Hi,

I am a Canadian PR living in Windsor,ON (since last month) and working in Detroit, USA. I commute to work in USA. I rent a basement room in one's house in the west side of Windsor. The rent is very less (CAN$ 120/month !!). I get the receipt of the rent payment. I have telephone (bell canada) and highspeed internet in the house in my name. I need to establish Canadian residency as it is needed in Citizenship application after three years. My question is, if everything is in order, does the amount of money I pay for rent matter when the CIC investigate my Canadian residency for citizenship??

Also I have US driver's license..Can you recommend if I should give up the license and get Canadian license. Is it necessary to have Canadian driver's license when I apply for Canadian citizenship?

Thanks!
Sunanda

Hi Sunanda,

From what I have been told and read, there are no hard and fast rules that the govt. follows while processing the application for citizenship. But it is advisable to 'establish links' with Canada as they say it. So, in reference to your question, it would be better if you get a Canadian driver's license... but then again, is your car registered in the US.. I dont know how the insurance companies & other authorities etc. would perceive that as the registration, driver's license, insurance "should have the same address" ....

1)Have you paid you taxes to canada as a resident on all your US income for the last 3 yrs

2) do u have OHIP for the last 3 years

3) is your car registed in canada and also a DL

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We will find a way or we will make one

The driving license signifies the residency of the country /state/ province you are in so if you have a US regsiterd car /license you are a US resident more than a canadian resident .

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We will find a way or we will make one

Rohit,

Thanks..My car has US registration and I did not import the car to Canada when I landed there about 2 months back. My problem is that I don't always work at Detroit. When not at Detroit, I often stay at Chicago and commute to Windsor is not possible that time. So it's difficult to give away my US d. license and import my car to Canada (although my car is in the 'To be impoted' list when I landed) and get Canadian registration...
What opption do I have??

Smiley,
I am just two month old in Canada. Do you know when during the year you are supposed to pay the tax (ex: in USA it's April 15) in Canada? How much tax do you pay in Canada when your US income is say US$65K (before tax) and you have 0 Canadian income?

I did not apply for OHIP yet (need to wait 90days someone told!)...struggling with opening a bank account.....

You are supposed to pay tax before april 30th of every year and here is the tax calculator . Multiply your US income by exhcange rate (1.38 ) and put it here .

on 65K US = 90 Cdn $
Tax in ontario is $25,898 Cdn
Subtract what you pay here in US from this and that is the amount you are suposed to pay in canada (appx)

For more info

http://www.ey.com/GLOBAL/content.nsf/Canada/Tax_-_Calculators_-_Personal_Tax


PS: u need to be 3 yrs physically present in canada in 4 years to file for citizenship in canada

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We will find a way or we will make one

Smiley,

Many thans for the link...
Tax is not that much on top of what I pay in USA then..In USA about 32% of the gross go in tax..So out of say CAN$90K, about CAN$28K is paid in USA for tax...
So I will pay Canadian tax of about (CAN$28897 - CAN$28K) roughly and the amount does not seem to be much...

I landed in mid April 2004. Do you know if I should pay tax for the year (it's already late though)...

thanks....