-Remain outside of the United States for more than 1 year without obtaining a reentry permit or returning resident visa. However, in determining whether your status has been abandoned, any length of absence from the United States may be considered, even if less than 1 year

http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/international-travel-permanent-resident
Does travel outside the United States affect my permanent resident status?
Permanent residents are free to travel outside the United States, and temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your permanent resident status. If it is determined, however, that you did not intend to make the United States your permanent home, you will be found to have abandoned your permanent resident status. A general guide used is whether you have been absent from the United States for more than a year. Abandonment may be found to occur in trips of less than a year where it is believed you did not intend to make the United States your permanent residence. While brief trips abroad generally are not problematic, the officer may consider criteria such as whether your intention was to visit abroad only temporarily, whether you maintained U.S. family and community ties, maintained U.S employment, filed U.S. income taxes as a resident, or otherwise established your intention to return to the United States as your permanent home. Other factors that may be considered include whether you maintained a U.S. mailing address, kept U.S. bank accounts and a valid U.S. driver's license, own property or run a business in the United States, or any other evidence that supports the temporary nature of your absence.

So there is no rule that you speak of that returning every 3-4 months will guarantee re-entry. It is entirely up to the officer you happen to get. If they notice a steady pattern of leaving the US for months at a time only to return for a few weeks and then leave again, they can and will revoke the green card status. There is no rule that states you are entitled to it, just by returning to the US every once in a while when you really have a home in another country. While you could get away with it for some time, possibly forever in some cases if you aren't caught, all its takes is encountering 1 officer who decides differently and thinks your 1 month of residence in a 5 year period does not satisfy the definition of "temporary" absence, and the green card is gone.

 

[todayshow]

\
So there is no rule that you speak of that returning every 3-4 months will guarantee re-entry. It is entirely up to the officer you happen to get. If they notice a steady pattern of leaving the US for months at a time only to return for a few weeks and then leave again, they can and will revoke the green card status. There is no rule that states you are entitled to it, just by returning to the US every once in a while when you really have a home in another country. While you could get away with it for some time, possibly forever in some cases if you aren't caught, all its takes is encountering 1 officer who decides differently and thinks your 1 month of residence in a 5 year period does not satisfy the definition of "temporary" absence, and the green card is gone.

You can apply for NEXUS or Global Entry. You just need to scan your passport at an unmanned Global Entry kiosk at the airport when you enter the US and avoid a human officer.

 

[margobear96]

You can apply for NEXUS or Global Entry. You just need to scan your passport at an unmanned Global Entry kiosk at the airport when you enter the US and avoid a human officer.

Not sure how this would help carlabea.... It takes a while to get the Nexus card these days and to get it you have to interview with border control officers of both countries. I'm pretty sure when US immigration officers see that carlabea has a COPR and US greencard and a Canadian residential address, they will not be happy campers. BTW, don't know how each interviewing office is set up, but at the YVR (Vancouver airport) US and Canadian immigration officers are sitting RIGHT next to each other.

 

[margobear96]

This is complicated. I am literally in between US and Canada. My PR application to Canada has been approved.

I am a Brazilian citizen and US green card holder for 20 something years and (yes, I was dumb enough to never have become a citizen). I am married to a Canadian. All my family in Brazil. Due to the marriage and illness in my family I have spent only 3 to 4 months in the US PER YEAR, since 2011 -- a lot of time both in Brazil and in Canada (but rarely -only once for 9 months-- exceeded the 6 consecutive months out of the US).
I applied for residency in Canada in Sept. of 2012, just in case we end up settling here--and was just now approved (there were problems with docs. expiring, lost mail, etc)
My husband and I are academics and we are trying to keep our options opened as we do not know which country we will find a job for both in the same city.

Last August, when traveling from Canada (when still a tourist in Canada) I passed by the US to go to Brazil and they threatened to take away my green card; even though I had spent mid January through mid May, teaching at a university. I explained that my mother had been ill in Brazil which forced to take a leave from academic job and then after she passed I took another leave to stay with my husband.
They said that I should apply for a REENTRY PERMIT--which I did, in November of 2013, but have not yet received it.

Now, here is the issue: In order to get my Canadian green card, I need to cross the US border by car and then return to Canada, so they will process my request for the Canadian PR. I am afraid that once i pass the US Border, they will threaten or take away my green card when they see the huge stamp from Canadian immigration on one of the pages of my passport.

I was told by this forum, in a different thread-- that Canada has no problem with dual residency as long as I fulfill the residency requirements.
But I am not sure US will. BTW: I never broke the US residency requirements, but an officer can make me surrender it on the bases that he suspects you are abandoning US residency, right? I do not plan that now, or at least not yet, but as I am applying for a new academic job in both sides, we will live wherever I get the job.

SOS!!!!! What to do? ( and no I no longer fulfill the criteria for applying to citizenship in the US)
thanks for your patient attention and advice

Have you already landed? My belated advice would be to wait for your re-entry permit, if timing permits, before landing (i.e., flagpoling at a land border). BTW, you don't have to flagpole or enter Canada from the US. You could say, fly to Mexico for a short vacation and "land" upon your return.

 

[yashesh]

Hi all,

Your suggestions are highly appreciated.

My fiancée is green card holder of USA and she moved to states in feb 2014 (first time ever to usa) and right now she is not working. I work in Canada on work permit and I applied for Canadian PR last week.

Now we are thinking to do court marriage and apply for my USA green card as her dependant. I have visitor visa for USA but before that I got rejection for study visa and visitor visa.

Now is there any chances if I apply as her dependant in USA then it will affect anyway to my application of Canada?? Can this create any query either side?

Thanks for your time.

Yashesh

 

[uskyoot]

Also keep in mind that as a green card holder you must continue to file taxes in the US.

 

[Beardedpaw]

Hi
I know this is a really old thread but I had a query. As of right now I have a green card and I wanted to know how I could obtain a PR of Canada. What’s the process and everything and how it goes down and it’s details according to the new laws and regulations by both countries over time. This is much needed and an answer will be highly appreciated. Thank You.