Canada Move Discussion (2014 FSW - People in USA on H1B)

[sriram.vsg]

Hi All,

Any updates on how you guys are doing? I am planning to move to Canada too and found this thread to be very helpful.

Any of you who has moved to canada and can share the sample Goods to follow list and process.

Thanks
Sri

 

[shallowpurple]

My 2 cents:

I work in upstate NY on H1b with PERM in process. I got my Canada PR and landed as PR on May 1st. I am still waiting for my PR Card but travel to canada with the IMM 1000 every weekend. Also, I just got permanent work from home approved. I am planning to work from Buffalo/ Niagara Falls and commute into Canada - Hamilton/Stoney Creek/ Burlington on an everyday basis. So I can still work in the US to keep my career option going and I will be putting in days in Canada for PR/ Citizenship. Please reach out to me if there are others who are thinking of doing this so we can form a group to answer questions and share thoughts about it. you can reach me at abhinay.natraj@gmail.com

I am also in similar boat. I am also on H1B in US (waiting past 10 years for GC) with PR from Canada (short landing done in March 2015). We are currently in California and I am looking forward to move to Toronto area.
I am going to request work remotely with my employer (and hopefully they will agree) -- and I was planning to take in nexus card etc to ease the travel to US everyday (not sure how this is going to work out) -- so wanted to discuss with you on how your thing are going and if there is something I should be doing.

 

[mshaikh]

I am in same boat, PR+landing in Canada, H1+approved i140 in USA, don't know if I should just go to Canada and find a job or stay in USA and work towards my GC. I am not married so bringing spouse is a consideration in the decision.

 

[francaispourquebec]

I am in same boat, PR+landing in Canada, H1+approved i140 in USA, don't know if I should just go to Canada and find a job or stay in USA and work towards my GC. I am not married so bringing spouse is a consideration in the decision.

I was going through all the posts in this thread and I have to say, quite a few interesting and important points have been put forth by everyone. I have an approved I 140 and it would take a minimum of 3 years for my priority date to become current. So, I have decided to go to Canada since I have a little over 2.5 years left on my Canada PR. But, here's a question few have answered: how do I keep my US GC processing alive? I don't want to give that up at this point, since a lot of my time, effort, money has gone into it.

>If my current US employer agrees to a remote option, I can live in Canada and continue to work for my US project, and my GC processing continues as is. I hope this understanding is correct. Please correct if otherwise.
>Here's the problem point: what if I have to change my employer to move to Canada? How can I still keep my I 140? Does a valid H1B have any bearing on keeping my US GC alive until the I 485 stage?

Any inputs will be beneficial.....

 

[mshaikh]

>If my current US employer agrees to a remote option, I can live in Canada and continue to work for my US project, and my GC processing continues as is. I hope this understanding is correct. Please correct if otherwise.
>Here's the problem point: what if I have to change my employer to move to Canada? How can I still keep my I 140? Does a valid H1B have any bearing on keeping my US GC alive until the I 485 stage?

good questions.
So far as I know - your employer has to agree to not revoke your I-140 and if you can get back to US and start working for same job description before your PD becomes current, it'll be okay. I am not sure if employers agree to not revoke the process though, most of them revoke it right after you leave.
H1 has nothing to do with your GC process apart from getting a pay check which helps proving employer's "ability to pay"

Just out of curiosity, what's your PD?
Mine is Jan'13 and I agree lot of time and money went into this process of US GC but I am also planning to move and use my PR because I don't want to give up a sure thing for this ongoing grueling process of H1 renewals every few years.

 

[francaispourquebec]

My PD is Sep 2012, so our dates are quite the same. In my opinion, we are at least 3 years away from the PD to become current. So there is sufficient time to keep the Canada PR status current. Like they say, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

If I have to change my employer, the only way to continue with the US PR process is to hope that I 140 does not get revoked and an offer letter from the employer expressing their willingness to re-employ at a later date at the same position. This is what most experts in online forums are saying. Would you happen to know anything more? That would be very helpful.....

 

[mshaikh]

My PD is Sep 2012, so our dates are quite the same. In my opinion, we are at least 3 years away from the PD to become current. So there is sufficient time to keep the Canada PR status current. Like they say, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.
If I have to change my employer, the only way to continue with the US PR process is to hope that I 140 does not get revoked and an offer letter from the employer expressing their willingness to re-employ at a later date at the same position. This is what most experts in online forums are saying. Would you happen to know anything more? That would be very helpful.....

I sure am happy to hear you're thinking 3 years My colleague has PD in Aug 2010 and he's still thinking 2-3 years for EAD.
I think 3-4 years for EAD is not far out, but the way dates are moving I won't bet on it.

I landed in Sep 2014, so unfortunately I don't get to keep my PR status if I stay in US. I have to chose one, and the decisions like these are never easy. But I am going with same bird in hand philosophy.

What you know is what I have been told. It all depends on your employer in regards to GC process if he is willing to keep I 140 - you should be good. It takes 4 years to be eligible to apply Canadian Citizenship (right now - they keep changing this). Anyways one should get Canadian citizenship by 5 - 6 years. If your employer keeps your job available to you after let's say 6 years, you can come back on TN or something and have your PD. Or if you like Canada by then and have a nice job there - why bother moving again.

One of my friends who moved to Canada gave me this advise -
You come to Canada you can most likely go back to US if you wanted.
You stay in USA you will most likely never get chance to be Canadian Resident again.

 

[mshaikh]

My PD is Sep 2012, so our dates are quite the same. In my opinion, we are at least 3 years away from the PD to become current. So there is sufficient time to keep the Canada PR status current. Like they say, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.

If I have to change my employer, the only way to continue with the US PR process is to hope that I 140 does not get revoked and an offer letter from the employer expressing their willingness to re-employ at a later date at the same position. This is what most experts in online forums are saying. Would you happen to know anything more? That would be very helpful.....

In your case though, it seems you have plenty of time to decide. I'd wait for a year or two and see how the GC dates move. Canada is wonderful country to live but opportunities wise it's no where near the States. In any case you should get your PR card if you have not already got it. It's helpful if you go for stamping. I went for stamping on landing paper and really wish I had applied my PR card when I landed.

 

[francaispourquebec]

In your case though, it seems you have plenty of time to decide. I'd wait for a year or two and see how the GC dates move. Canada is wonderful country to live but opportunities wise it's no where near the States. In any case you should get your PR card if you have not already got it. It's helpful if you go for stamping. I went for stamping on landing paper and really wish I had applied my PR card when I landed.

I agree, 3 years for PD to become current is overly optimistic. 5 years seems more realistic based on current trend. As you mention as well, I'm thinking of monitoring the dates for another couple of years and therefore, trying to get as many inputs as possible on how to manage the I 140, and keep an avenue open for return to the US.

 

[DEEPCUR]

My guess is none of them who 'planned' to move actually ever moved. Everyone stuck to US hoping for better I believe. ;D

This site doesn't send email notification when a new post is added to the following thread, so the people who discussed these a year back or so might not have got any notification on new posts.

 

[mshaikh]

My guess is none of them who 'planned' to move actually ever moved. Everyone stuck to US hoping for better I believe. ;D

This site doesn't send email notification when a new post is added to the following thread, so the people who discussed these a year back or so might not have got any notification on new posts.

Right, people who moved or not moved have not posted their experiences. At least I haven't seen any. Most people I know who were in same situations stayed back and just waited out GC wait time. The wait times however have increased a little bit since then.

 

[DEEPCUR]

It is lot easier to decide to move to Canada if someone was in India as someone working in India sees improvement in pay, standard of life etc etc when they move. It ends up as worth a struggle for them. But it is not the case with people who are already comfortably living in US. They need to compromise on many fronts like salary, savings, career etc at the cost of immigration stability. Most also don't like the initial struggle associated with any immigration move, and get a feeling that why should I leave a better place and suffer here. I believe that holds back a lot people. Also now that they are allowing spouses to work with H4 EAD, it holds back even more people who then had justification of spouse work/career as a reason to move.

I have seen a lots of people having this "pursuing US GC vs Canadian PR" old posts (say 2011 - 2012 time frames) in trackitt. When I check their profile to see what they finally decided, I noticed that 99% of them continued to stay in US, closely following the immigration developments and hoping for a miracle since then. Some gave up on Canadian PR, some desperately try to look for options to extend the PR without meeting residency obligations. Forget GC, none of them are even close to EAD yet. Some times I feel, if they had made a hard decision to move at the time they had posted those threads without thinking too much, they would gotten Canadian citizenship or would have at least been close to citizenship by now.

I don't know.. I am just working for my PR, with a PD in 2016, honestly I don't know what will I do if I ever get one. From what I am observing, it is not going to be a easy decision to make at all. US is like a magnet for Indians.

 

[francaispourquebec]

Well said, DEEPCUR. I struggled a lot to get my Canadian PR and now that I have it, I am still deliberating whether to move to Canada or let my PR expire in wait for the elusive US PR. Ideally, it should have been a no-brainer. Its just that people have invested quite a few years of their lives in the US, are earning some decent salary, and do not want to make any drastic changes that may impact compensation, standard of life, social aspects etc. I know only one person in this forum who told me he stopped his US immigration processing, went to Canada, and came back as a citizen and is now back in the US. The rest seem to have stayed in the US waiting for their PR.

 

[mshaikh]

Trying to check if any of you guys made any moves yet? I have a month left to make a decision, and wanted to get some input from people who might have already moved.

Well said, DEEPCUR. I struggled a lot to get my Canadian PR and now that I have it, I am still deliberating whether to move to Canada or let my PR expire in wait for the elusive US PR. Ideally, it should have been a no-brainer. Its just that people have invested quite a few years of their lives in the US, are earning some decent salary, and do not want to make any drastic changes that may impact compensation, standard of life, social aspects etc. I know only one person in this forum who told me he stopped his US immigration processing, went to Canada, and came back as a citizen and is now back in the US. The rest seem to have stayed in the US waiting for their PR.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Well said, DEEPCUR. I struggled a lot to get my Canadian PR and now that I have it, I am still deliberating whether to move to Canada or let my PR expire in wait for the elusive US PR. Ideally, it should have been a no-brainer. Its just that people have invested quite a few years of their lives in the US, are earning some decent salary, and do not want to make any drastic changes that may impact compensation, standard of life, social aspects etc. I know only one person in this forum who told me he stopped his US immigration processing, went to Canada, and came back as a citizen and is now back in the US. The rest seem to have stayed in the US waiting for their PR.

Exactly. I hardly see anyone really moving. everyone comes to forums at the time of their PR expiry asking ways to retain PR without residing just to get the answer that no options left..

Lowers wages + lesser opportunities + higher or similar cost of living as that of US are the key reasons I believe.. But someone who is already nearing 40 or someone with ageing kids (Indian born kids nearing college age) should really consider moving right away.