small children and the TN status

Hello,
I have Canadian - Australian dual citizenship, my husband has American - Australian dual citizenship and we have a 3yr old and 10 month old both with Australian passports only.
I have a job in the US to start on March 1 and am planning on coming over on the TN visa, since my husband is American he won't need any special status but I'm wondering about the children - do they need anything special in their passports to stay in the US for a year? I suppose it would probably be a good time to get them their US passports but I don't know if I'll have time to get that done before we get there...
Any ideas?
TIA

Hello,
I have Canadian - Australian dual citizenship, my husband has American - Australian dual citizenship and we have a 3yr old and 10 month old both with Australian passports only.
I have a job in the US to start on March 1 and am planning on coming over on the TN visa, since my husband is American he won't need any special status but I'm wondering about the children - do they need anything special in their passports to stay in the US for a year? I suppose it would probably be a good time to get them their US passports but I don't know if I'll have time to get that done before we get there...
Any ideas?
TIA

I haven't heard of this situation before but I believe the ideal would be to get either US passports (if they qualify--this depends on how long your husband actually lived in the USA) or Canadian passports for the children. You are right that there may not be enough time.

I believe that with Australian passports only, the correct approach would be for the kids to enter the USA as a visa waiver entry for the first 90 days, and then for you to make a trip to the US consulate in Toronto to get them actual TD visas once you are ensconced in the US with your own TN status (within 90 days).

Concurrently with this you should be getting them their US passports (to avoid visa issues entirely) or their Canadian passports (to make it a simple border procedure not involving the consulate)--although given timing that might be better left until you have a firm US address. This will save a lot of hassle down the road.

It would probably reduce stress a bit if you could travel to the US via Canada and had a Canadian relative you could park the kids (and perhaps yourself) with for a few days in the event of border or consulate hassles. But I don't know if that is an option or not.

Thanks for that - yes it only just occurred to be that they may need some kind of status - my husband and I just became Australian citizens this year and have been in Australia 5 years now - so I would guess he spent enough time living in the US (~35 yrs) - I will get on that as soon as we get in.

Does the visa waiver involve any extra forms or anything before we go? or is it just promising to get them proper status within 90 days?

I'm afraid I don't have any way to leave the kids or husband in Canada while I go to the border so we're just going to have to cross fingers that it goes smoothly...

-- Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:00 am --

I should clarify - we will be in Canada on 25 Jan and the position doesn't start until 1 March so we will try driving over a couple weeks prior - I figured driving was the safest in case we do run into immigration issues - now just to figure out the car insurance and registration issues - that's another story...

The children are not eligible for visa waiver for TN dependant status (that is called TD). They might be eligible for visa waiver if the yenter as tourists, but this requires that they prove that they live somewhere else ,and don't intend to stay longer than 90 days. That may be hard to prove with your status and your husbands citizenship.

The question is whether they need a visa, or if they are US citizens. I would be going thru the trouble to figure this out now. If your hisband is a citizen, his kids are most likely. It does not depaend on how long he has been in US.

Another consideration is that, as a spouse of a US citizen now planning to live in US, you yourself may not be eligible for a TN or any other temp status, since you are likely to be moving to US more permanently than your TN would allow.

Thanks - yes that's what I'm trying to figure out.

I think I should be fine with the TN - I have no intention of staying longer than a couple years - we have a beautiful house here and and have a business here - this is the time to work overseas though before the children start school.

I didn't see anywhere saying that Canadian spouses of American citizens were ineligible for the TN visa.

If your husband is a citizen, his kids are most likely. It does not depaend on how long he has been in US.

I'm afraid it does depend on long he lived in the US. Here is a reference:

http://travel.state.gov/law/info/info_609.html

If one parent is a US citizen (the situation here), then the US citizen parent has to have lived in the US for at least five years total, two of those years after age 14, to pass US citizenship on to the kids. So, for example, if the husband is a natural born US citizen but had lived in Oz since age 14, his kids wouldn't be US citizens.

In this particular case, there should be no problem in principle, since he lived in the US for 35 years, but I don't know how easy/difficult it is to document that to the satisfaction of the State Dept.

If both parents are US citizens (not the situation here), then the situation is easier because only one parent has to have lived in the US, and there is no particular time constraint.

In all cases I presume the claim to US citizenship for the kids has to be proven, and I have no idea, unfortunately, how long that process takes.

-- Wed Dec 23, 2009 11:56 am --

Thanks for that - yes it only just occurred to be that they may need some kind of status - my husband and I just became Australian citizens this year and have been in Australia 5 years now - so I would guess he spent enough time living in the US (~35 yrs) - I will get on that as soon as we get in.

Does the visa waiver involve any extra forms or anything before we go? or is it just promising to get them proper status within 90 days?

I'm afraid I don't have any way to leave the kids or husband in Canada while I go to the border so we're just going to have to cross fingers that it goes smoothly...

-- Wed Dec 23, 2009 4:00 am --

I should clarify - we will be in Canada on 25 Jan and the position doesn't start until 1 March so we will try driving over a couple weeks prior - I figured driving was the safest in case we do run into immigration issues - now just to figure out the car insurance and registration issues - that's another story...

I'm a little confused--of course it isn't my business but I'm confused as to how you can plan to spend from Jan 25 to Mar 1 in Canada but not have any place to leave the husband and kids for a few hours while you make a quick trip to the border to get the TN.

Once you have the actual TN, you can start the process of getting them TD visas at the consulate.

Yes, the correct approach is for them to get US passports but I'm not sure if you have enough time to do this before Mar 1 at this point.

My reason for asking about the Canadian relative is that if you had a Canadian relative you could always say 'the kids are going to spend part of the summer at Grandma's in Canada' which would give a persuasive reason for them leaving after 90 days (if on visa waiver).

Yes I see your point - problem is I'm going to Ontario because my Grandmother died - we will be staying in her house while we're there - I'm going there to take care of her estate as best I can and hold a graveside ceremony for her - my next closest relative will be in Vancouver - I don't have any friends in the area as my grandmother just moved there while I have been living in Australia- I don't drive but I think that Windsor would be the closest at 2.5 hour drive away.

So my only option would be to leave the kids in some kind of daycare (my husband will be going over to the US alone to find us a place to live, check out childcare etc) - get on a bus to the border - get the visa - get the bus back and get the kids which is not an option - I've never been that far away from them.

The only thing I can think of is to maybe head to Windsor a couple days prior to when we were planning on going (mid-february) and see if I can get the TN visa there and go right back into Canada.

Oh this stuff does my head in...
Thanks and happy holidays!

(my husband will be going over to the US alone to find us a place to live, check out childcare etc)

Happy holidays to you as well!

You and he may want to rethink those plans and plan for him to spend some of that time in Canada. I think he may be needed more in Canada than the USA.

True he can check out childcare in the US but he may be limited in what he can do in terms of getting you a place to stay until you get a social security number--which won't happen until some time AFTER you get the TN. And it sounds like he is needed in Canada to help smooth over the trip to the border, especially since you don't drive.

Additionally since the correct way to do this is to have the kids get their passports, having your husband and your kids in the same place might make that easier.

.. .and another thing to keep in mind is that many border officers are reluctant to give a Tn long before time to start work.

ahaa!

I might just be able to get this in time if I can apply for it now and have it sent to Ontario - US Consular Report of Birth Abroad

Thanks for all the assistance!