Canada/USA work questions

I am new here and have searched for an answer to my questions but can't seem to find anything that fits my specific situation. Here's the deal: I am a Canadian citizen and married an American in 2000. I became a permanent resident in the US in 2001. Recently we moved back to my home, Alberta. My husband is constantly traveling for work so we aren't sure if we will be here permanently yet. All our stuff is in storage;) Recently, I was offered a job to work from home (in Canada) by a company in Texas. Can I work for this company while living in Canada? Since I already have a SS number does the company have to do anything immigration wise for me to work for them? I would have to travel to Texas 3-4 days a month but the majority of my work would be done in Canada. My friend is a big boss at this company and she is trying to figure things out as far as me being in Canada. I don't want to get in trouble and risk losing my residency.not yet anyway. We still have a US bank account but sold our house when we moved.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for this great forum!

You've already lost your residency by leaving the US and taking up residence in Canada, unless you applied and rec'd a re-entry permit before you left.

Rules & Regs how to keep your permanent residency


You can work for a US company at home in Canada and should not require any work visa at all. Even to travel to Texas for a day or two should not require a visa, as a Canadian, you can go to the US without a visa or a business meeting.

Thanks for your reply! I guess what I meant by lose residency was actually physically no longer have my green card. I have only been out of the US for a few months. I know that you can only declare one residence for tax purposes. I just don't want to have to start the green card process again if I am out of the US too long. I did not apply for a re-entry permit before we left and am kicking myself now! Can I still do that from Canada?

nope, you are supposed to do it before you leave, and you are supposed to have it in your hot little hands before you leave the country.

The system is set up so that you are basically forced to surrender permanent residency if you leave, because under the tax treaty and US law you must file as a resident tax payer in the US if you are an LPR. If you establish residency somewhere else, then you have to file as a resident there, so to avoid dual taxation you are forced to surrender your PR status in the US.

There are various threads in the US section of the forum on how to work remotely for a US company.

As a Canadian resident they either have to do the payroll withholding for you in Canada (which requires them to have their business registered in Canada with a business number) or you have to register as self-employed or set up a corporation and do the payroll withholding, GST return, etc. yourself.

Once you've set up your business you simply invoice them and they pay you and that goes on your income statement and balance sheet.

On the US end you have to file a 1040NR (as an individual) or 1120-F (as a corporation) as well as make a tax treaty claim on Form 8833 so that your client does not have to do non-resident alien tax withholding (there is no tax to be paid in the US by you directly if the work is physically done in Canada, these returns are informational only). Also you have to give the US client a completed Form 8233 for their records so they have something to show to the IRS to prove they don't have to do the withholding.

If you end up doing any work in the US (this excludes progress meetings and training) you can work in the US for up to 90 days and receive less than $10,000 in payment under the tax treaty with no obligation to pay taxes in the US (more than that and taxes have to be paid proportionally, and you would have to claim a foreign tax credit in Canada).

This of course assumes you have given up LPR status in the US, otherwise your worldwide income is taxable there.

Having a US SSN is irrelevant as you would not be directly employed by them. Even if you were, you would be directly employed in Canada, so they would have to comply with Canadian law in that situation and use your SIN.