Living on the border

[Roddy]

If I were to live on the border and rent a place in Canada to live but cross the border back to the US every day for work how would that work for getting permanent residency? Where is t

 

[rish888]

Are you are citizen/permanent resident of Canada?

Are you a citizen/permanent resident of the United States?

 

[Roddy]

Citizen of the United States. I hear you can still rent a spot in Canada at least for 6 months but not work without a permit. So if I cross the border every day to the US I would still be able to work. And would crossing the border everyday make it so I could stay in Canada longer than the 6 months?

 

[Buletruck]

You have to be a citizen/PR of Canada to live/work in Canada. Apart from that, I think you would find CBSA would at some point (probably very quickly) deny you entry if they felt you were living in Canada without proper status.

 

[scylla]

Agreed with the above. It's not doable. Sooner or later you'll be stopped by CBSA and either denied entry (possibly even issued an exclusion order) or told you have to stop soon.

 

[Rob_TO]

If I were to live on the border and rent a place in Canada to live but cross the border back to the US every day for work how would that work for getting permanent residency?

Renting a place in Canada and staying here any amount of time, does nothing to get your PR status. To apply for PR status you have to qualify for an existing immigration stream and apply.

What is the point of trying to rent a place to stay in Canada, if you're a US citizen and intending to work everyday in the US anyways??

 

[rish888]

You can't live in Canada with a temporary visa. (What Americans usually get when they show up at the Canadian border.) If you want to move to Canada permanently look at their immigration options. Assuming your a "skilled worker" (college degree, white collar job , and under 30 years old ideally) Canada has some very attractive immigration options that offer you permanent residency with a path to citizenship in 3 years.

The only remotely valid excuse I could think of for an American without any sort of Canadian residency trying to cross into Canada everyday (successfully) is a little kid with a craving for kinder eggs living in a border town. However even in this case he should be in and out in under 30 mins.

Practically speaking your plan is not feasible. You could always head to Canada in the summer for a few months without issue, but if CBSA thinks you are living in Canada (something which you won't be able to deny if the ask you flat out) you will be in big trouble.