We are continuing our client success stories series. This Canadian family moved from Ontario to Michigan, and this is how they did it. United States is the country where the most amount of Canadians emigrate to. A recent census says 126,340 people left Canada for the U.S. in 2022, a 70% increase over a decade ago. Of the 126,340 who emigrated from Canada to the U.S. that year, 53,311 were born in Canada, 42,595 were Americans who left for their native land, and 30,434 were foreign-born immigrants to Canada who decided to move to the U.S. instead.
Background - Canadian family wants to move to USA
This family is a Canadian citizen married to a dual American-Canadian citizen, with two Canadian born children. They had been living in Canada for the duration of their relationship, which was well over 10 years.
After COVID, they decided they wanted to move to the US for a number of reasons. These included better career and entrepreneurial opportunities for both, husband and wife, and they also felt that the country better reflected their values and wanted to raise their children there.
They wanted to move somewhere that was still driving distance from their friends and family in Ontario, so they choose to move to Michigan.
This couple retained us at the beginning of their journey to find out what steps they needed to take to make the move from Ontario to Michigan.
Solution - How Canadian family moved to USA
Since the father was an American citizen, and their children were under 18 years of age, the first thing we did is that we applied for a certificate of American citizenship for the children. The children were not eligible to apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate because the father did not meet the U.S. physical presence requirement.
Then, we applied for permanent residence for the Canadian spouse. As a back-up, to ensure there was no hiccups along the way, we also filed for permanent residence for the children. We did this in case their citizenship application was delayed or denied, we did not want to have them left behind or slowing down the moving process.
As part of the permanent residence application, we also obtained a vaccine waiver for the Canadian spouse. She had moral and religious beliefs against vaccinations. This was applied to early in the application process and was approved prior to the consular interview.
Filing Process - Immigration from Canada to USA
The children's certificate of citizenship application was adjudicated fast at the USCIS Detroit Field office. This was their closest office. Once they had proof of citizenships, we discontinued their permanent residence application and they applied for U.S. passports.
This couple wanted to continue to travel back and forth throughout the process, so we applied for consular process for the marriage petition. Once the petitions were approved, they traveled to Montreal to apply for an immigrant visa and interview.
Everything went smoothly, and the Canadian spouse obtained her US permanent resident visa that she used to move to the U.S.
She "landed" as a legal U.S. permanent resident via the Windsor-Detroit tunnel and had her green card mailed to her Michigan home.
The entire process took 14 months after submission.
The family is happily living, working, and studying in Michigan. They travel back to Ontario often.
The next step is for the Canadian spouse to apply for U.S. citizenship once she has lived in the U.S. for three years.
Next Steps - I am a Canadian and want to move to USA
We would love to help you on your journey. To get started, please schedule a strategy session with one of our immigration lawyers.