Need lots of input on near-border living/commuting, etc.

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Skoorb
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:44 pm

Need lots of input on near-border living/commuting, etc.

Post by Skoorb »

Canadian citizens & greencard holders (my wife and I). It is desirous for us to live close to a major hub, to facilitate timely travel to eastern canada. Toronto airport fits this bill better than anywhere, but it's also desirous for us to remain in the US (maintain GC but also it works significantly better for my wife's employment). If we moved to Buffalo area, what would be involved in a daily commute to st catherines or even hamilton (if desperate)? Is there a significant delay at the border both ways or is this a common thing for people to do? It would be only to open up additional job markets (Information Technology, and BTW, does anybody know how IT is in this general area?). Travel from wheatfield, NY is only 18 and 56 miles to St C and Hamilton and 20 or less to Buffalo, so it seems a good staging ground.

Would this activity (if I did daily commute) in any way compromise the GC? I understand that to maintain it I need to live in the US and employment (be it in the US or Canada) would not affect it. Thanks for any input. It is a great help!

Additionally, is having citizenship with CAN and a greencard of any obvious asset in an employment search? I wonder if it could be of much help to a business in buffalo to be able to seamlessly send somebody across the border or vice versa.
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Would this activity (if I did daily commute) in any way compromise the GC?
It might. You need to be living in US to safely maintain your GC, or get specific short-term permission to live outside, which would be subject to daily scrutiny at the border. They would see that you are 'putting your head down at night' in Canada. Some get what is known asa 'commuter green card" in your situation.

It would be better to get US citizenship; then you can live and/or work wherever you want without restrictions or worries about losing GC. Time spent in commuter GC status does not count towards getting citizenship.
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
Skoorb
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2005 8:44 pm

Post by Skoorb »

nelsona wrote:
Would this activity (if I did daily commute) in any way compromise the GC?
It might. You need to be living in US to safely maintain your GC, or get specific short-term permission to live outside, which would be subject to daily scrutiny at the border. They would see that you are 'putting your head down at night' in Canada. Some get what is known asa 'commuter green card" in your situation.

It would be better to get US citizenship; then you can live and/or work wherever you want without restrictions or worries about losing GC. Time spent in commuter GC status does not count towards getting citizenship.
Sorry if I was unclear. I'd still be living in the US but possibly commute to Canada, working there. I realize the taxes of such a thing would not be ideal, which is why I only want to consider it as a backup in case I was not employed in Buffalo but could be just inside of Canada.
nelsona
Posts: 18311
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
Location: Nowhere, man

Post by nelsona »

Yes. You were generally unclear.

Commuting to work in canada would not impact your GC,
nelsona non grata. Non pro. Please Search previous posts, no situation is unique as you might think. Happy Browsing :D
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