Couple of years in US

[fephoo]

Hi,

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is US citizen with Canadian permanent residency. We live in Canada. We are exploring how we could go and work a couple of years in the us...
What is the best and easiest option ?
I am aware of the TN visa but I am programmer so I don't think it can work. We already have a process started with getting me sponsored for permanent US residency (we are at a point were we have the application on hold and we call every year to maintain the application still open). But does it make sense to get permanent US residency for 2 years and losing it after... also would my wife lose her Canadian permanent residence ?
Tax wise, I own a place in Canada... how would that work ?

Thanks for your help. Fab

[agnelson]

You will get US PR status almost instantly.

In fact, that is abou the only way you will be able to go to US with your US citizen wife, since you are assumed to be immigrating when you move there with her. You may even have to start the process before moving down.

[Reba]

um...no. If the petition he's got for residency is thru marriage, then it shouldn't even take a year, if it's already in processing but on hold. Why would you say 8 years?

Yes, go ahead and complete the process you have on-going now. You can move to the US on CR1 based on marriage, stay for however long you like. Your wife's residency status in Canada is safe as long as you two are still married and living together.

[agnelson]

Missed the "us" citizen. Shouldn't US be capitalized?? My bad. I've amended my post.

You wifes Cdn PR status is safe. However, your US PR status would be at risk if you returned to Canada.
The best pracrice would be to get PR status in US (quite frankly, there is no other status you could get to be in US) and stay 3 years to get US citizenship.

[fephoo]

Thanks for the answers and sorry about the US which was not in capitals... it's corrected now

What is CR1 ?
So after 3 years living in the US... you say I could get US Citizenship.
Is that still true knowing that I currently have already dual citizenship (France: born there & Canada: got it this year after 6 years as a Canadian resident) ? My kids have the 3 Citizenships but I am not sure I could get the same...

[Reba]

you can collect as many as you want, as long as the countries you have citizenship in allow mulitple. The US technically does not, however they do not enforce that particular law.

CR1 is the visa that you get when your spouse sponsor's you for permanent residency. And yes, IF your permanent residency is gained thru marriage based sponsorship, you can apply for citizenship 3 years later.

What process exactly do you currently have "on hold"? It would greatly help us help you if you could elaborate.

[fephoo]

I got my papers back, and refreshed my memory a bit.

We started the process in 2005, my US citizen wife sponsored me to get the permanent resident status. We started it because at the time we were not sure where we would be living and we knew it was a long process. In the papers, it does mention I would get CR1 visa and we are at a point were I have an Affidavit of Support (I-864) that has to be mailed to the NVC for the process to continue... it mentions that if it is not sent within a year, the process will be in termination... but we call each year and make sure they keep it active.

[Reba]

so then send in the affidavit of support info and fee and get the ball rolling again. It should only take a few months to complete it, then you will go to Montreal for your interview and there ya go, you can shuffle off to Buffalo.

For marriage based immigration info and info on the CR1 process go to www.visajourney.com