Canadian/American living on the border.

[z28eater]

Hi there!
I am a Canadian born citizen who has lived in the US for the last 12 years. I have recently moved back to Canada and have met the love of my life. I'm currently not working in Canada. Will this be a problem? He's American living 20 mins from the Canadian border. My question is if this relationship progresses and we get married, can my BF/future husband cross back and forth to the US for work? He has a great job in upstate NY. I believe it's called an outlander application. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to go about this?

Thanks for your help!

 

[scylla]

The outland application will be the right way to sponsor him once you are either married or common law (common law means you have lived together for a minimum of 1 full year) - however filing an outland application won't allow him to live in Canada and cross the border each day to work. Until he has PR, he will only be able to visit Canada - not live here. He may be able to cross back and forth between Canada and the US for a period of time. However sooner or later - he's likely to run into issues since his behaviour isn't visitor behaviour (but the behaviour of someone who lives here).

 

[RWoods]

My husband and I are also an American/Canadian border couple. I received my PR a couple of years ago now but before we were married I was crossing the border close to everyday for work and just as Scylla said I eventually began to have problems at the border entering Canada. However, after we got married I crossed the border with my husband and our marriage certificate and told the officers our intentions to file for PR. I was given a Visitor Record which allowed me to "visit" (though technically at this point was living in Canada, crossing everyday for work...when I was given the VR I was also given paperwork to import my belongings) while my application was processed. So if you do end up married, there is a chance he may be able to "visit" you while your application processes. BUT before that happens he should be careful not to exhibit behavior of someone living in Canada and keep strong ties in the US.