Hello, I am a Canadian who lived in the Caribbean for 7 years and wishes to legally work in US. For the last year I have been residing here with my boyfriend who has a green card. What/how can I live and work legally in the US? TN1? HB1????? I had to have work permits living and working in the Caribbean - but am confused about how to go about obtaining one for the US). Thanks, ----------------------------david ingram replies:
It sounds as if you are already in the US and have overstayed any visitor's status you may have bigtime.
.
The rules are simple. The longest staus you would be given as a Canadian entering the US as a visitor would be six months. If you have been there a year and a day, you have already overstayed that six months by six months and WILL BE banned from the US for three years if you come to the attention of the USCIS personnel under Section 301 of the Illegal IMMIGRANT AND LEGAL IMMIGRANT RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1996. i.e.
Overstay
your visa more than 180 days and you ARE banned from the U.S. for three
years. Overstay your visa by more than 1 year and you ARE banned from
the U.S. for 10 years. (Section 301 - effective April 1, 1997)
On
the other hand, if you left the US to visit the Bahamas or came back to
Caanda for Thanksgiving or Xmas, you will be okay because you
re-entered under anew status.
If
you have a University degree, you might qualify for a TN visa as
follows later.
If
you have a University degree you will usually qualify for an H1B visa
and may also qualify for a H1 if you have a specialized knowledge
skill.
You
will Not qualify for a H1 for any job that is not specialized knowledge
or managerial.
In
either case, you have to find the job and then, the employer has to
sponsor you.
a
TN is easy. If you were an engineer for instance, you can get the TN
in one day at the airport or any other US Port of Entry (POE). An H1
will usually take over a year because for one thing they are not taking
any more applications at this time. The 2008 quota was used up in 2
days as the following excerpt from Wikipedia shows.
As you can see, in two days they received 123, 480 applicatiosn but there are only 65,000 accepted. As a result, they did a draw and almost 1/2 were not even considered. You only have a month to find a job and get the employer to submit an application by April 1, 2009.
If you do not qualify for a TN or H1B, your best bet is likely to get married.
You can find the rules for him to sponsor you here.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=c67c7f9ded54d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=db029c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
Go to www.centa.com amd read 'Entering the USA' in the second box down on the right hand side for a description of different visas including a list of jobs that qualify for a TN.
--------------------------------------------
It is very unlikely that blind or unexpected email to me will be answered. I receive anywhere from 100 to 700 unsolicited emails a day and usually answer anywhere from 2 to 20 if they are not from existing clients. Existing clients are advised to put their 'name and PAYING CUSTOMER' in the subject line and get answered first. I also refuse to be a slave to email and do not look at it every day and have never ever looked at it when I am out of town. e bankruptcy expert US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax service and help
david ingram's US / Canada Services
US / Canada / Mexico tax, Immigration and working Visa Specialists
US / Canada Real Estate Specialists
My Home office is at:
North Vancouver, BC, CANADA, V7N 3L7
Cell (604) 657-8451 -
(604) 980-0321 Fax (604) 980-0325
Calls welcomed from 10 AM to 9 PM 7 days a week Vancouver (LA) time - (please do not fax or phone outside of those hours as this is a home office) expert US Canada Canadian American Mexican Income Tax service help.
$1,700 would be for two people with income from two countries
Catch - up returns for the US where we use the Canadian return as a guide for seven years at a time will be from $150 to $600.00 per year depending upon numbers of bank accounts, RRSP's, existence of rental houses, self employment, etc. Note that these returns tend to be informational rather than taxable. In fact, if there are children involved, we usually get refunds of $1,000 per child per year for 3 years. We have done several catch-ups where the client has recieved as much as $6,000 back for an $1,800 bill and one recently with 6 children is resulting in over $12,000 refund.
David Ingram expert income tax service and immigration help and preparation of US Canada Mexico non-resident and cross border returns with rental dividend wages self-employed and royalty foreign tax credits family estate trust trusts income tax convention treaty advice on bankruptcy