Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am a US citizen. Can I live in Ontario Canada but work in the United States? I am an RN with my ASN only. I'm trying to find an RN job in Buffalo and I will be staying with friends of mine. They live in Stevensville. I don't have a visa but I do have my passport. My 10-year-old daughter will also be moving with me. I eventually want to go back and get my bachelors but want to get up there so my daughter can start school. Any input would be helpful. Thank you.
Yes. The taxes get weird. Your effective salary will drop when the exchange rate goes up so be careful. Also you will have to pay both US and Canadian taxes. You can use the Canadian tax credit to recapture your federal taxes but I don't know if that will apply to NYS taxes. You're definitely better off trying to live in the US (it's much cheaper).
Lots of people do it, although probably not as many as used to. Check into a commuter pass for the bridges. I think it's called a NEXUS pass, and it gives you both lower tolls and easier entry into both countries.
A U. S. citizen cannot legally live in Canada year round. It is still a foreign country after all. A U. S. citizen can live in Canada legally for three months provided they apply for and are granted a tourist visa. This is mainly for U.S. citizens who maintain a summer home in Canada. And if the Canadian government agrees, you can have the visa extended for three more months so technically you can live in Canada for six straight months but that is it. You could take a chance and overstay the visa but with a child presumably in school in Canada, and going back and forth across the border for work, chances are you would get caught. If that happens, you could be barred from Canada. In order to live in Canada permanently you must apply for Landed Immigrant status and meet some fairly strict requirements. This takes a long time and it is not that easy to get for most Americans. The exceptions being that you have a skill that is in high demand in Canada (shortage of nurses may qualify), you have a close family member already in Canada willing to sponsor you, you are wealthy and want to start a business in Canada, or you are a refugee fleeing persecution from another country. My suggestion would be to look for a place to live on the U.S. side and you can visit your friends in Stevensville whenever you want. Good luck !
A U. S. citizen cannot legally live in Canada year round. It is still a foreign country after all. A U. S. citizen can live in Canada legally for three months provided they apply for and are granted a tourist visa. This is mainly for U.S. citizens who maintain a summer home in Canada. And if the Canadian government agrees, you can have the visa extended for three more months so technically you can live in Canada for six straight months but that is it. You could take a chance and overstay the visa but with a child presumably in school in Canada, and going back and forth across the border for work, chances are you would get caught. If that happens, you could be barred from Canada. In order to live in Canada permanently you must apply for Landed Immigrant status and meet some fairly strict requirements. This takes a long time and it is not that easy to get for most Americans. The exceptions being that you have a skill that is in high demand in Canada (shortage of nurses may qualify), you have a close family member already in Canada willing to sponsor you, you are wealthy and want to start a business in Canada, or you are a refugee fleeing persecution from another country. My suggestion would be to look for a place to live on the U.S. side and you can visit your friends in Stevensville whenever you want. Good luck !
So U.S. citizens can own/rent property in Canada but can only live at said property for 3 months of the year (6 max with permission)? I'm not disputing this because I don't know it just sounds odd.
If she gets hired by a Canadian company and they sponsor her moving there I would imagine she could apply for some sort of permanent residency?
I got the impression that the OP was going to live with her friends for a while because she had just gotten a job, so she may only need 3 months to get settled ... six to keep her child in school until the end of the school year.
So U.S. citizens can own/rent property in Canada but can only live at said property for 3 months of the year (6 max with permission)? I'm not disputing this because I don't know it just sounds odd.
If she gets hired by a Canadian company and they sponsor her moving there I would imagine she could apply for some sort of permanent residency?
Yes true. However the Canadian company would have to demonstrate to the government that no Canadian citizen is qualified to fill the position, which might be the case if there is a shortage of nurses in Canada especially nurses with a specialty
[quote=Don'tHoldBack;42609708]So U.S. citizens can own/rent property in Canada but can only live at said property for 3 months of the year (6 max with permission)? I'm not disputing this because I don't know it just sounds odd.
Essentially yes. Most U.S. citizens who own property in Canada use it for recreation purposes such as a summer cottage so 3 - 6 months is normally all they want it for. The point is that a U.S. citizen cannot move to Canada and live there all year and make it their permanent residence even if they own the house or property.
Whether you’re being transferred for work or going to college in the USA – you might find this post helpful. Having just moved to the USA from Canada. I'm hoping others doing the same can benefit from my experience so far and avoid a lot of hassle when getting settled into the United States.
I did everything below out of order, but here is a rough idea of what order you could consider doing everything in and some of the bumps I experienced along the way.
1) Apply for your Social Security Number – I really should have done this the day I found out my US visa was approved at the US border. It can take 2-3 weeks for your SSN to be processed and this number really is the basis for EVERYTHING. Drop anything else and apply for this as soon as you arrive.
2) Apply for your Work Visa – If your work visa has not kicked in, or you need to apply for one after you arrive (like me) I would do this as soon as you have your SSN. My visa is going to take an additional 60-90 days to process, so the sooner you apply, the sooner you can start working
3) Open a Bank Account – Once you have a US mailing address and SSN, you should get to a bank and open an account so you have a place to deposit your US paychecks and an account to start paying bills from.
4) Get a US Credit Card – It’s really hard to build credit in the USA with NO American credit history. The best thing you can do is apply for a prepaid credit card where you would leave a $1000 deposit for a $1000 limit on a credit card. Use this to slowly build credit over the next 3-6 months and then you can eventually ask for your deposit back. I would advise doing this ASAP as most credit cards from Canada will charge you a 2.5% foreign transaction fee on EVERY purchase. This adds up big time!
I actually got approved for an American Express US credit card just by having one in Canada for over a year in good standing. I think it’s because they are their own bank and are more flexible with their clients moving around a lot.
The other biggest pain in the butt was finding an apartment where we would pass their credit check – again with no US credit history. Smaller landlords are more flexible, you could offer to pay 3-6 months of rent in advance if the situation does not seem sketchy. However larger property management firms just didn’t seem to get it.
John Spade,
I think the original poster is a U.S. citizen and was inquiring about actually living and working in Canada. I do find your post very interesting, however.
From what you describe here, the process to move to the U.S. from Canada seems fairly straight forward.
I know several individuals who would like to move to Canada and it seems nearly impossible unless you're wealthy.
Any thoughts on why it is so difficult for Americans to be granted residency/citizenship in Canada?
Whether you’re being transferred for work or going to college in the USA – you might find this post helpful. Having just moved to the USA from Canada. I'm hoping others doing the same can benefit from my experience so far and avoid a lot of hassle when getting settled into the United States.
I did everything below out of order, but here is a rough idea of what order you could consider doing everything in and some of the bumps I experienced along the way.
1) Apply for your Social Security Number – I really should have done this the day I found out my US visa was approved at the US border. It can take 2-3 weeks for your SSN to be processed and this number really is the basis for EVERYTHING. Drop anything else and apply for this as soon as you arrive.
2) Apply for your Work Visa – If your work visa has not kicked in, or you need to apply for one after you arrive (like me) I would do this as soon as you have your SSN. My visa is going to take an additional 60-90 days to process, so the sooner you apply, the sooner you can start working
3) Open a Bank Account – Once you have a US mailing address and SSN, you should get to a bank and open an account so you have a place to deposit your US paychecks and an account to start paying bills from.
4) Get a US Credit Card – It’s really hard to build credit in the USA with NO American credit history. The best thing you can do is apply for a prepaid credit card where you would leave a $1000 deposit for a $1000 limit on a credit card. Use this to slowly build credit over the next 3-6 months and then you can eventually ask for your deposit back. I would advise doing this ASAP as most credit cards from Canada will charge you a 2.5% foreign transaction fee on EVERY purchase. This adds up big time!
I actually got approved for an American Express US credit card just by having one in Canada for over a year in good standing. I think it’s because they are their own bank and are more flexible with their clients moving around a lot.
The other biggest pain in the butt was finding an apartment where we would pass their credit check – again with no US credit history. Smaller landlords are more flexible, you could offer to pay 3-6 months of rent in advance if the situation does not seem sketchy. However larger property management firms just didn’t seem to get it.
This is an excellent post even if it doesn't truly pertain to the OP's original question. You should really ask a mod to move this to the Legal Immigration forum because it would be really helpful to any Canadian moving to the US for work whether he or she was going to be in the Buffalo area or elsewhere.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
