Marrying an American

However, by law her husband has to file taxes as married, and declare her income, whether she's in the country or not. BTDT, they didn't sell t-shirts.

Not if she's a non-immigrant alien and he's a resident US citizen, you can't file jointly a 1040NR and a 1040. And she could claim that until she filed for AOS or established other "residential ties".

Like I said there is a bit of fudge room there (not much because obviously you're married to an American and living there, I wouldn't try pushing it past three months). It still means you have to move near the end of the year, just not exactly on January 1st, necessarily.

You can always move your tax home prior to actually moving too, so if she moved say, at the end of January with a CR-1 she could say she established residential ties for tax purposes on January 1st. The problem with that is if she's working for the first couple of weeks of January in Canada, she would have to file a non-resident T1 as well as a (joint) 1040, instead of just a 1040 the following year. But doing it this way can get dicey with the CRA if they decide you were a resident of Canada for the first part of January. So quit your job before January 1st and don't have any Canadian-source income after the end of the year, basically, then it doesn't matter.

My best friend lives in Texas. I live in London, Canada. His son lives in Toronto. He has been trying to get a job in Canada for the past 10 years, but no one will hire him without him moving here first. He has tried to move and find a job here, and move here so that we can be together and get married. Im a single mother of 3 young children, and not working right now. I am on Ontario Works (welfare) Can we get married, and can he come live here, or do I have to be able to financially support him in order for him to come here?

He has to show proof of funds when he enters, either with cash or a bank statement usually, I forget what the exact amount is but it's several thousand dollars, have a read of the CIC website.

If you sponsor him as your husband you are exempt from showing a specific amount of income, however, because you are on government assistance and not employed, AFAIK, you would not qualify as a sponsor.

Check out the forums and info at http://roadtocanada.com someone there would know for sure.

The application form asks for proof of funds, and then also when he enters he must prove at that point he's got them.

Depends which method of immigration he's applying for. If she intends to sponsor him as his wife, then no, the USC does not have to show proof of funds. If he's immigrating based on the skilled worker class, then yes, I believe he would.

As she's on welfare, she wouldn't qualify as a sponsor anyhow, so about his only option is skilled worker class. Unless she gets a job and off the dole.