Dual citizen going to US to study; CDN partner to follow...

Hi everyone,
What an amazing forum I've stumbled upon!! My name is Sabine and I am a dual US/Canadian citizen (born in the US, raised in Canada) who will be moving to the US in September to pursue a PhD in Psychology. I will be there for five years, minimum. I don't know what will happen after that but I'm pretty sure that I will be staying in the US. My partner (we're not yet married but have been living together common-law for nine years) is Canadian. He plans to stay behind in Canada at least for a year (working) but hopes to eventually live with me in the US. He works in the optical components industry (has a degree in Physics and aspires to work in an engineering department although is not trained/certified as an engineer). I don't know anything about the immigration process so if someone could please give me some insight into what our options are and where we should start looking, it would be greatly appreciated. The first obvious question I have is whether it would be prudent for us to get married in the near future. Does that really help to get someone into the US to work or is this more relevant to obtaining US citizenship? To work in the US, what exactly does one need?

Thank you so much for your guidance in advance!!!

Sabine

If your partner qualifies for some sort of job in the US and can get a job in teh same city where you're attending university, then he could get a work visa of some sort. But, they are temporary, and if the economy gets any worse (as the pundits think it will) then finding a job may be a bit difficult. Tonnes of info on this site about work visas, do a search for TN, or H1B or L1B.

If you get married, then you can sponsor him and he can move down as a permanent resident. For marriage based immigration info see http://www.visajourney.com

Marriage would probably be your best bet, if you're going to be in the US for 5 years or more. Get married now, and then start the paperwork, it should be done by the time he's ready to move down here in a year.

The first obvious question I have is whether it would be prudent for us to get married in the near future.

"Yes" is the short answer to that one. Family-based immigration is miles easier than employment-based and you need to be married (or at least engaged) to do it.

Get married now, file an I-130 for him and by the time he wants to move to the US the visa will be approved because it takes awhile.

We could sit here and list all the other options if you want but they are all a distant second to that one.

One snag - have you ever filed a US tax return? US citizens are required to file US tax returns regardless of where they live. And that will be an issue with sponsoring him as you have to show returns for the past three years showing you have enough income to support him.

What you need to do now (anyway, regardless of whether you're sponsoring him) is go to the Social Security office and get a social security number, then get hold of the IRS and see how many years back they want you to file for (usually seven, but it may be less depending on how old you are).

If you have Canadian-source income then technically you're supposed to pay US taxes on it, but you can claim a foreign tax credit on Form 2555 so you don't owe them anything. The only caveat being that if your income is over the foreign tax credit cap imposed in 2006 (which this year is $87,600) you will be subject to dual taxation.

Thank you so much to both of you for your insights. This gives me a lot to think about!!!

Sabine