Family illness brings me to Canada

[tracygazda]

Hello,

I am an American citizen and my husband is Canadian. We live in the states. He has a parent who still resides in Canada has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness The parent lives Canada alone with no other family members. We will have to move temporarily to Canada to provide care to avoid hospice care. What are my options? Would I be able to get a visa for about a year and if so, what kind of visa? Could I get a work permit without a job offer prior? What about health insurance?

 

[zardoz]

Hello,

I am an American citizen and my husband is Canadian. We live in the states. He has a parent who still resides in Canada has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness The parent lives Canada alone with no other family members. We will have to move temporarily to Canada to provide care to avoid hospice care. What are my options? Would I be able to get a visa for about a year and if so, what kind of visa? Could I get a work permit without a job offer prior? What about health insurance?

You will be able to "visit" Canada for up to 6 months, with the possibility of extending that by application. You cannot "move" to Canada, even given your current circumstances. A work permit will be required for most employment, so you will need not only a job offer but also your potential employer will need to apply for an LMIA. Health insurance will depend on your status in Canada, but by default visitors are not covered by provincial healthcare. You will therefore need to take this into account. You should probably go to http://cic.gc.ca and familiarise yourself with Canadian Immigration.

 

[tracygazda]

What happens if I just go............

I'm not interested in obtaining citizenship. When this is all over we plan on returning to the US.

 

[zardoz]

What happens if I just go............

I'm not interested in obtaining citizenship. When this is all over we plan on returning to the US.

If you are a US passport holder, you can "just go". You are still a "Foreign National" in Canada and subject to exactly the same immigration restrictions as any other. You will need to show at the Port of Entry that you have no intention of staying in Canada as anything other than a "visitor".

See www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/apply-who.asp

 

[tracygazda]

So at six months if I fly back to the US and then return after a couple of weeks I would be okay?

 

[Leon]

What happens if I just go............

I'm not interested in obtaining citizenship. When this is all over we plan on returning to the US.

Nobody is forcing you to apply for Canadian citizenship so no need to worry about that.

I assume that when your husband moved to the US, that you sponsored him for a green card unless he already had his green card by other means. Canada has a very similar system. There is no work permit for spouses of Canadians who want to stay temporarily but your husband has the option of sponsoring you for PR (permanent residency). This will however cost $$$ and take a few months.

If you do it, you will however have PR and you would have the right to health care and the right to work in Canada. Once you move back to the US, you will not lose your PR as long as you are still with your Canadian husband. There is a residency obligation for PR's to stay in Canada at least 730 days in any 5 year period, however, if you are accompanying a Canadian spouse outside Canada, your days accompanying are counted just as they were days spent in Canada.

It is up to you what you do. If you enter as a visitor, you may stay up to 6 months and you may not work or study and you will not have health care. If you overstay your 6 months and get caught, it is possible that you could be deported and banned from Canada for a couple of years.

Your husband if he has a green card and is not a dual citizen should make sure that he goes to visit the US at least every 6 months and continues to file taxes there in order to avoid losing it.

So at six months if I fly back to the US and then return after a couple of weeks I would be okay?

A rule of thumb is that you shouldn't stay as a visitor more than 6 months a year. You may get away with it just fine but if immigration asks you if you are living in Canada or get suspicious about it, they do have the right to deny you entry.

Another option would be when you and your husband enter Canada, that you explain the situationa and ask for a 1 year visitor record. If you get that, you could stay for a year without applying for anything else.

 

[scylla]

Your husband if he has a green card and is not a dual citizen should make sure that he goes to visit the US at least every 6 months and continues to file taxes there in order to avoid losing it.

Just to add to the above, visiting the US for a few days or weeks every six months to keep green card status isn't sufficient. The US has strict rules with regards to green card status and expect green card holders to make the US their primary home. If your husband plans to be outside of the US more than inside of the US over the next couple of years, he should apply for a returning resident permit (he will need to do this before he leaves the US).

 

[tracygazda]

My husband is a green card holder and has applied for us citizenship. We know that he will have to now apply for an re-entry permit. There is just so much involved with this, the whole circumstance is overwhelming.

 

[tracygazda]

Perhaps I will get a letter from the palliative care doctor with all the info and they would issue me a temporary
visitors visa

 

[tracygazda]

What about a temporary residency permit? would that allow me to stay over 6 months. With the prognosis of 12 months to live and documentation from her doctor maybe they would let me stay longer?

You mentioned this Leon, but would I go to a immigration office or ask at the boarder?

 

[scylla]

A temporary resident permit (TRP) is for those who are inadmissible to Canada (often due to a criminal offence) and doesn't apply to you.

 

[Leon]

What about a temporary residency permit? would that allow me to stay over 6 months. With the prognosis of 12 months to live and documentation from her doctor maybe they would let me stay longer?

You mentioned this Leon, but would I go to a immigration office or ask at the boarder?

Like Scylla said, a TRP is not the right thing for you.

You can ask for a visitors record at the border when you enter with your husband. Even if they don't give you 12 months, they would at least record your entry and once you have been in Canada for 5 months, you can apply to extend your visitor status for another 6.