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US to Canada - spouse is Canadian and US citizen

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
We just decided to move to Canada. I'm a US citizen, grew up in Florida, met a Canadian online and we got married and he immigrated to the US. We were planning to move north because here in the south it's almost impossible to get health insurance. With my last employer, it was going to be $1500 per month for insurance with a $10,000 deductible and 80/20 coverage after that and tons of stuff not covered. I was looking at Northern Michigan, but, then we decided if we were moving that far north, might as well move over the border and have some hope of health coverage and retirement one day.. lol

We've been married almost 15 years and we have a 9 year old child, born in the US. We never got around to filling out the form for Canadian citizenship for her. Wish we would have done that years ago!

So, from what I've read so far, it looks like she's already technically a citizen, just doesn't have the proof of that. It looks like my spouse needs to file for my citizenship and sponsor me but not her.

It looks like we have to send in the CIT 001 for her- and we could do that immediately. We have one certified copy of my husband's Canadian birth certificate. Do we need to send that or can we make a photocopy? It looks like her birth certificate has to be an original or certified copy, but, that's easy since they aren't that expensive here. Hate to send my husband's $45 birth certificate in the mail though if I can just make a color photocopy. Especially since I think we'll have to send it with my forms as well!

As far as the timeline goes, can we submit the application for me even though our daughter's certificate of citizenship application looks like it will take longer to get approved than the permanent resident application? I hope we don't have to wait for hers to be completed since it looks like that's 6+ months now.

Any other tips or advice would be appreciated! I'm not too worried about it, we have no criminal history, have an easily verifiable marriage and all that fun stuff.
 

lampbreaker

Champion Member
Apr 7, 2015
1,733
376
Last edited:

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
We just decided to move to Canada. I'm a US citizen, grew up in Florida, met a Canadian online and we got married and he immigrated to the US. We were planning to move north because here in the south it's almost impossible to get health insurance. With my last employer, it was going to be $1500 per month for insurance with a $10,000 deductible and 80/20 coverage after that and tons of stuff not covered. I was looking at Northern Michigan, but, then we decided if we were moving that far north, might as well move over the border and have some hope of health coverage and retirement one day.. lol

We've been married almost 15 years and we have a 9 year old child, born in the US. We never got around to filling out the form for Canadian citizenship for her. Wish we would have done that years ago!

So, from what I've read so far, it looks like she's already technically a citizen, just doesn't have the proof of that. It looks like my spouse needs to file for my citizenship and sponsor me but not her.

It looks like we have to send in the CIT 001 for her- and we could do that immediately. We have one certified copy of my husband's Canadian birth certificate. Do we need to send that or can we make a photocopy? It looks like her birth certificate has to be an original or certified copy, but, that's easy since they aren't that expensive here. Hate to send my husband's $45 birth certificate in the mail though if I can just make a color photocopy. Especially since I think we'll have to send it with my forms as well!

As far as the timeline goes, can we submit the application for me even though our daughter's certificate of citizenship application looks like it will take longer to get approved than the permanent resident application? I hope we don't have to wait for hers to be completed since it looks like that's 6+ months now.

Any other tips or advice would be appreciated! I'm not too worried about it, we have no criminal history, have an easily verifiable marriage and all that fun stuff.
Would make sure you actually look at health coverage in Canada. Many US citizens think everything related to healthcare is free in Canada which is certainly not the case. We also pay more taxes. One has to really do their own calculations to see if moving make sense.
 

canuck_in_uk

VIP Member
May 4, 2012
31,558
7,195
Visa Office......
London
App. Filed.......
06/12
We just decided to move to Canada. I'm a US citizen, grew up in Florida, met a Canadian online and we got married and he immigrated to the US. We were planning to move north because here in the south it's almost impossible to get health insurance. With my last employer, it was going to be $1500 per month for insurance with a $10,000 deductible and 80/20 coverage after that and tons of stuff not covered. I was looking at Northern Michigan, but, then we decided if we were moving that far north, might as well move over the border and have some hope of health coverage and retirement one day.. lol

We've been married almost 15 years and we have a 9 year old child, born in the US. We never got around to filling out the form for Canadian citizenship for her. Wish we would have done that years ago!

So, from what I've read so far, it looks like she's already technically a citizen, just doesn't have the proof of that. It looks like my spouse needs to file for my citizenship and sponsor me but not her.

It looks like we have to send in the CIT 001 for her- and we could do that immediately. We have one certified copy of my husband's Canadian birth certificate. Do we need to send that or can we make a photocopy? It looks like her birth certificate has to be an original or certified copy, but, that's easy since they aren't that expensive here. Hate to send my husband's $45 birth certificate in the mail though if I can just make a color photocopy. Especially since I think we'll have to send it with my forms as well!

As far as the timeline goes, can we submit the application for me even though our daughter's certificate of citizenship application looks like it will take longer to get approved than the permanent resident application? I hope we don't have to wait for hers to be completed since it looks like that's 6+ months now.

Any other tips or advice would be appreciated! I'm not too worried about it, we have no criminal history, have an easily verifiable marriage and all that fun stuff.
The sponsorship app can be submitted prior to your child's Certificate of Citizenship being issued. Include proof of the Certificate app in your sponsorship app.
 

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
I'm in the 22% tax bracket here in the US, or the 20% tax bracket in Canada. There is no monthly child payment here in the US, just a $1000 tax credit at the end of the year. We earn about $5000 per month combined, $1100 goes to income taxes. There's an additional 7.5% tax towards social security and medicaid that we won't qualify for until our 70's, so another $350 per month. Health coverage that doesn't cover anything at all until you've paid $10,000 costs $1600 per month through my husband's employer. If we actually had a medical emergency where we used the coverage- we would have to spend $29,200 before the insurance started to break even. As it is, we don't use the coverage- we pay $19,200 and it doesn't even cover a $100 doctor visit.
I earn $10 an hour with my masters degreein accounting, rent is around $1200 for a 2 bedroom apartment. My husband makes $19 an hour with all his welding certificates and 15 years of experience.
Essentially, we pay 61% of our income on taxes and health insurance that doesn't cover anything until we spend $10,000 out of pocket. I sort of doubt that Canada could be worse than that.
 

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
The sponsorship app can be submitted prior to your child's Certificate of Citizenship being issued. Include proof of the Certificate app in your sponsorship app.
Excellent, thank you. So, we just need to wait until we receive some kind of receipt that it's been received?
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
I'm in the 22% tax bracket here in the US, or the 20% tax bracket in Canada. There is no monthly child payment here in the US, just a $1000 tax credit at the end of the year. We earn about $5000 per month combined, $1100 goes to income taxes. There's an additional 7.5% tax towards social security and medicaid that we won't qualify for until our 70's, so another $350 per month. Health coverage that doesn't cover anything at all until you've paid $10,000 costs $1600 per month through my husband's employer. If we actually had a medical emergency where we used the coverage- we would have to spend $29,200 before the insurance started to break even. As it is, we don't use the coverage- we pay $19,200 and it doesn't even cover a $100 doctor visit.
I earn $10 an hour with my masters degreein accounting, rent is around $1200 for a 2 bedroom apartment. My husband makes $19 an hour with all his welding certificates and 15 years of experience.
Essentially, we pay 61% of our income on taxes and health insurance that doesn't cover anything until we spend $10,000 out of pocket. I sort of doubt that Canada could be worse than that.
Would all depend on where you are living. Cost of living is higher in most of Canada versus Florida (except Miami). Not everything is covered by the government when it comes to healthcare. You will have to look at the provincial health plan. If you aren’t lucky enough to pay into an extended benefit plan it may be difficult to pay for medication, dental care, glasses, etc. Yes child benefit is a nice benefit especially for low income families. It is geared to income. The cost of childcare can also be very high depending on the area. In larger cities you can easily be paying $1800+ for daycare centres and $1000+ for a home daycare. Things like daycare, formula, car seats, clothing especially because you need winter and summer clothing, etc. is more expensive than in the US. Would just make sure you really do the figures on top of at least securing a job for your spouse. Monthly bills like car insurance can be much higher depending on where you live in Canada. Some pay $400/month.
 

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
Would all depend on where you are living. Cost of living is higher in most of Canada versus Florida (except Miami). Not everything is covered by the government when it comes to healthcare. You will have to look at the provincial health plan. If you aren’t lucky enough to pay into an extended benefit plan it may be difficult to pay for medication, dental care, glasses, etc. Yes child benefit is a nice benefit especially for low income families. It is geared to income. The cost of childcare can also be very high depending on the area. In larger cities you can easily be paying $1800+ for daycare centres and $1000+ for a home daycare. Things like daycare, formula, car seats, clothing especially because you need winter and summer clothing, etc. is more expensive than in the US. Would just make sure you really do the figures on top of at least securing a job for your spouse. Monthly bills like car insurance can be much higher depending on where you live in Canada. Some pay $400/month.
I did live in Canada on a visitor's visa for about a year- so I'm pretty familiar with what things cost.

There are still lots of things that are cheaper too- we pay $2800 a year for our homeowners insurance and it doesn't cover flood, sinkholes or hurricanes. It looks like the average is $780 annually in Canada. The homes in Sault Ste. Marie are the same price or less than comparable homes where I live in Florida. We pay $280 a month for our car insurance. We can't get dental, prescription or vision coverage- we just don't fill our prescriptions. I had a thyroid one I was supposed to be on, I just don't worry about it and hope for the best. If it's too expensive in Canada, I'll just do the same thing.

It looks like even a part time minimum wage job there will be better than what I earn here.

Honestly, my biggest concerns are dealing with our vehicles. They are both financed- trying to decide whether it's worth it to pay them off and import them. We were incredibly lucky and bought our home during the crash- we paid $80k for it and comparable homes around us are going for $220k right now. My car is a 2018 Kia Soul, spouse drives a 2017 Ford Mustang GT. We have equity in the Ford, so thinking that we'll sell that and use proceeds to pay off the Kia and import that and then maybe buy a new car in Canada once we've gotten some credit built up. But, concerned about whether or not importing the cars would be more trouble than it's worth. With the proceeds from the sale of our house, after paying off both cars we should still have around $143k Canadian to buy a very basic house in Sault Ste. Marie in cash. The plan would be to live in that until we build enough credit to buy another house and avoid renting.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
I did live in Canada on a visitor's visa for about a year- so I'm pretty familiar with what things cost.

There are still lots of things that are cheaper too- we pay $2800 a year for our homeowners insurance and it doesn't cover flood, sinkholes or hurricanes. It looks like the average is $780 annually in Canada. The homes in Sault Ste. Marie are the same price or less than comparable homes where I live in Florida. We pay $280 a month for our car insurance. We can't get dental, prescription or vision coverage- we just don't fill our prescriptions. I had a thyroid one I was supposed to be on, I just don't worry about it and hope for the best. If it's too expensive in Canada, I'll just do the same thing.

It looks like even a part time minimum wage job there will be better than what I earn here.

Honestly, my biggest concerns are dealing with our vehicles. They are both financed- trying to decide whether it's worth it to pay them off and import them. We were incredibly lucky and bought our home during the crash- we paid $80k for it and comparable homes around us are going for $220k right now. My car is a 2018 Kia Soul, spouse drives a 2017 Ford Mustang GT. We have equity in the Ford, so thinking that we'll sell that and use proceeds to pay off the Kia and import that and then maybe buy a new car in Canada once we've gotten some credit built up. But, concerned about whether or not importing the cars would be more trouble than it's worth. With the proceeds from the sale of our house, after paying off both cars we should still have around $143k Canadian to buy a very basic house in Sault Ste. Marie in cash. The plan would be to live in that until we build enough credit to buy another house and avoid renting.
Atypical for people to be immigrating to the Sault where cost of housing is much lower. A mustang would also not be practical in northern Ontario. Would make sure there are welding jobs or jobs that fit your skills (ie. masters). Housing is less expensive but good jobs can also be harder to secure. When you don’t live in an area prone to both hurricanes and sinkholes yes home insurance is less expensive.
 

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
Is Sault Ste. Marie as anti-American as the rest of Ontario? I'd forgotten how much I got heckled and my car got vandalized when I lived in Brantford, this was 2005-2006. Canadian children would stop me in the street, ask if I was American and than ask me to name the capital of Canada and other dumb questions. My car got keyed all the time, air got let out of my tires, my car windows got broken a few times. I was so glad I drove an old car while I was there because it was pretty much rubbish by the time I moved back to the states due to Canadian vandalism. Someone actually smashed my windshield in the US embassy parking lot. Police never did anything if they bothered to come out at all. The time all my windows got broken, they didn't come out until more than 24 hours later and I couldn't bring it to get fixed without the police report. I covered my car with a tarp, but, the interior still got wet.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
Is Sault Ste. Marie as anti-American as the rest of Ontario? I'd forgotten how much I got heckled and my car got vandalized when I lived in Brantford, this was 2005-2006. Canadian children would stop me in the street, ask if I was American and than ask me to name the capital of Canada and other dumb questions. My car got keyed all the time, air got let out of my tires, my car windows got broken a few times. I was so glad I drove an old car while I was there because it was pretty much rubbish by the time I moved back to the states due to Canadian vandalism. Someone actually smashed my windshield in the US embassy parking lot. Police never did anything if they bothered to come out at all. The time all my windows got broken, they didn't come out until more than 24 hours later and I couldn't bring it to get fixed without the police report. I covered my car with a tarp, but, the interior still got wet.
Canada is not really super anti-American. Have never heard stories like yours. Perhaps because the Sault has more issues as a border town. You may have lived there during periods of specific economic decline where there was more anti-American sentiment.
 

JenniferinFL

Star Member
Nov 18, 2019
63
38
Canada is not really super anti-American. Have never heard stories like yours. Perhaps because the Sault has more issues as a border town. You may have lived there during periods of specific economic decline where there was more anti-American sentiment.
Brantford and Montreal were the locations of my worst Canadian experiences. St Catharines was quite friendly- Niagara Falls wasn't bad. The only problem with Niagara was everyone glared at me for walking my dog. I never met a single other dog owner there. It was just strange. But, if Sault Ste. Marie is like St. Catharines I'd probably enjoy it there. In the apartment complex we lived in, the same 20 people or so walked over to Tim Hortons in the morning and I loved being part of the group on my days off. It was mostly Brantford that was particularly hateful.
 

canuck78

VIP Member
Jun 18, 2017
52,959
12,760
Brantford and Montreal were the locations of my worst Canadian experiences. St Catharines was quite friendly- Niagara Falls wasn't bad. The only problem with Niagara was everyone glared at me for walking my dog. I never met a single other dog owner there. It was just strange. But, if Sault Ste. Marie is like St. Catharines I'd probably enjoy it there. In the apartment complex we lived in, the same 20 people or so walked over to Tim Hortons in the morning and I loved being part of the group on my days off. It was mostly Brantford that was particularly hateful.
Not sure when you lived their but as manufacturing decreased many of these towns have seen much better times.
 

Svanbavel1

Full Member
May 12, 2018
31
6
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Hi Jennifer! I would be happy to help with any questions you have. I am US citizen and hubs Canadian. We moved from Denver this year to Halifax, NS. Mainly for cost of living and traffic! He is from London, ON and moved to CO on a Green Card as well when we got married. We have 1 child who received PR (my hubs adopted him after I terminated parental rights) and we have a dual (5 yr old). You can do the application without the proof of dual for child, but definitely send in to receive proof of citizenship right away. Once you submit it, and I think you pay for it online, you receive a tracking number of some soft. We just included a note in the application that stated it was in process and what that number was so they could track it if they wanted to.

Vehicles: You cannot bring a vehicle if it is financed. I learned that no manufacture will write a letter giving permission for this. Since my hubs only owned $7k left on his, we paid his off after closing on our home and I took my 2018 Ford Escape back to the dealer and they bought it back from me. When I got here, I bought a new car.

Make sure you read and follow the application step by step. One missing part and they will return it, but if everything is there, ours took about 4 months total to process.

I know you mentioned your husband has been in the US for a while, but do you know if he maintained his credit or credit cards while he was away? This turned out to be a life saver for us when we got here.