living part-time in the US and Canada

Hi, I would really appreciate some input on my petite dilemma. I am from Vancouver, BC. My boyfriend lives in Portland, and cannot move to Canada (Family reasons). I have a business here, and do not wish to dissolve that, my plan is to live with him for 3wks at a time, and then come back to work and take care of business for 1 week out of the month. Could this work, and if so what would be the details?

Also, my mother and son would come with me, and take on the six month stay (as allotted to Canadians), until we figure out the whole marriage path etc. Could my son go to school in Portland without needing papers (visa), and also, how long would he have to come back to Canada for before returning to the US? Same for my Mother?

If anyone has any advice this would be greatly appreciated, We do not want to get married until we are sure that the relationship is stable, conversely, we do not wish to marry just for a Visa sake, as we both take our vows quite seriously.

Thank you in advance for any, and all your advice.

Sandra

The law is that you can visit the US for 6 months at a time, but then you must be out of the country for just as long. So you can't just go back to Canada for a week or two, turn around and re-enter the US for another 6 months stay.

Not sure about the school issue for your son.

And for yourself, if you end up spending more time in the US than in Canada, you will eventually be stopped and denied entry until/unless you get a proper visa. For your situation, that would likely be a marriage based visa, which will give derivative status to your son, but not your mother. And you would be unable to sponsor your mother until you have US citizenship, which will be several years down the road. Unless she is otherwise eligible, she'd have to do the 6 months in the US, 6 months in Canada back and forth thing.

Thank you for your advice. I will have to rethink my situation.

The burden of proof is always on the applicant. There is no set period of time Canadians must wait to re-enter the U.S. after the end of their stay, but if it appears to the CBP officer that the person applying for entry is spending more time over-all in the U.S. than in Canada, it will be up to the traveler to prove to the officer that they are not de-facto U.S. residents. One of the ways to do this is demonstrate significant ties to their home country, including proof of employment, residency, etc.