USA resident buying residential property in Canada

QUESTION:

Hello,

I am Canadian and have lived in the US for about 2 years.  I am on a HB-1 visa, and I plan to file a green card application in October this year.  I would like to figure out what I need to do to buy an investment property in Vancouver Canada without changing my tax status.

I have 100% US income with no income from Canada, and have had no Canadian taxes since the first full year here.  I severed my significant ties when I left and I am currently an deemed non-resident in Canada for tax purposes (and would like to stay that way).  Nonetheless, I've kept one Canadian bank account and credit card account alive.

How can I buy investment property in Canada without affecting my tax / residency status?

I've found your answer to a similar question here:

http://tax.centa.com/article.php?story=20070623235705172&query=property

But I'm asking this question again because my situation is a little different.  I'm interested in buying a new condo that is due for completion 2 years later.  That means I can't rent it out until then.  However, that also means I can't live there either even if I wanted to.  So, it seems I can't prove that I'm buying it as investment, and yet I can guarantee that I won't live there for at least 2 years.  What can I do in this case?

Thank you.
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david ingram replies:

Although the concept of having a  home available to you in Canada can make the CRA take a run at you, you would have to spend more than 6 monhts a year in canda before you became taxable in Canada on your world income.  Even if you left the condo open for you  to visit and stay in two months a year, you woul d only be taxable on earnings actually earned by working in Caanda at that time.  That could occur if you came to Vancouver for a couple of months and telecommutred back to your US employer.

However, it is not available while being built and if rented from the time it can be rented, it will not make you taxable on your US income if you do not come back to live or spend significant time here. �

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