Question on using US green card to enter Canada

S

sk-1

Registered Users (C)
Dear Forum members,

Background:

Canadian PR holders since April 2006; Landed in 2006 and returned back to US same day to continue to work on H1-B visa. Have used Canadian PR to visit Canada for H1-B stamping 2-3 times since then.

Finally obtained US green card in May 2008. Fully intent to continue to reside and work in US. In other words plan to utilize the permanent resident status in US.

I have to travel on work to Canada for a few days in a few weeks, had the following questions:

Q1) I plan to use US green card to enter Canada. Will I have issues as I am a Canadian PR holder as well and have used Canadian PR card to enter in the past.

Q2) Is it recommended to give up Canadian PR status to avoid problems with US PR status? It will automatically lapse in 5 years, but if I should give up Canadian PR status earlier, I am all for it. How does one go about doing it?

Q3) What is the legal answer; can one have both Canadian and US PR cards at same time? I understand that maintaining status is hard/impossible, but can one have PR cards at same time.

Thanks in advance to all.
Regards.
 
I've been reading quite a bit about this on another board and from what I've gathered , it is will be in your best interest to give your Canadian PM ASAP. You do not want to run into an overzealous IO on the US side. A few weeks an IO revoked a pending I-485 from a family who were on their way back from landing in Canada to accept their PR. They were not let in at the boarder and are stuck in Canada while all their possessions are over here.. Another poster who has both said he gave up his Canadian PR as soon as he got the US. Bottom-line , it's not advisable to have 2 PRs. Speak to an attorney as to the best way to go about it.
 
Envision,

How does one return or give up Canadian PR card and status?

Also, I will not be returning after landing for US immigration officer to give me a hard time as I had Canadian PR card prior to filing AOS for US immigration, hence, intent to stay in US was never challenged.

Does anyone else have a 1st hand account of my questions.

Thanks again.
 
sk-1 said:
Dear Forum members,

Background:

Canadian PR holders since April 2006; Landed in 2006 and returned back to US same day to continue to work on H1-B visa. Have used Canadian PR to visit Canada for H1-B stamping 2-3 times since then.

Finally obtained US green card in May 2008. Fully intent to continue to reside and work in US. In other words plan to utilize the permanent resident status in US.

I have to travel on work to Canada for a few days in a few weeks, had the following questions:

Q1) I plan to use US green card to enter Canada. Will I have issues as I am a Canadian PR holder as well and have used Canadian PR card to enter in the past.
---------------------------- You can enter Canada with US Green Card
Q2) Is it recommended to give up Canadian PR status to avoid problems with US PR status?

It will automatically lapse in 5 years, but if I should give up Canadian PR status earlier, I am all for it. How does one go about doing it?
---------------------At the border you need to inform the Canada immigration that you want to abandon Canada PR status and officer will give you a form to fill.

Q3) What is the legal answer; can one have both Canadian and US PR cards at same time? I understand that maintaining status is hard/impossible, but can one have PR cards at same time.
----not advised to keep both. you got US GC after Canada PR and US immigration can create problems if you say you are Canada PR
Thanks in advance to all.
Regards.
Click to expand...
http://geo.international.gc.ca/asia/new-delhi/site/permrescard-en.aspx
Please note
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, it is not possible for you to "cancel" or voluntarily relinquish your permanent resident status.

If you wish to travel to Canada as a visitor and you previously held Permanent Resident status, in order to obtain a visitor visa, you must first apply for a Travel Document to determine if you have indeed retained that status.

If a determination has been made that you have not retained that status, you can either proceed to appeal the decision, or relinquish the right to appeal. If you relinquish the right to appeal, a visitor visa may be issued if all requirements are met.
 
Update on my trip to Canada

All,

Thank you all for the advice. I completed my trip this week, was gone for 3 days. My experience is as follows:

Landed at Montreal airport. At Canadian immigration showed them my passport and US PR card. Was asked the reason for visit and job title. Satisfied with response, Canadian customs stamped passport and that was it.

On return back, the US custom is done at Montreal airport itself. Was asked reason for visit and title. The guy looked over current passport, swiped PR card checked his screen and then stamped passport. In the entry stamp in the passport where it says class he entered ARC and wrote the A# below it. No fingerprinting or photograph was taken.

Does anyone know what ARC means?
 
sk-1 said:
All,

Thank you all for the advice. I completed my trip this week, was gone for 3 days. My experience is as follows:

Landed at Montreal airport. At Canadian immigration showed them my passport and US PR card. Was asked the reason for visit and job title. Satisfied with response, Canadian customs stamped passport and that was it.

On return back, the US custom is done at Montreal airport itself. Was asked reason for visit and title. The guy looked over current passport, swiped PR card checked his screen and then stamped passport. In the entry stamp in the passport where it says class he entered ARC and wrote the A# below it. No fingerprinting or photograph was taken.

Does anyone know what ARC means?
Click to expand...

but how come they didn't find out about ur canadian pr card ...i heard if u have both us green card and canadian pr card ..you have to use canadian pr card when u enter canada and us green card when u enter US...otherwise they'll find out from their computers that u have cards from both countries...is it true coz i am in a same mess i study in US and have both cards but donno how to deal with border officers when i travel backnforth....should i use my US green card always to travel to canada and coming back or use canadian pr card when i renter into canada and us green card when coming back to us....

would be a great help if u answer these questions
 
does anyone have any recent insights about this? Is anybody able to successfully maintain both US GC and CA PR while traveling back and forth between USA and Canada?
 
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