Can you hold two permanent residencies at once?

[shahaly]

This question is for immigration lawyers who reside in both the United States and in Canada.

My family just received their permanent residency status in the United States within the last year (green card). We are living in the United States. While this processing had been going on, our Canadian immigration process had also been going on as my sister is a Canadian resident and she had urged us to start the processing. Well, just yesterday our Canadian immigration application was also approved and we were asked to come to Canada for landing purposes.

So my question is, can you only have one permanent residency at any given time, or can you maintain both the US and the Canadian residencies at once? Also, if you could refer me to any good Canadian immigration lawyers who can answer my questions on this, I would really appreciate it!

If going for landing in Canada means giving up my US permanent residency, I do not want to go with that. I also don´t want to do anything illegal.

 

[Leon]

I don't see why you couldn't keep both. The standard for keeping the US green card has for many years been that you have to come to the US every 6 months and since most places in Canada are not too far from the border, that is very doable. To keep the Canadian PR card though, you have to actually live in Canada for at least 2 years out of every 5 so if you did decide to move back to the US, you can only live there for 3 years, then you would have to come back for 2 if you wanted to keep your Canadian PR.

 

[PMM]

Hi

I don't see why you couldn't keep both. The standard for keeping the US green card has for many years been that you have to come to the US every 6 months and since most places in Canada are not too far from the border, that is very doable. To keep the Canadian PR card though, you have to actually live in Canada for at least 2 years out of every 5 so if you did decide to move back to the US, you can only live there for 3 years, then you would have to come back for 2 if you wanted to keep your Canadian PR.

I suggest you read the following: http://www.hooyou.com/i-485/MaintainlegalPRS.html

PMM

 

[qbanky]

Yes ..like PMM said maintain ur 6 months in US and live in Canada...or if u don't mind the cold simply live in Albany buffalo and drive to Canada for work