Looking for some quick answers

[poppy]

Hi
I am planning to move to the states in the new year with my wife. I have read alot of your forums and could not get the answers I was looking for. I know there is a time limit to how long you can stay in the states. I don't have a problem with that ,as I work overseas on a 5 week rotation(5 weeks work/5 weeks off). My wife wants to stay in the states while I am working. She will not be working or looking for work while she is there. We know that there is 180 day limit. We need to know what she would need to stay longer in the states without have to return to Canada every 6 months.
Thanks

[Reba]

Even if you're going back and forth 5 weeks in, 5 weeks out, you're still going to run out of allowed visit time before the end of the year.

Canadians can't just pick up and "move" to the US without benefit of some sort of visa that allows them to do so. Your wife can't just go to the US and decide to stay there indefinitely, as you know. Regardless if she intends to work or not, she can't just stay there.

Unless either of you are otherwise eligible for permanent residency, what you plan to do is just not legally possible. Sorry.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis

[Steven]

Your principal residence cannot be the US as a visitor, doesn't matter that you have a five-week rotation. You could be in the US five days a year and 360 days be out of the country on a ship somewhere, you cannot establish residence in the US (although in fairness if it was only a few days you wouldn't need a DL or be using local healthcare etc. so it wouldn't be that much of an issue).

You would need to enter the US in some sort of category that allows you to live there, e.g. your employer would need to sponsor you for some sort of work-related category.

CBP are more interested about what your intent is rather than the six-month limit, you must have non-immigrant intent to enter the US as a visitor, and that requires proof of an abode abroad.

[lawsrlaws]

WOW! Right on Steven and Reba.

Agreed. Could not have said it better.