Hello, my case is a bit special and I can't find good answers by searching the web. Hopefully you can give me some advice.
I came to Canada in August 2010 with a work permit and my employer sponsored my PR application. My wife and kids came to join me in July 2011. My wife had an open work permit at that time. The PR application went very smoothly and we landed a few weeks ago. However, when we landed, we were challenged by the officer for our status in the US. Our green cards (PR in the US) were approved in June 2011 just before my family moved to Canada. The officer did land us but said that we could be subject to additional review in the future whenever we come back to Canada. She also mentioned that they would notify the US Immigration agency about our dual residency. The officer said that in one or two years, we have to make a decision to relinquish one PR. Right now, we are debating about what our best solution is.
I do have a very stable and good job here in Canada. But we don't want to lose the US green card either because it took us a long time to get it. When we left US, we applied for the reentry permit, which allows us to be out of US for two years. My questions are:
1. Will Canadian and US share the immigration information? I am concerned that the next time we enter US, we will be denied entry because of the dual PR status. Some mitigating factors: our kids are US citizens; we still have a house in the US (paying mortgage), we still keep our US driver licenses, bank accounts and credit cards. We file US and Canada tax returns.
2. If we decide to relinquish our Canadian PR voluntarily in order to maintain our US green card, will I be able to apply for work permit again? Will my employer be involved in the application process? I really don't want to get my employer involved. How long will the work permit be valid? My first work permit was good for five years. Will I get another one valid for five years?
3. I know this is a Canadian immigration forum. But I do hope to get answer for this question. If we decide to keep the dual PR for the time being, how likely will we be denied entry to US considering that we have reentry permits and all the factors listed above? If we are challenged, can we say we didn't know dual PR is not allowed and we are going to relinquish the Canadian PR later? It was actually an honest mistake. We didn't know about the issue of dual PR until we landed a few weeks ago. It is the ignorance on my part.
I really appreciate your help on my case!
LZ
I came to Canada in August 2010 with a work permit and my employer sponsored my PR application. My wife and kids came to join me in July 2011. My wife had an open work permit at that time. The PR application went very smoothly and we landed a few weeks ago. However, when we landed, we were challenged by the officer for our status in the US. Our green cards (PR in the US) were approved in June 2011 just before my family moved to Canada. The officer did land us but said that we could be subject to additional review in the future whenever we come back to Canada. She also mentioned that they would notify the US Immigration agency about our dual residency. The officer said that in one or two years, we have to make a decision to relinquish one PR. Right now, we are debating about what our best solution is.
I do have a very stable and good job here in Canada. But we don't want to lose the US green card either because it took us a long time to get it. When we left US, we applied for the reentry permit, which allows us to be out of US for two years. My questions are:
1. Will Canadian and US share the immigration information? I am concerned that the next time we enter US, we will be denied entry because of the dual PR status. Some mitigating factors: our kids are US citizens; we still have a house in the US (paying mortgage), we still keep our US driver licenses, bank accounts and credit cards. We file US and Canada tax returns.
2. If we decide to relinquish our Canadian PR voluntarily in order to maintain our US green card, will I be able to apply for work permit again? Will my employer be involved in the application process? I really don't want to get my employer involved. How long will the work permit be valid? My first work permit was good for five years. Will I get another one valid for five years?
3. I know this is a Canadian immigration forum. But I do hope to get answer for this question. If we decide to keep the dual PR for the time being, how likely will we be denied entry to US considering that we have reentry permits and all the factors listed above? If we are challenged, can we say we didn't know dual PR is not allowed and we are going to relinquish the Canadian PR later? It was actually an honest mistake. We didn't know about the issue of dual PR until we landed a few weeks ago. It is the ignorance on my part.
I really appreciate your help on my case!
LZ