Living at the Washington State, Working in BC, does it satisfy 730/5yrs rule?

[kong20100902]

I am in a pretty sticky situation.
I am a US greencard holder studying in Vancouver. I will be living in Washington State and commute to Vancouver, BC everyday to work after graduation. I know normally people consider PR Obligation as the concept of "living in Canada". However, According to CIC's manuals, OP(Overseas Processing)10, 6.4, the definition of "Day" is:
"Any part of a day spent in Canada, or otherwise in compliance with A28(2)(a), is to be counted as one full day for the purpose of calculating the
730 days in a five-year period."

And according to IRPA A28(2)(a):
"a permanent resident complies with the residency obligation with respect to a five-year period if, on each of a total of at least 730 days in that five-year period, they are (i) physically present in Canada, (ii)blablabla"

Seems like if I do the commuting thing, I can perfectly satisfy the 730/5yrs rule since the obligation only requires "physical presence" instead of things like "continuous residency & physical presence"(the US way, they want real residency with proofs like lease or utility bills). But I do not know if anybody does it practically. The reason why i want to do this is to keep the US permanent residency and the cost of living in WA is much lower than that in Vancouver.

I actually haven't started applying for Canada PR yet, I am just considering if this is feasible. Otherwise I don't bother get it and lose it immediately.
As far as I know, the US won't be pissed off with the commuting since I will be living there actually, but I am not sure about Canada since I will just show up for a few hours everyday. Any advice or help will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[nope]

I know that going the other way is feasible -- I'm not sure about your plan, but I think that technically it is correct and satisfies both countries (I know that for the green card, simply being inside the US every 6 months is technically correct, if minimally acceptable). If I were you, I would go to the Citizenship Calculator and try entering two weeks or so of a hypothetical life like this (ie. entering and leaving Canada on the same day). See what figure it kicks out . . .

I don't envy you a future citizenship application, if that is your ultimate intent . . .

 

[kong20100902]

good point thanks!

 

[Leon]

Any part of a day spent in Canada counts as a full day for PR RO purposes so you don't have a problem there. However, sometimes an immigration officer may hassle you about having both, they may say you can't have both, they may want to take one of your cards away etc. To avoid dealing with IO's much, you can apply for a Nexus card as long as you have been a green card holder and living in the US for at least 3 years.

As for applying for citizenship, they seem to have changed the rules for that too so that both your travel days, coming and going, count as days in Canada too. You can try this with the citizenship calculator. Leaving on a Monday and coming back on a Tuesday counts as zero days absence but you still have to report them so filling out a citizenship application using the calculator will be a nightmare. A weekend would be 2 days absence. Also figure in that there will be stat holidays and vacations and you may not want to spend all of them in Canada, it could get tight for you being able to qualify to apply for citizenship.

 

[kong20100902]

I do have a NEXUS. But seems you still need to deal with an officer when doing land crossing, which i will do on a daily basis, but just with less immigration inspection..
Yeah I just tried the calculator as nope said. The absence counts as zero when u show up everyday in Canada. Sounds pretty good despite the reporting thing...I'll have to do that for everyday..

 

[nope]

I was considering doing the opposite -- when we first came here, I couldn't find a job and applied for one in the US opposite Sault Ste. Marie, it would have been the same deal as yours. Didn't get it, though.

Taxes could conceivably be difficult as well, it depends on how CRA classifies your residency.

 

[kong20100902]

The two countries have treaty to avoid double taxation so no worries

 

[nope]

The two countries have treaty to avoid double taxation so no worries

They do -- BUT . . . matters might get quite complicated if you are judged to be a resident of both countries.

 

[kateg]

They do -- BUT . . . matters might get quite complicated if you are judged to be a resident of both countries.

You won't be. They have tiebreaker rules. If you only have a house in one, it's that country. If you have a house in both, then they start looking at your center of vital interests.

 

[nope]

You won't be. They have tiebreaker rules. If you only have a house in one, it's that country. If you have a house in both, then they start looking at your center of vital interests.

You are an optimist! Remember, there is no 'they', but two 'theys' . . . I think it's possible that CRA and the IRS could each conceivably decide that you are a resident of their respective countries. Not sure what the likelihood of that might be, though.

 

[Bs65]

So whilst this plan to maintain residency days sounds feasable even if stretching a point without having a residence in Canada how will that work when coming to eventually renew PR card where you may need a Canadian residential address, travel history , address history outside Canada etc.. to back up the renewal and residency obligations ?

 

[keesio]

I do have a NEXUS. But seems you still need to deal with an officer when doing land crossing, which i will do on a daily basis, but just with less immigration inspection..

If you use a NEXUS lane, don't they just look at you for a bit (matching the picture on the screen with who they see in the car) and wave you through? That is my experience at least. They don't even say a word.

 

[kong20100902]

If you use a NEXUS lane, don't they just look at you for a bit (matching the picture on the screen with who they see in the car) and wave you through? That is my experience at least. They don't even say a word.

I actually haven't used NEXUS on land crossing yet. I used it once in YVR airport. But I can peep in the regular lane that some people still get questioned when land crossing.