MOVING THE WHOLE FAMILY.

I have read a ton of posts and just havn't found one that fits my circumstances. I am a dual US/Can citizen who was born and raised in Canada. Never been to the US. Now I am 33 and married to Can. husband and have 2 children ages 10 and 4. Due to husbands poor health, Manitoba winters are killing him and we want to move to Arizona where we have relatives. I have my Consular Report of Birth Abroad doc.(FS-240)but not a passport. What steps would I have to take in order for my entire family to move? Is it possible for us to move all at the same time? Do I need to have a Social Security number? Do I need to have a job already waiting for me? We will have plenty of money from the sale of our Canadian properties. And does anyone have a ballpark figure for what a decent health care plan will cost the 4 of us? Any insight would be much appreciated.

visajourney.com Check out the CR-1//IR-1 forum. I'm assuming you have been married for over 2 years, so it would be the IR-1 Visa, which in the end he would end up with a 10 yr green card! (Cr-1 is for peoiple married less than 2 yrs, they get a 2 yr green card) Luckily the process seems to be speeding up and have seen a few cases completed in just over 6 months! I t had been taking close to, or over a year!! Interview for all Cr-1/IR-1 cases are held in Montreal. VJ has everyhting you need, step by step instructions, even examples of already filled out forms! And even a Canada section!! Cheers

AS a citizen, you would not need a job to move to US. Your finances would be called to account however for the sponsorship of your spouse, and kids.

You should have been filing tax returns all along, so you will need to start this process before moving, and will get an SSN by requesting one from SSA.gov. You'll need to back-file past 3 years.

Can I apply for a US passport while on a weekend trip to the states or do I have to go to the Toronto Consulate?

In US you apply at the Post office or courthouse , so weekend hours might be limited, and you may be missing something. call ahead to the one you choose.

If you can easily get to a US consulate (doesn't need to be Toronto, but I don't think Winnipeg will accept them, calgary would ), I would be tempted to just do it there, since they will be used to dealing with Cdn documents, etc. You will be staying in canada for a while.

http://canada.usembassy.gov/consulates.html

http://canada.usembassy.gov/passports.html

I figured with the information the poster put in their initial message they have already accessed these consular pages.

First-time applicants MUST go in person to present application.

Its free, if they want to look at they can.