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

[gtvisa2020]

And i also don't understand how would life change after Canadian citizenship in US? One still lives in backlog limbo on h1b and needs to cross the same port of entry. Sure Canadian passport lets one fly around the world, but if that means coming back to US, it has the same element of risk as an Indian passport holder

Not really, you have to evaluate the risk considering both positive and negative outcomes.
Positive outcome - both passports are the same.
Negative outcome - you know the answer.

I wanted to share my views as justinline has already provided her/his answers.

BTW, I PMed you answers to your questions, not sure you saw.

 

[Prabjot]

Hey everyone, I read all comments in this post with the hope to find someone sharing their experience of getting citizenship with frequent travel. But could not find any. Is there anyone who can share what challenges they faced during the citizenship with extensive travel history. For some people, who asked questions related to commuting from Vancouver to Seattle. I have been doing that for past two years. My husband lives in surrey and I stay in Seattle for three days and go back on midweek. I am
Planning to commute daily for two to three times a week now for next two years to be able to accumulate 1095 days. Reply me if you would like to connect. Again any response on citizenship experience with frequent commute will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[coolusa]

Hey everyone, I read all comments in this post with the hope to find someone sharing their experience of getting citizenship with frequent travel. But could not find any. Is there anyone who can share what challenges they faced during the citizenship with extensive travel history. For some people, who asked questions related to commuting from Vancouver to Seattle. I have been doing that for past two years. My husband lives in surrey and I stay in Seattle for three days and go back on midweek. I am
Planning to commute daily for two to three times a week now for next two years to be able to accumulate 1095 days. Reply me if you would like to connect. Again any response on citizenship experience with frequent commute will be much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, could you please mention your US visa status and I140 approved or not?? TIA

 

[Prabjot]

Hi, could you please mention your US visa status and I140 approved or not?? TIA

On h1b and yes have approved i140

 

[justinline]

Hey everyone, I read all comments in this post with the hope to find someone sharing their experience of getting citizenship with frequent travel. But could not find any. Is there anyone who can share what challenges they faced during the citizenship with extensive travel history. For some people, who asked questions related to commuting from Vancouver to Seattle. I have been doing that for past two years. My husband lives in surrey and I stay in Seattle for three days and go back on midweek. I am
Planning to commute daily for two to three times a week now for next two years to be able to accumulate 1095 days. Reply me if you would like to connect. Again any response on citizenship experience with frequent commute will be much appreciated. Thanks!

Make sure you have ample proof to support your physical presence in Canada, from taxes, to leases, to utility bills, to bank and credit card statements.

Make sure you accurately register each and every entry and exit, have I94 or FOIA proof for it. Dont believe any who says give them a ball park dates and let them figure it out.......the burden is on you to prove your stay. I have seen cases where they miss even a single trip to US and they are issued RQ.

Have sufficient padding on top of 1095 days, I had close to 150 days. I know person who did Seattle and Vancouver commute he did whole extra year before applying. So have solid number of days before applying not just bare 1095.

Few questions do and will come up, even though there is no requirement of stating your intention to reside in Canada after citizenship, they do evaluate how strong are your ties to Canada. Having spouse or kids or property in Canada helps. Keep in mind some people get grilled on this and some do not, working in US or outside of Canada and having extensive travel history raises your probability.

Keep in mind though I have not seen any commuter case rejected for just being commuter, if you can prove your physical presence then you will eventually get through. Just have sufficient documents to back your self up .....even if you have to defend your case in front of a judge.

I have seen many commuter case without hassle, some do get sucked into timeless wrap of RQ and then going in front of judge. That just extends your timeline by another year or two. So have ample proof and you should be fine, you might not even need it. Like me, I collected and bunch load of documents and I was expecting some kind of RQ, got Decision Made now got Oath invitation recently.

 

[gtvisa2020]

@justininline, did you do anything additional to prove your intentions to stay in Canada such as buying property, listing relatives in Canada or volunteering?

 

[harirajmohan]

@justininline, did you do anything additional to prove your intentions to stay in Canada such as buying property, listing relatives in Canada or volunteering?

This requirement of intention to stay in Canada is not applicable anymore after last year's rule change. So just meeting the present requirements would be enough.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5

 

[gtvisa2020]

This requirement of intention to stay in Canada is not applicable anymore after last year's rule change. So just meeting the present requirements would be enough.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=911&top=5

Thank you!

In your case, if you need to get TN visa after Canadian citizenship, would that require home country (Canada) ties?

 

[justinline]

Yes the intention to reside is gone......but dont get it confused with IRCC evaluating your ties with Canada during the application and interview process. They will and do evaluate your ties to Canada. Especially for commuters, donot take any chances, not worth it. Just sharing my experience so others are helped.

I will reveal more questions later on(let me get my passport in hand).......but as I am looking back at my interview with the IRCC officer after the test, I can only tell you .....DONT TAKE IT LIGHTLY.......dont go with the attitude...."Hey I have completed the 3 years of physical presence just give me my freaking passport"..........you know what you will get......IRCC will give you a RQ. Then good luck with that, you just added a year or two to your timeline.

Frankly speaking even I dint realize this earlier, but as I am hearing interview experience from more and more commuters and non commuters, I get the feeling ....they did grill me a bit on the "ties to the Canada" questioning. Earlier I was feeling everyone gets asked those questions, pretty much a normal process. The questions were so innocently placed and pointed......and I kept answering in very honest flow, while at it the officer was very intently looking at me. Another case is a couple both of whom work in US, have been commuting, they also shared the same experience, they got a RQ 3 weeks after the test. As we were discussing what I was asked what they were asked, how I answered how they answered, I knew exactly why they got issued RQ and I dint. I told them.....they were evaluating how deep are your ties to Canada, all of sudden I could see lights turn on.....then they both chimed in, of course they were.

Its not just about meeting the minimum requirements of the Citizenship eligibility, if they feel you are just using Canada as a stepping-stone for US or one of those on the way to airport kind of applicant, beware they will strike back. This experience is specific to Windsor, not sure about other places.

 

[gtvisa2020]

Thank you, @justinline. This makes sense. You said you will share more later, so share when you can.

 

[Saad1985]

Hi everyone,

I landed in Toronto in Dec 2015, but immediately went back because I was in a masters program there. My family moved to Canada in Sept 2017 and ever since then I have been commuting on the weekends from Detroit to Waterloo, ON. I have accumulated 269 days in Canada so far. However, recently crossing at the Niagara border, a flag was put on my file because the officer was worried that I might not complete by residency requirements. Last weekend at Niagara I was warned again that they will soon initiate a process to take back my card. I have never had any problems crossing over from Detroit or Sarnia. In Feb 2019, I will have 2 years left to the expiry of my PR, but I am already planning to move full time to Canada in Q1 2019, so I will have plenty of time to meet the requirements. How do I deal with immigration, specially at the Niagara border? Is there a way I can showcase the 269 days I have already spent in Canada?

 

[harirajmohan]

Hi everyone,

I landed in Toronto in Dec 2015, but immediately went back because I was in a masters program there. My family moved to Canada in Sept 2017 and ever since then I have been commuting on the weekends from Detroit to Waterloo, ON. I have accumulated 269 days in Canada so far. However, recently crossing at the Niagara border, a flag was put on my file because the officer was worried that I might not complete by residency requirements. Last weekend at Niagara I was warned again that they will soon initiate a process to take back my card. I have never had any problems crossing over from Detroit or Sarnia. In Feb 2019, I will have 2 years left to the expiry of my PR, but I am already planning to move full time to Canada in Q1 2019, so I will have plenty of time to meet the requirements. How do I deal with immigration, specially at the Niagara border? Is there a way I can showcase the 269 days I have already spent in Canada?

Some guys dont even calculate correctly.
I was also sent inside one time for residency requirement but i told that i got PR last year and i have time to accumulate days for meeting requirements as i have not gotten PR before 5 years.
So just tell the history if you are questioned in the booth/inside saying that you got PR in 2015 and you have accumulated x days and you will be meeting the requirements within 1.5 year or so as you commute frequently. If possible avoid that border to reduce headache.
Did he send you inside for secondary inspection on this or he is just talking on this from the booth? If he just tells from the booth then you dont need to worry as you have another officer to be verifying the same inside the secondary inspection office where you have chance to prove/provide details before you are reported.

 

[Saad1985]

Some guys dont even calculate correctly.
I was also sent inside one time for residency requirement but i told that i got PR last year and i have time to accumulate days for meeting requirements as i have not gotten PR before 5 years.
So just tell the history if you are questioned in the booth/inside saying that you got PR in 2015 and you have accumulated x days and you will be meeting the requirements within 1 year or so as you commute frequently. If possible avoid that border to reduce headache.
Did he send you inside for secondary inspection on this or he is just talking on this from the booth? If he just tells from the booth then you dont need to worry as you have another officer to be verifying the same inside the secondary inspection office where you have chance to prove/provide details before you are reported.

They have been sending me into a immigration every time at Niagara. At Detroit/Sarnia (my usual crossing) I have had no trouble for an entire year. Even after they started stopping me at Niagara, I went through Sarnia a few times, and after the office waved me through, I asked him why you aren't sending me to immigration. He said he sees no reason to. I am truly confused and considering going back to travelling through Sarnia or Detroit.

 

[DEEPCUR]

Anyone in the situation where one is working on h1b in Detroit and the spouse is on H4 EAD? What's your plan once H4 EAD goes away? Look for something in Windsor, ON? Practically possible?

 

[skarme312]

Does existing H1b need to be changed to reflect commuter status? Just curious to know from folks commuting.