# Dual Residency



## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

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Can anyone help? I am a UK citizen, I live 6 months in Honduras and 6 months in USA. I want to move from Honduras to Canada and therefore live 6 months in USA and 6 months in Canada. I am not a resident of USA and cannot quailfy for permanent residency in Canada. I will own homes in both countries but will not have residency in either country. Has anyone done this before and did you encounter any problems?


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

I'd guess you're going to run into trouble eventually.

Have you already got a B2?
Are you of retirement age?
Do the finances stand up to scrutiny?


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## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

Fatbrit said:


> I'd guess you're going to run into trouble eventually.
> 
> Have you already got a B2?
> Are you of retirement age?
> Do the finances stand up to scrutiny?


Hi
Yes I have a B2 for USA (10 years) and have no probelms getting in for 6 months coming form Honduras. I am not quite retirement age but retired early, finances are OK and can show I can support myself no worries. Not tried the Canadian side but according to information availale I should be able to get into Canada on UK passport for 6 months also. Just wondered if anyone had done this already moving between two homes.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Ailsa said:


> Hi
> Yes I have a B2 for USA (10 years) and have no probelms getting in for 6 months coming form Honduras. I am not quite retirement age but retired early, finances are OK and can show I can support myself no worries. Not tried the Canadian side but according to information availale I should be able to get into Canada on UK passport for 6 months also. Just wondered if anyone had done this already moving between two homes.


You might have trouble divesting yourself of your I-94 on the Canadian border -- they'll guess that you're just trying to reset the clock. Personally. I'd think about a week or so in neither the US, nor Canada, nor Mexico, nor the Caribbean when switching between countries.

Also, make sure you don't hit the time limit whereby you become liable for US tax.

Basically the POE officers are a law unto themselves and you have little or no rights. They usually give you a warning when they're fed up of admitting you along the lines of they don't want to see you again for a long while -- and once your card is marked, that's probably the end of the adventure. Be sugar sweet and polite at all times, carry proof of funds and --I'd like to say-- carry proof of residence elsewhere if you possibly can.


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## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

Thanks Fatbrit
Do you think I will have a problem getting back into USA even if I stay in Canada for the 6 months then come back through the border? I know people who do 6 months combined with the UK ie spend winter in Florida and as long as they don't stay over the 6 months they seem to manage OK. One of the reasons I want to move is that I have a cat who travels with me and the air travel is a real pain from Honduras so I wanted to be able to drive between my two homes if I do need to go elsewhere in between then it probably won't be an advantage.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Ailsa said:


> Thanks Fatbrit
> Do you think I will have a problem getting back into USA even if I stay in Canada for the 6 months then come back through the border? I know people who do 6 months combined with the UK ie spend winter in Florida and as long as they don't stay over the 6 months they seem to manage OK. One of the reasons I want to move is that I have a cat who travels with me and the air travel is a real pain from Honduras so I wanted to be able to drive between my two homes if I do need to go elsewhere in between then it probably won't be an advantage.


The problem is that exiting to a contiguous nation is not meant to reset your visa clock. I think you're going to run into problems on with the US side of trying to be a resident on a B2 visa. no idea how the Canadians view it but be certain there is good communication between the US and Canadian authorities either side of the border.

Snowbirds from the UK do indeed manage it. But they return to a place where they have residency. It seems you don't have (in an immigration sense) residency anywhere.

Have you considered taking US residency, i.e. an eb5? The tax may kill you and the US is nowhere to fall ill. But it would clear up your residency issue.


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## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

Thanks again for your help. Residency is a problem for me, I do not qualify in either USA or Canada for residency from what I have read. Not sure what an EB5 is, could you clarify? Thanks


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Ailsa said:


> Thanks again for your help. Residency is a problem for me, I do not qualify in either USA or Canada for residency from what I have read. Not sure what an EB5 is, could you clarify? Thanks


Shamelessly buys you a green card with $0.5M down in an approved investment program. It has just been extended by Congress for a year.


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

If you try this, watch out for the extra days. If the 'six months' is really 180 days in each country, you will end up with a sort of deficit.

First if you spend 180 days in the US, then enter Canada, that day will count as the last of your 180 in the US, and the first of your 180 days in Canada. If you left Canada on the last day of your 180 days there, you would only have been out of the US for 179 days. If the rule is 180 days out of a 365 day year, you will also have an extra five or six days left over.

How has this worked for you in Honduras?


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## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

synthia said:


> If you try this, watch out for the extra days. If the 'six months' is really 180 days in each country, you will end up with a sort of deficit.
> 
> First if you spend 180 days in the US, then enter Canada, that day will count as the last of your 180 in the US, and the first of your 180 days in Canada. If you left Canada on the last day of your 180 days there, you would only have been out of the US for 179 days. If the rule is 180 days out of a 365 day year, you will also have an extra five or six days left over.
> 
> How has this worked for you in Honduras?


That is a good point. For Canada it is 183 days maximum so was working on that basis, had not thought of the crossover days. I can be flexible as to when I move betwen countries as long as I have been out long enough to get back in but it is a bit of a gamble as i appreciate I can be refused entry at any time. 

It has worked OK so far but I am currently a resident of Honduras so that may make a difference. I left USA in March this year and came back to the USA in June until late September but together the visits totaled a few days less than the 6 months allowed on the B2 visa. I plan to come back again in March next year for 6 months and do not anticipate any problems as I own a vacation home in USA. I think I could work the dates OK if that was the only issue but I do not want to risk being turned away at the border if that is at all likely. Just now I could be but it is unlikely as long as show I am not "living" in the USA ie stick within the 6 months allowed. 

Is there any contact I could make with USA Homeland security to clarify how they might look at this situation from the USA perspective?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I'm no expert on this - but I do think you could run into problems given that you don't seem to have a "residence" once you move out of Honduras. The 180 or 183 days aren't a hard and fast rule - either in the US or in Canada. The length of time you spend in either country is only an "indication" of your intent.

Not having a primary residence to which you have reason to return could cause you problems in entering the US for sure, and probably Canada, too, if as you say you don't qualify for residence in either country.

Contacting Homeland Security won't do you much good, as the individual immigration officers have a pretty wide range of discretion on each and every entry you make to the US. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## Ailsa (Sep 28, 2008)

Bevdeforges said:


> I'm no expert on this - but I do think you could run into problems given that you don't seem to have a "residence" once you move out of Honduras. The 180 or 183 days aren't a hard and fast rule - either in the US or in Canada. The length of time you spend in either country is only an "indication" of your intent.
> 
> Not having a primary residence to which you have reason to return could cause you problems in entering the US for sure, and probably Canada, too, if as you say you don't qualify for residence in either country.
> 
> ...


Thanks Bev
I understand what you and Fatbrit are saying. I certainly do not want to jeapordise my B2 visa in any way, I do want to work within the system so I will need to think again. 
Can I ask one other question? Assuming that I retain my home in Honduras (and residency) then could I spend 5 months in USA and then go to Canada for say four months and then back through USA in transit to Honduras for the rest of the year? Or does that count as 9 months in the USA even though I spend the 4 months outside the USA? Thanks for your help.


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

Unfortunately I learned about the crossover days from experience while going to Thailand and back from Malaysia to get another 90 days in the country. Fortunately Malaysia cut me a break and didn't make me stay out of the country, but let me back in without my actuallly having entered Thailand. The next time I got hung up on a requirement that I be out of the country for three nights, that I didn't know about. I had to beg for that one.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The question I imagine is whether you spend enough time in Honduras to claim residency there. It's not just a matter of how many days you spend in the country, but also whether you can be said to have your "primary center of interest" there. Usually that's determined by where you have your family stashed, where you pay your taxes, have your main bank accounts and where you maintain yourself (house, cars, medical insurance, etc.).
Cheers,
Bev


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

Some countries issure residency visas as long as you visit once per year, but what your legal residence is might not mean much.


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