Daily commute (Detroit-Windsor) (H1b and Canada PR)

[sachin80]

H4: To visit your spouse you dont need H4. H4 is for people planning to become resident in US(that is, moving your home to US).
B: You should be getting B2.

H4 plan: Your plan wont work even if visa officer is not knowing your actual plan and stamped because you would get caught in your frequent travel in the first few trips itself. So you should plan based on that or you can take chances and stop commuting once you are giving warning. So choice is yours.

B/H visa: For now US is allowing only essential reasons. I dont think that if meeting family member is essential as Canada and US were not allowing meeting family members during the ban on non-essentials on both sides. So currently Canada lifted but not US hence ban will be applicable to you as far as i understand. It doesnt matter which visa you hold but essential reason is different thant what visa you hold.
Lets weigh in if other members are traveling currently to visit family members in US.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this !!

I know that family members are traveling on H4 visa to meet families but not sure if that is being used for frequent travel plans. Will see if anyone else has any thoughts to share on this. I am contacting my spouse's immigration lawyer as well. Lets see what they have to say about this.

 

[Vicky11]

1. I already mentioned that you can use it for commuting. No interview but questions on where you stay and where you are going and what company and what job etc.
2. You dont need visa to apply for nexus. You need regular commute between countries and the legal documents to prove that you have reason to cross border at either side. If you are resident in one/both of these countries then you can apply nexus. You can apply after PR activation and closer to moving since you have valid reason saying you are going to move and commute. If you apply now then you can prove your reasons to travel frequently.
3. #2. AVR is nothing to do with nexus.
4. Refer #2 again.
AVR is internal process and the responsibility of CBP. Its not for you to worry. Just carry your documents i listed.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/visa-expiration-date/auto-revalidate.html
https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1218?language=en_US

We are not personal consultants. Please dont ask more than once on the same thing. You should be contacting your lawyer for personal guarantees.

Thank u! Apologies for asking again..

 

[CanucksRajiv]

Thanks a lot guys for helping me in understanding the AVR process.

I went to Canada on 9th and come back to US on 16th by using AVR. The Canadian side was smooth. For US re-entry, the officer asked me only three questions, Why you went to Canada, Where are you going in US and What’s your visa status in US. They let me in in a minute or two. It was pretty smooth. I was expecting a yellow slip but the officer was very good.

After coming to US, i came to know one error from CBP officer. He wrongly entered my admission class as F1, it should have been H1B. Now, i will have to visit CBP correction site in JFK or Newark to correct this error on my i94.

 

[Aksd12ka4]

You should be able to get it done over email (your port of entry or nearest deferred inspection office). They usually have an email address for i94 corrections.

 

[sachin80]

Hi All

I am planning to travel from US to Canada via road. Planning to take car rental and drop off the car in Toronto. As I already have PR card, I don't need to carry all the detailed set of documents like the pay stubs, latest bank account details etc right ?

I would only need the Passport, PR card and negative cover testing results documents correct ? is there anything else I might need ?

Also I am trying to confirm on which covid test needs to be done. I can see on the CIC website below 3 tests are mentioned as acceptable.

• PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
• RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR
• Quantitative PCR (qPCR)

So I plan to do the " Molecular lab test (PCR / NAAT) " test that is available in CVS. This should work correct ?

Any help here is much appreciated. Will help me confirm on these doubts I have before my travel

Regards
Sachin

 

[CanucksRajiv]

You should be able to get it done over email (your port of entry or nearest deferred inspection office). They usually have an email address for i94 corrections.

Thanks. Yes, i called CBP deferred inspection site and they told me to email the documents.

One quick question, i came back using AVR and i noticed they didn't stamp the passport. Is it normal process for re-entry using AVR?

 

[swan0206]

Hi All

I am planning to travel from US to Canada via road. Planning to take car rental and drop off the car in Toronto. As I already have PR card, I don't need to carry all the detailed set of documents like the pay stubs, latest bank account details etc right ?

I would only need the Passport, PR card and negative cover testing results documents correct ? is there anything else I might need ?

Also I am trying to confirm on which covid test needs to be done. I can see on the CIC website below 3 tests are mentioned as acceptable.

• PCR - Polymerase chain reaction
• RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR
• Quantitative PCR (qPCR)

So I plan to do the " Molecular lab test (PCR / NAAT) " test that is available in CVS. This should work correct ?

Any help here is much appreciated. Will help me confirm on these doubts I have before my travel

Regards
Sachin

If you are not planning on returning for US and moving to Canada for good then yes , you wouldnt need any physical copies except from your PR card and passport. But its always suggested to carry your work related documents. Be on safer side.

Yes, the one that you get in CVS is good for travel. Rapid test is*Not allowed*

 

[Everknight]

Hello everyone.
I have Canadian PR but I recently moved temporarily to the US for a better job offer in a town close to the border, I am currently on H1B visa. My wife remains in Canada as she is happy living and working there.

I am planning to drive to Canada form the US over the weekend as we haven't seen each other for months. The border is still closed from Canada to the US for non-essential travel (as of Oct 2021) so she hasn't been able to come down here.

I have a few questions regarding the process in my trip.

- Will my PR card will be accepted for this very short trip to enter Canada ( 3 days) ?
- Will I have any issue entering back into the US? Do I need to provide a negative COVID test?
- Can my wife travel back with me to the US? She has a B1 visa and plans to stay here for one/two months.

Appreciate any insight!

 

[sachin80]

If you are not planning on returning for US and moving to Canada for good then yes , you wouldnt need any physical copies except from your PR card and passport. But its always suggested to carry your work related documents. Be on safer side.

Yes, the one that you get in CVS is good for travel. Rapid test is*Not allowed*

Sure Thank you for sharing your thoughts here.

I actually called American airlines just to check what are the rules for flight travel. They are saying that if I am fully vaccinated then I don't need any cover testing results. I found this very surprising because everywhere I read I can see that we do need the covid testing.

Do you know if anything has changed recently on that angle ?

 

[swan0206]

Hello everyone.
I have Canadian PR but I recently moved temporarily to the US for a better job offer in a town close to the border, I am currently on H1B visa. My wife remains in Canada as she is happy living and working there.

I am planning to drive to Canada form the US over the weekend as we haven't seen each other for months. The border is still closed from Canada to the US for non-essential travel (as of Oct 2021) so she hasn't been able to come down here.

I have a few questions regarding the process in my trip.

- Will my PR card will be accepted for this very short trip to enter Canada ( 3 days) ?
- Will I have any issue entering back into the US? Do I need to provide a negative COVID test?
- Can my wife travel back with me to the US? She has a B1 visa and plans to stay here for one/two months.

Appreciate any insight!

1. Yes, you are a permanent resident already and they cannot deny your entry.
2. No, carry your documnts. i797 and passport and related docs like paystubs etc.
3. The thing is she may not be eligible to enter through land border but she can still fly as she is on B1(https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-can-canadians-still-fly-to-the-u-s-it-s-not-up-to-canada-1.5107317). One of my friend travelled recently so its sure that you can fly.

 

[swan0206]

Do you know if anything has changed recently on that angle ?

No idea at all. again, just to be safer side, carry the test results.

 

[dehemnani]

Can you share more details on your responses to the three questions ? Also did you use land or air travel ?

Thanks a lot guys for helping me in understanding the AVR process.

I went to Canada on 9th and come back to US on 16th by using AVR. The Canadian side was smooth. For US re-entry, the officer asked me only three questions, Why you went to Canada, Where are you going in US and What’s your visa status in US. They let me in in a minute or two. It was pretty smooth. I was expecting a yellow slip but the officer was very good.

After coming to US, i came to know one error from CBP officer. He wrongly entered my admission class as F1, it should have been H1B. Now, i will have to visit CBP correction site in JFK or Newark to correct this error on my i94.

 

[spikyshotgun]

Hi, thanks for this thread. So much valuable information in there.

We plan on moving to Canada next year and then commute to US everyday on H1B. Both me and my wife have our own H1B and kids are US citizens. I have a couple of questions.

Maintaining US Bank account
We currently bank at Chase and I recently checked with them and they said they don't allow Canadian address. I can give my office address to the bank and for other credit cards as I can receive personal mail at work without any issues. If we ever have to go into the bank for anything and show Canadian driving license, could that be a problem?
Though I think they only check it for ID purposes and not for verifying address.

On that note, as we cannot maintain driving license in both countries, has anyone looked into getting a Michigan State ID? Is that legal to do?

Also we have our brokerage accounts at Chase. Can I continue to invest in that after moving to Canada? Or do we need to transfer all equities to a Canadian Brokerage and continue investing in that?

Do you guys continue investing in your company provided 401K? Does that reduce taxable income for Canada as well?

Lastly, traveling to US for recreational purposes. Is it ok to cross the border on days off for visiting family in US, catching flight from Detroit, vacation etc?

Sorry for the long post.

 

[spikyshotgun]

@harirajmohan tagging you to see if you could help out with above post. Thanks

 

[harirajmohan]

Hi, thanks for this thread. So much valuable information in there.

We plan on moving to Canada next year and then commute to US everyday on H1B. Both me and my wife have our own H1B and kids are US citizens. I have a couple of questions.

1. Maintaining US Bank account

2. We currently bank at Chase and I recently checked with them and they said they don't allow Canadian address. I can give my office address to the bank and for other credit cards as I can receive personal mail at work without any issues. If we ever have to go into the bank for anything and show Canadian driving license, could that be a problem?
Though I think they only check it for ID purposes and not for verifying address.

On that note, as we cannot maintain driving license in both countries, has anyone looked into getting a Michigan State ID? Is that legal to do?

3. Also we have our brokerage accounts at Chase. Can I continue to invest in that after moving to Canada? Or do we need to transfer all equities to a Canadian Brokerage and continue investing in that?

4. Do you guys continue investing in your company provided 401K? Does that reduce taxable income for Canada as well?

5. Lastly, traveling to US for recreational purposes. Is it ok to cross the border on days off for visiting family in US, catching flight from Detroit, vacation etc?

Sorry for the long post.

1. Yes just leave and keep it as it is. No issues.
2. To use an ID in the banks in US, its better take your passport as some branches/bankers will say ok for Canadian ID and some dont.
Other than that you dont need US identification hence you dont need ID from US.
3. Yes, just continue as usual as per view.
Just declare income in your 1040 and you should be good.
4. Yes. Refer this link for taxes and exemptions https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/taxes-payroll-working-in-us-living-in-windsor.551077/
5. You can use H1 for visit/leisure purpose during weekends/anytime but watch for covid restrictions if they have any ban on non-essential trips.

Dont ask me for any rulebooks and links.