Working for Texas based company and living in Buffalo for short time crossing the border every weekend

TAPS2050

TAPS2050

New Member
Dear Experts and Other fellow Members,

Hope you are all doing well. I am desperately looking for answer of this question. Below are my current situation and questions. I would greatly appreciate your answer. Thanks in advance.

I received my TN status on May 15 from a Texas-based company. The support letter mentioned their Dallas address and that I would be working from their Dallas office. I moved to Dallas on June 1, purchased a car, transferred my Ontario driver's license to a Texas driver's license, registered the car, and obtained a library card for Dallas. However, my family (wife and 6-year-old child) remains in Toronto, where we own a condo. They haven't received TD visas yet because my wife is still job hunting in Texas, and the job market has been challenging.

Since living in Dallas without my family has been difficult, I requested my manager, who is based in the Philippines, if I could move to Buffalo, NY, for a few months (2 to 3 months). My plan is to stay in Buffalo from Monday to Friday, work for the company (physically in the USA), and travel to Toronto on weekends to support my family and help my wife with tasks so she can focus on job hunting and certification preparation. My manager approved this arrangement verbally.

My question is: Will living in Buffalo and commuting to Toronto on weekends cause any issues for my TN status? Could a CBP officer deny entry or cancel my TN status because my company is registered in Dallas, and my support letter lists a Dallas address, while my pay stub, driver's license, bank account, and car registration also have Dallas addresses? Do I need to carry any other documents than my paystub, I94 and the copy of TN package that was used while applying?
 
It will not cause any TN issues, since TNs are not geographically based. It will however keep you a Cdn tax resident.

If you are living in Buffalo, you should be getting a NY driver's license and plates.
 
Thanks for the reply. Appreciate it. Even if I am planning to stay in Buffalo for short term still NY driver's license and plates are required? My end goal is to live in Texas and maintain my residency over there due to tax obligation of my employer.
 
Once you live in a state (and are not a student) you need to plate and register within 30 days. You live (and are working) in NY. You will likely also pay NY tax on your wages.

Besides, this will avoid questions at border when you tell them you are "going to work" every Monday in Buffalo, with TX plates.
 
You could have taken the position that you still live in Ontario (since, in fact, you do), but you can't take the position that you live in TX.
 
Thank you for the reply. I have just checked with NY DMV. I was told that as long as I am not intended to establish my residency here and going to be here temporary, I can maintain my TX driver's license and Registration. (For safer side, I asked them for 90-120 days period stay, while in reality it might not be that much long). Should I get this in writing for them to use at a border in case if I am asked or it would be okay. Or do you still think that getting NY's DI and plate is crucial? As far as taxes are concerned, I am going to be paying Ontario tax so, higher tax in NY is not a problem for me. However, my company is registered in Texas and if I change my address and residency to NY then they will have to register as foreign entity in NewYork and it might become a hassle for them being a small business. As a result they might reject the option working from NY buffalo for short term on a project all together and ask me to work for the Buffalo client, remotely from Texas. I am confused. I hope, my overthinking is not making things complicated unnecessarily. Maybe its an effect of being away from family for a while!!

I appreciate your reply and your overall contribution to this forums. Experts like you help many people to mange tough situations. Kudos!
 
The border doesn't care about your car etc, but they may question you each time that you say you are going to work when you are 1000 miles away from where you say you live.
 
TAPS2050 said:
Thank you for the reply. I have just checked with NY DMV. I was told that as long as I am not intended to establish my residency here and going to be here temporary, I can maintain my TX driver's license and Registration. (For safer side, I asked them for 90-120 days period stay, while in reality it might not be that much long). Should I get this in writing for them to use at a border in case if I am asked or it would be okay. Or do you still think that getting NY's DI and plate is crucial? As far as taxes are concerned, I am going to be paying Ontario tax so, higher tax in NY is not a problem for me. However, my company is registered in Texas and if I change my address and residency to NY then they will have to register as foreign entity in NewYork and it might become a hassle for them being a small business. As a result they might reject the option working from NY buffalo for short term on a project all together and ask me to work for the Buffalo client, remotely from Texas. I am confused. I hope, my overthinking is not making things complicated unnecessarily. Maybe its an effect of being away from family for a while!!

I appreciate your reply and your overall contribution to this forums. Experts like you help many people to mange tough situations. Kudos!
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You could have claimed that you still live in Ontario, as that’s technically accurate, but you can’t claim that you live in Texas.
 
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