Help! Canadian marrying American

[Beedriliak]

Hello! I appreciate you guys taking the time to help us. So this is the situation, me and my fiancé are getting married in march, we already have the venues paid for and the wedding planned, I'm a Canadian citizen and she is American, we will be having the wedding in America, I'm currently in the USA because we just gave birth to my son two months ago, we plan on going back to Canada at the end of December because I need to go back to work and I don't want to be apart from my son and my fiancé during this time, we will be taking a uhaul with some of her stuff because after we get married we plan on applying for her PR to come live in Canada permanently, we are just curious if we will have a lot of trouble crossing the border in December and also if we will be able to come back to Canada after the wedding and then apply for PR. Any tips or advice is GREATLY appreciated. Thank you so much everyone.

 

[scylla]

As I'm sure you're aware, your wife can only enter as a visitor at this time. She will only be able to "move" to Canada once she has PR. If possible, I would forget about the uhaul for now and put everything in storage (or leave it with family / friends) - only taking what she really needs with her and packing more like a tourist (i.e. couple of suitcases - no furniture, no household items, etc.. If you come with a uhaul and CBSA goes by the books, she will be charged import tax / customs on everything she's bringing into Canada. If she waits until after she has PR, she can bring it in for free. Additionally, coming with a uhaul when you're not actually allowed to move to Canada can sometimes create complications entering Canada. Lots of people have been successful, however some have been refused entry (on the very rare occasion even banned for a year from Canada).

 

[Beedriliak]

As I'm sure you're aware, your wife can only enter as a visitor at this time. She will only be able to "move" to Canada once she has PR. If possible, I would forget about the uhaul for now and put everything in storage (or leave it with family / friends) - only taking what she really needs with her and packing more like a tourist (i.e. couple of suitcases - no furniture, no household items, etc.. If you come with a uhaul and CBSA goes by the books, she will be charged import tax / customs on everything she's bringing into Canada. If she waits until after she has PR, she can bring it in for free. Additionally, coming with a uhaul when you're not actually allowed to move to Canada can sometimes create complications entering Canada. Lots of people have been successful, however some have been refused entry (on the very rare occasion even banned for a year from Canada).

Thanks for the quick response. So if we did bring a uhaul across would we need to state everything on a list? A lot of it is stuff for our baby like his crib, rockers, etc

 

[tucosword]

I'm canadian and sponsoring my american wife and baby, we just did their medicals recently...
I brought them last week to canada for a visit. our suv was full of suitcases and stuff cos they will be here till after christmas and there was no problems or questions.
So now i'm more confident to travel a few more times with them bringing stuff each time rather than a uhaul after they get their PR.

 

[michicanuck]

Thanks for the quick response. So if we did bring a uhaul across would we need to state everything on a list? A lot of it is stuff for our baby like his crib, rockers, etc

As Scylla said, yes, you would have to declare everything. I think you should pay more attention to the risks he's outlined, though. It could even cause problems for your wife's PR app if she is denied entry. Why even risk it?

 

[Beedriliak]

As Scylla said, yes, you would have to declare everything. I think you should pay more attention to the risks he's outlined, though. It could even cause problems for your wife's PR app if she is denied entry. Why even risk it?

Yes I understand we need to declare everything, I was more specifically asking if it could be done verbally or needed to be written also I'm not saying I am taking the uhaul or not I'm just trying to become more educated in the repercussions. But I've also heard honesty can go a long way at the border and it's not like we're trying to pull a fast one on anybody, it's just most logical to me to start bringing stuff down, most of it was gifts for both of us for our wedding shower. Just trying to learn more for the more experienced aka you guys!

 

[scylla]

If you want to bring all of her stuff into Canada before she is a PR, then I would definitely have a list (at least of the major items) and be prepared to pay tax/duty on everything.

Honestly can go a long way. But it ultimately comes down to what an individual CBSA officer decides - and if someone p*ssed in their cornflakes that morning, then it might not go so well. What makes your situation a bit more complicated is the fact you aren't married yet and don't have a PR application in progress. Your chances of an issue free entry will increase once you are married and have submitted the PR application. It's a bit more dicey before that.

 

[michicanuck]

Yes I understand we need to declare everything, I was more specifically asking if it could be done verbally or needed to be written also I'm not saying I am taking the uhaul or not I'm just trying to become more educated in the repercussions. But I've also heard honesty can go a long way at the border and it's not like we're trying to pull a fast one on anybody, it's just most logical to me to start bringing stuff down, most of it was gifts for both of us for our wedding shower. Just trying to learn more for the more experienced aka you guys!

Sure. My wife and I have talked about doing the same thing (taking some things over, though not a uhaul yet), but my app is also already in process. If you all could get your paperwork in, it would probably remove some of the risk. But yeah, the potential repercussions, though unlikely, could be quite large. As a matter of risk vs. reward it's probably an easy call. That's all I'm saying.