US green card and Canadian PR at the same time

[hydigal]

Hi guys. I am in similar situation and would really appreciate any insight you guys have.

I have a US Green Card since 2014 and I will be eligible to apply for US citizenship this April and my physical presence requirement to apply for US citizenship has been met. My fiancé lives in Canada and is a Canadian citizen. I applied for Canada PR under express entry last October and my application got approved and my passport has been stamped with confirmation of Canada PR today. I have a remote job in US and I have been traveling to Canada via road by presenting my US GC and I am working remotely from Canada often. I’m getting married this June and I am planning on spending around 10 days in US every month till I get my US citizenship and live in Canada for the rest. My USCIS office will be MN and unfortunately processing time shows anywhere between 1.5-2yrs. My concern is once I receive my Canada PR card, what will I answer border agents when I exit US and enter Canada and when I exit Canada and enter US? My job will be for a US employer, I will maintain my address in US but I will be living in Canada for majority of the time. I’m worried if this will raise red flags to the US border agents? I drive often from US to Canada and I want to make sure I am thorough in my response. I know I’m not doing anything illegal but the border officers make me nervous.

I will keep working for my US employer, keep my DL, bank accounts, file taxes till I get my US passport. I’m not worried about physical presence requirement for Canada as I’ll be living there most of the time and if there’s an issue, my fiancé is a Canadian citizen. I’m worried about my Canada PR and extensive travel to Canada causing issues with my US citizenship application. Please provide your inputs. TIA.

 

[Henuk]

I am a US greencard holder , i am in the process of getting canadian pr on a sponsership basis. Can i keep two pr’s ??

 

[Bs65]

I am a US greencard holder , i am in the process of getting canadian pr on a sponsership basis. Can i keep two pr’s ??

As per the posts above there is no restriction on having a green card and being a Canadian PR although there are residency requirements of course in Canada that need to be met (2 out of 5 ) years and the US at some point might question a green card holders residency.

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/after-green-card-granted/maintaining-permanent-residence

 

[vamsi_krishna]

Hello Forum members, glad to meet people in the same boat.

I am currently staying in the US on an F1-Visa (student Visa).
I want to stay in the US, but I am keeping Canadian PR as a safety net (cuz you can't predict what might happen in the H-1b process).
I am about to apply for Canadian PR (hopefully it gets approved in the next 6 months), and I am planning to apply for the US green card in 2023.
If I get the Canadian PR this year, will I face any issues during the US green card process or green card interview? Like he could ask me "you already had Canadian PR, why you wanna apply for US green card again?".
I'm afraid if having a Canadian PR would impact/toughen the process of getting a US Green card/citizenship
in future.

Please help me with this scenario. I'm totally confused about the further steps.

 

[IndianBos]

There is no impact, the two processes are unrelated. I had applied for both at the same time in 2015, ended up moving to Canada finally though. I am sure you will find countless people of this forum with a similar story, and no impact to either processes.

Just to note, once you have acquired Canadian PR, you have an obligation to physically stay in Canada for 2 out 5 years, else risk losing the PR. Just take that into account as you move forward.

 

[vamsi_krishna]

That's so soothing to hear.
So, can we opt for staying in Canada (any bordering city) and attending the classes online?
Cuz a couple of my friends do the classes completely online as they wanna stay with their families.
I'm not sure whether this applies to me, and is legal as per US norms for F1-visa.

 

[IndianBos]

That's so soothing to hear.
So, can we opt for staying in Canada (any bordering city) and attending the classes online?
Cuz a couple of my friends do the classes completely online as they wanna stay with their families.
I'm not sure whether this applies to me, and is legal as per US norms for F1-visa.

Once you are a PR in Canada, you can stay anywhere and study or work, or not work. Studying in a foreign university (USA in this case) is also not a problem.
Regarding you F1 status in the Us, I dont know enough to be able to comment.

 

[canuck78]

That's so soothing to hear.
So, can we opt for staying in Canada (any bordering city) and attending the classes online?
Cuz a couple of my friends do the classes completely online as they wanna stay with their families.
I'm not sure whether this applies to me, and is legal as per US norms for F1-visa.

Other than during covid I don't believe you can be only doing distance study from another country. That is something to verify but would defeat the point of the visa.

 

[brennan]

There is no impact, the two processes are unrelated. I had applied for both at the same time in 2015, ended up moving to Canada finally though. I am sure you will find countless people of this forum with a similar story, and no impact to either processes.

Just to note, once you have acquired Canadian PR, you have an obligation to physically stay in Canada for 2 out 5 years, else risk losing the PR. Just take that into account as you move forward.

For peoples’ info who this is applicable towards; If you are a Canadian Citizen, and your applicant is your spouse or common-law partner, they do not need to be physically in Canada for 2/5 years as long as they reside with you, the Canadian Citizen sponsor, anywhere you the sponsor are in the world.

S. 3-1

 

[dpenabill]

For peoples’ info who this is applicable towards; If you are a Canadian Citizen, and your applicant is your spouse or common-law partner, they do not need to be physically in Canada for 2/5 years as long as they reside with you, the Canadian Citizen sponsor, anywhere you the sponsor are in the world.

S. 3-1

The gist of what you are saying is mostly true but not entirely. There is a pitfall lurking in the details.

Note, in particular, the FAQ response does NOT say "If you are a Canadian Citizen, and your applicant is your spouse or common-law partner, they do not need to be physically in Canada for 2/5 years as long as they reside with you, the Canadian Citizen sponsor, anywhere you the sponsor are in the world."

Not only is this statement different from the FAQ response (the FAQ response refers to "travel" with rather than "reside" with the citizen spouse), but it differs from the language in the statute itself, which is Section 28(2)(a)(ii) IRPA (see https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/page-7.html#h-274598 for the statute), which specifically allows credit for days abroad a PR is "outside Canada accompanying a Canadian citizen who is their spouse or common-law partner" . . . noting the term used is "accompanying," not residing.

That is, in some cases it matters who-accompanied-whom. There is an in-depth discussion of this here: https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/who-accompanied-whom-can-matter-for-prs-living-with-citizen-spouse-abroad-update.579860/

This lurking pitfall does NOT affect the vast majority of PRs . . . but that is mostly because the vast majority of PRs live in Canada, and a high percentage of PRs living outside Canada with a Canadian citizen spouse did live in Canada before they moved abroad with their Canadian citizen spouse.

While the pitfall is mostly lurking for those PRs who never settled in Canada, for PRs relying on credit for time abroad living with a Canadian citizen spouse we are not certain of the actual scope of who might be challenged based on questions about who-accompanied-whom. There are conflicting interpretations of what "accompanying" a citizen spouse means, as used in Section 28(2)(a)(ii) IRPA (again, see https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/page-7.html#h-274598 for the statute), or how it is applied; some of the actual cases focus on who-accompanied-whom despite Section 61(4) IRPR, the applicable regulation (see https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/page-14.html#h-686425 for Section 61(4) IRPR), which refers to "accompanying" applying "each day that the permanent resident is ordinarily residing with the Canadian citizen," and have denied the credit for days the PR was living with the citizen spouse . . . based on the conclusion the citizen spouse was accompanying the PR abroad rather than the PR accompanying the citizen.

So it can be a little more complicated, a bit more tricky, than getting credit toward the PR Residency Obligation for days abroad the PR resides with a Canadian citizen spouse. Again, typically we do not see this problem coming up unless the PR never actually lived in Canada, but it has surfaced in some other situations.

 

[FeelTheBern]

I’m an Indian citizen residing in the US on L1 visa. I’ve recently got COPR + PR visa for Canada. I’m planning to complete soft landing in Canada soon and come back to the US immediately to continue on L1 visa.

As my employer is going to file my US GC application within a few months, would it be an issue for the US GC process if I have the Canadian PR already (although I’ll continue staying in the US, not Canada)?

 

[YVR123]

I’m an Indian citizen residing in the US on L1 visa. I’ve recently got COPR + PR visa for Canada. I’m planning to complete soft landing in Canada soon and come back to the US immediately to continue on L1 visa.

As my employer is going to file my US GC application within a few months, would it be an issue for the US GC process if I have the Canadian PR already (although I’ll continue staying in the US, not Canada)?

If you continue to stay in US, you cannot meet your RO as a PR of Canada. Is your spouse a Canadian citizen?

 

[FeelTheBern]

If you continue to stay in US, you cannot meet your RO as a PR of Canada. Is your spouse a Canadian citizen?

Hi @YVR123, I’m prioritizing the US GC application (as it’s through EB1 category) over Canada PR. But my question is: would USCIS raise any issue during the GC process if they find that I already have a Canada PR visa stamp on my passport?

 

[canuck78]

Hi @YVR123, I’m prioritizing the US GC application (as it’s through EB1 category) over Canada PR. But my question is: would USCIS raise any issue during the GC process if they find that I already have a Canada PR visa stamp on my passport?

No as long as you remain in the US

 

[dodgeram12]

Hi All,

here is my situation. I lived in Canada for 4.5 years and filed for citizenship (in 2022), few months after citizenship application was filled I got transferred to USA where I received GC in EB category (in 2023). I just completed my canadian citizenship test and i expect to get the oath invite by summer of 2023. My question is - when i travel to Canada via border for the oath ceremony, will there be any problem as I continue to maintain the residency and job in USA on green card?