Canadian Living In USA and Working in Canada

Hi everyone,

I am presently working in Canada on a 1 week on and 1 week off work schedule. During my time off I stay with my girlfriend in the USA, she is a US citizen. I was wondering if there was any laws or visa's I needed to apply for to live in the USA well I'm not at work? Also I will be purchasing a residents to live in, well I'm living in the US. The mortgage will be financed through a Canadian bank in which I already have financing from. So I was wondering if there was any laws for holding a property title as a non US resident?


Any help would be much appreciated.

You will need some sort of visa in order to be able to legally live in the US. If you intend to keep your job in Canada however, I can't think of what visa you'd be eligible for, unless you and your girlfriend intend to get married, then she can sponsor you for a spousal visa.

Anyone can buy a house in the US, it's no different from anyone else, the only snag may be the property tax as residents can get a discount in some States. Also there are requirements about appearing in person which may not apply to residents but I can't see how that would matter in your situation because you plan on living there.

You want to be wary of the residency situation, USCIS doesn't like you staying for more than six months in a calendar year, plus you would eventually become resident for tax purposes in the US under the substantial presence test. Easy enough to get out of, you just file a 1040NR and an 8833 every year to claim a closer connection to Canada and there is no tax obviously as your job is in Canada and that's your principal residence.

Have a read of: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p151/README.html