Some questions about a US green card holder moving to Canada

[sleepr]

My GF and I are talking about how we can be together, she is from an island in the carribean that requires a visa to enter Canada, however is in the process of getting her US green card to move to the the US (she already has a US travel visa). If she would like to move here to be with me, how will this affect her GC status and what hoops do I have to jump through to have her live with me and work here. I think she can apply for PR status from what I understand, but does she have to wait for 5 years of her GC status to change?

 

[Ponga]

She will have to live 6 months out of the year (every year) in the US to maintain her GC status. Unlike Canada's requirement of 730 day out of every 5 (2 years), the US has must tighter restrictions.

Unless you marry her and sponsor her to live with you in Canada (under the Family Class Sponsorship program), I don't know how she can gain her PR status in Canada. Hopefully, someone will follow-up here and let you know how/if it's possible.

Good luck!

 

[Leon]

The US GC residency requirements are not as clear cut as the Canadian rules. The US says you can not be outside the US for more than a year at a time without getting permission. Preferably less than 6 months to avoid any questions. They can also revoke the GC if they believe the person has moved to another country permanently. However, it is unclear how much you must have lived there. I have known people in the past who have kept a GC alive for years simply by visiting the US every 6 months.

So.. if you marry the lady and sponsor her for Canadian PR, you'd have another problem and that's her having PR of two countries. Now, there aren't any rules that forbid that. She could live in Canada and still try to keep her GC alive by visiting the US at least every 6 months. She should use the US GC to enter the US and the Canadian PR card to enter Canada. However, as both countries work together, she may run into immigration officers who will tell her that she can't have both but there is actually no law in either country that says that you can't. If she is faced with something like that, she should just say that she didn't know that and that she will look into it and then brush it off.