Moving my Canadian wife to USA (I'm Dual)

[richdocekal]

Hi all, I have read and searched but havent a clear answer. Please bear with me.


I am a Dual USA/CAN citizen with two passports.
My wife is CAN citizen with her CAN passport.
We were married in Alberta n 2001 and have lived here since.
We will be relocating to the USA in 5 years.
What do we need to do in order to register my wife for "resident Status" which she can later change to USA citizenship?

thanks all


Richard in Edmonton

[Reba]

You can sponsor her (and any children you may have) by submitting an I-130 sponsor petition at the closest US consulate. Then once that is approved (3 or 4 months currently I think) she will have to go to Montreal for an interview for an IR1 visa.

See http://www.visajourney.com for ALL the information you will need regarding marriage based immigration. You'll specifically want the Guides and Forum for DCF (direct consular filing).

[Steven]

Pretty much everything is on this website if you read it carefully: http://www.consular.canada.usembassy.go ... lative.asp

The only major thing that trips people up often that isn't mentioned there is that the sponsor must be up-to-date with their US tax returns. US citizens are required to file a 1040 return every year regardless of where they live, the immigration process requires you to provide three years worth of returns (the IRS usually requires seven if you've never filed).

If you haven't filed, you need to file your back taxes now (regardless of immigration), 1040 for every year you've missed and a 2555-EZ or 2555 for every year you've been living in Canada. Provided your income in Canada has been below the foreign exclusion limit (plus deductions and the exemption limit) since it was introduced in 2006 there is no tax to pay, it's just paperwork. Use the correct version of 1040 and 2555-EZ for whichever year you're filing.

[campbellclan6]

Hello Richard, this is almost identical to my situation. I am a US/Canadian citizen and married to a Canadian citizen in Calgary, Alberta. I took a job in the US and we moved down here in 2001. My wife wasn't planning to get a job since she was pregnant and we had a 1 one year old but it only took about 3 months for her to get a green card. We were a bit naive at the time and the only problem we ran into was when she was flying to the US and told the customs official that she was moving down her to live with her husband. Since the paperwork hadn't been processed yet she was turned away from the border and she had to get escorted over with our immigration lawyer. Apparently this could have been avoided by not making such a brazen statement of 'moving' to the US. I believe it was three years before she could apply for her US citizenship and she simply had to pass the background check and take the exam.