FSW 2015: i-485 pending and PR Applicants Timeline- Lets Network Here

[TheBestInTown]

Hope I am not the only one with the situation below here

I am working in US in H1B status and currently My GC process is in-progress along with CA FSW application.

Within 2-3 months, I will be submitting I-485 application and could take another year to get it approved. Priority date for EB3 for my country is only 6 month behind and if it stays that way, I will have my green card with in two years from now.

At the meantime, I am done submitting all the required documents to CPC-Ottawa for FSW and waiting to hear back from them.

My question is - people with similar status, how are you guys planning for it?

First of all - we will have to do the landing formality and get the PR card. How can we travel to CA and return back whiling being in H1B/H4 status?

we just want to land to CA in order to start the PR process and come back within 1-2 days and not sure if we need visa for that.

I went to Canada in tourist visa two years ago and got US visa stamping there but it is expired now, I am not sure if I along with my family will have to travel back to home country to get stamped these days.

lets network here and share our experiences who is on the same boat.

Thanks,

 

[TheBestInTown]

Anyone in the same boat, here?

 

[singh84a]

Hope I am not the only one with the situation below here

I am working in US in H1B status and currently My GC process is in-progress along with CA FSW application.

Within 2-3 months, I will be submitting I-485 application and could take another year to get it approved. Priority date for EB3 for my country is only 6 month behind and if it stays that way, I will have my green card with in two years from now.

At the meantime, I am done submitting all the required documents to CPC-Ottawa for FSW and waiting to hear back from them.

My question is - people with similar status, how are you guys planning for it?

First of all - we will have to do the landing formality and get the PR card. How can we travel to CA and return back whiling being in H1B/H4 status?

we just want to land to CA in order to start the PR process and come back within 1-2 days and not sure if we need visa for that.

I went to Canada in tourist visa two years ago and got US visa stamping there but it is expired now, I am not sure if I along with my family will have to travel back to home country to get stamped these days.

lets network here and share our experiences who is on the same boat.

Thanks,

My 2 cents, Once you get your Canadian PR, you can go to Canada and get the landing paper, but your actual PR card will take a few weeks to a month to get in post mail. You will need to give a Canadian address while entering Canada to get the PR card mailed to. While you can leave canada and come back to the US, while your PR card has not arrived, you may be able to enter Canada only by Road in a private vehicle. Entering Canada without PR card in hand through commerical transit route (Airline, greyhound, ship, amtrack/via rail) will be denied as they need PR card or a Temporary Resident Visa to enter. It takes time to get TRV while your PR card is awaited.

Secondly, You will be able to enter back US once you complete your landing formalities, however it depends on case to case on how much the border officer questions you. The first question will always be, how long were you outside of the US, and what were you doing. If they know that yo went for PR landing then the situation gets complex. But that being said, you cannot be denied entry because you still have lots of time to complete your PR residency requirements in Canada. But again, it depends on case to case

Thirdly, If you return after u get your PR card (which again can be a month after you land), or get it somehow mailed/delivered to you, you can always enter canada, and say that I'm in the process of wrapping up my things in the US and plan to move to canada soon. They always check that you have enough time left to complete your residency requirements in Canada, so that shouldn't be an issue. The issue will happen once you have less than 2 years left on your Canadian PR, (which should be 3-4 years from now and at that time you will have GC too). So situation will become complex and you will probably have to declare one place of residency and can't sya that you live at both places.

Residency requirements of Both Canada and US are different, US says once you get GC, you can't stay outside of US for more than 6 months consecutively in an year or more than 1 year before ur GC is revoked. Whereas, Canada says, you will have to live 2 years in the 5 years of ur PR status to maintain it. Remember when in 5 years you renew ur Canadian PR, they will ask for proof of all the days within the last 5 years of the date of application to prove that you stayed in Canada for 2 years. SO taht situation will be tricky for you.

Moving to Canada or living in the US is a personal choice, but maintaining 2 PRs is very tough. Not illegal, People will say you can't have 2 PRs, that is totally wrong, The complexity is maintaining 2 PRs, if you can maintain, go for it and try your luck, but on your case I see that you will end up being eligible for Canadian or US Citizenship around the same time, so evaluate what is good for you.

I maintained 2 PRs for a short period of time, until I eventually became a Canadian and opted to live in the US.

Also, there will be tax implications so read onto that.

 

[TheBestInTown]

My 2 cents, Once you get your Canadian PR, you can go to Canada and get the landing paper, but your actual PR card will take a few weeks to a month to get in post mail. You will need to give a Canadian address while entering Canada to get the PR card mailed to. While you can leave canada and come back to the US, while your PR card has not arrived, you may be able to enter Canada only by Road in a private vehicle. Entering Canada without PR card in hand through commerical transit route (Airline, greyhound, ship, amtrack/via rail) will be denied as they need PR card or a Temporary Resident Visa to enter. It takes time to get TRV while your PR card is awaited.

Secondly, You will be able to enter back US once you complete your landing formalities, however it depends on case to case on how much the border officer questions you. The first question will always be, how long were you outside of the US, and what were you doing. If they know that yo went for PR landing then the situation gets complex. But that being said, you cannot be denied entry because you still have lots of time to complete your PR residency requirements in Canada. But again, it depends on case to case

Thirdly, If you return after u get your PR card (which again can be a month after you land), or get it somehow mailed/delivered to you, you can always enter canada, and say that I'm in the process of wrapping up my things in the US and plan to move to canada soon. They always check that you have enough time left to complete your residency requirements in Canada, so that shouldn't be an issue. The issue will happen once you have less than 2 years left on your Canadian PR, (which should be 3-4 years from now and at that time you will have GC too). So situation will become complex and you will probably have to declare one place of residency and can't sya that you live at both places.

Residency requirements of Both Canada and US are different, US says once you get GC, you can't stay outside of US for more than 6 months consecutively in an year or more than 1 year before ur GC is revoked. Whereas, Canada says, you will have to live 2 years in the 5 years of ur PR status to maintain it. Remember when in 5 years you renew ur Canadian PR, they will ask for proof of all the days within the last 5 years of the date of application to prove that you stayed in Canada for 2 years. SO taht situation will be tricky for you.

Moving to Canada or living in the US is a personal choice, but maintaining 2 PRs is very tough. Not illegal, People will say you can't have 2 PRs, that is totally wrong, The complexity is maintaining 2 PRs, if you can maintain, go for it and try your luck, but on your case I see that you will end up being eligible for Canadian or US Citizenship around the same time, so evaluate what is good for you.

I maintained 2 PRs for a short period of time, until I eventually became a Canadian and opted to live in the US.

Also, there will be tax implications so read onto that.

That was awesome, hats off to you sir.

Thanks for your two cents, that was really helpful

two questions, regarding returning back to US after landing.

1. Since my US visa is expired and I-94 is valid until next two years, do I need to take an appointment to US EMBASSY for a visa interview?

2. Can I just land and come back to US in the same day, without having US visa, or losing my current i-94 copy?


Thanks in advance!!!

 

[singh84a]

That was awesome, hats off to you sir.

Thanks for your two cents, that was really helpful

two questions, regarding returning back to US after landing.

1. Since my US visa is expired and I-94 is valid until next two years, do I need to take an appointment to US EMBASSY for a visa interview? - Well you need a visa to enter back in US. You cannot use Canada PR card to come to US. The irony is Canadian PR holders are still like any other alien US. Whereas US Green Card holders can go to Canada without visa. You will need to ensure you have valid Visa to enter. i94s if entering on visitor basis are re-issued, not sure how H1 holders's i94 works so please double check

2. Can I just land and come back to US in the same day, without having US visa, or losing my current i-94 copy? - Again, no you cannot, even though u can leave canada after landing the same day (before getting PR card), you cannot enter US without Visa. So if you want to go to any other country (which i beliueve you wont), you can.

Please note - the passport needs to valid for all of this, Expired passport holders are not allowed to cross the border.




Thanks in advance!!!

 

[TheBestInTown]

Thanks singh84a, +1 to you!

 

[rav1975]

Hi I have a query.pls can u help me out.in my initial application to canada I had given surrey as the province I want to live in.but now I want to land in toronto .wn they mail my p r cards will they mail it to an address in toronto or I hv to gv an address in b c only fr pr card.i read somewhere p r cards wl be mailed only to province mentioned in fswp appln.pls clarify .thanks in advance....

 

[TheBestInTown]

Hi I have a query.pls can u help me out.in my initial application to canada I had given surrey as the province I want to live in.but now I want to land in toronto .wn they mail my p r cards will they mail it to an address in toronto or I hv to gv an address in b c only fr pr card.i read somewhere p r cards wl be mailed only to province mentioned in fswp appln.pls clarify .thanks in advance....

I am not an export but I believe you can give a new address (TORONTO) while landing where they will be mailing your PR card.

 

[TheBestInTown]

Can we also use AVR to return USA after PR landing procedure in Canada is complete?

OR Do we need to go for visa interview to get stamp even if you have valid 797/I-94?

Anyone?

 

[singh84a]

my 2 cents.

Visa is required to enter. 797 is a notice of reciept and i94 is a valid document mentioning your date of entry and time to exit.

But Visa and permit are 2 seperate things.

I'm assuming Visa would be required

 

[TheBestInTown]

my 2 cents.

Visa is required to enter. 797 is a notice of reciept and i94 is a valid document mentioning your date of entry and time to exit.

But Visa and permit are 2 seperate things.

I'm assuming Visa would be required

Hi Singh84a,

Thanks for the input, again

This is what i found from another post regarding AVR rule however I am not 100% sure that this still works.

"if we want to come back US within 30 days, there will not be any interview/visa stamping needed but we have to enter via road""

http://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/documents/auto_reva.pdf

 

[TheBestInTown]

Anyone driving to CA from NYC to complete the Landing procedure soon?

Please let me know, we can plan accordingly.

 

[bikbis]

if you are planning to land in Toronto by Car using Automatic Visa Revalidation (AVR), read the thread below:

http://www.trackitt.com/discussion-forums/federal-skilled-workers/1409947237/returning-to-us-after-canada-pr-landing-on-avr-rule

while coming back used AVR. Just gave all family members expired passports and current passports along with all I-797 approvals. Officer asked to roll down car windows.
Just checked all the documents - looked at each one may be to match pictures in passport. That's all
I guess I am lucky - officer knows what is AVR- He just mentioned in case if you stay more than 30 days - required to take new visa, then I told I just came two days back and showed my processed paper before entering into Canada. He asked me where do I live in US, I told my US address.

Overall took 3-4 min.

 

[TheBestInTown]

Thanks everyone