Selling House on F-1 or Green Card

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DerekW
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:04 pm

Selling House on F-1 or Green Card

Post by DerekW »

Here's a tricky question: I'm a 2nd year PhD student, Canadian citizen, living in North Carolina for the duration of my PhD (4 more years). My wife is a dual Can / US citizen. We bought a house when we moved down here.

Recognizing that getting a Green Card can take a couple years, I'm starting to think now about whether it is worth it for me to apply. I'm currently on an F-1 visa. Specifically I am wondering about what is going to happen when we sell our house in terms of taxes. Will it be better for me to be a Green Card, or to still be on F-1. The chances are 50/50 whether at that time we move back to CAN or stay in US.

Any tips on strategy here would be much appreciated. Would I get hit pretty hard tax-wise if I remained on my F-1? Are there outlying factors I haven't mentioned?
nelsona
Posts: 18314
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Re: Selling House on F-1 or Green Card

Post by nelsona »

What might make a differnce is if you are considered US tax resident or not, and coincidentally Cdn tax resident or not.

F1's typically cannot be considered US residents by IRS rules and by the tax treaty, so you may currently be a Cdn tax resident. What is your status?
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
Carasad
Posts: 17
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:06 pm

Re: Selling House on F-1 or Green Card

Post by Carasad »

It depends on your personal choice. I applied for an F1 visa four years ago. However, I won a greed card after the interview. The main disadvantage of the F1 visa is a leak of the opportunity to work off-campus in the first year of study. There is also the impossibility of obtaining a mortgage during the training period. I am glad that I managed to win a green card. As I have recently bought an apartment with the help of [Mortgage Advisor Leeds](https://leedsmoneyman.com). The most important thing is to change the status to a non-immigration one in your case. I will contain a double intention, which is allowed by the terms of the F-1 visa.
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