I’m looking for advice on an Urgent basis. Me & my spouse both are on H-1B here in the US with a priority date of Dec-2015. Both of our US employers are ready to move us to Canada but we are in a serious dilemma to opt for that option.
Based on the current US immigration scenario, I don’t see any hopes of getting GC EAD or actual GC soon with (PD-2015); but maybe I’m wrong as I’m not an immigration expert.
I would like to know if someone has any advice on my situation, as I really made up my mind to either move or stay here in the USA. Really appreciate it if someone threw some light on PD-2015 possibilities.
My priority date was Feb 2015. I moved to Canada 3 years back cause I didn’t have hope for my priority date to get current. I am applying for Citizenship for Canada and that is the immediate goal for me.
I came from California and that option is still open to move back. I know a lot of people who moved back after getting their Canadian passport.
All to say that we are immigrants and nothing is the end for us. Think of moving to Canada as a next step in your journey. Focus on getting Canadian citizenship. Have an open mind where you can move to US if you feel the need.
Thank You for your valuable input. Currently, I’m also based in the Bay Area since 2013 and everything is settled here like (Home, kid’s schooling ) etc… As you mentioned you moved 3 years ago, I think that makes more sense; my serious concern is if my move really worth it at this moment or not. First I have to move on work permit (ICT) and after one year I will apply PR under CEC program. If everything goes well then I will expect Canadian citizenship sometime around 2027.
So based on the above calculation only, I’m wondering if I will get something here in the USA in the next 3-4 years; because it’s really a very big decision for me and my family to move somewhere and start again from scratch. But on the other hand, stability is also very important and in Canada at least things are transparent, this cause I’m serious about this move and don’t want to let go of this opportunity, I Hope I explained my situation reasonably this time.
It is obviously a very difficult decision for you.
First, It seems like the main thing you want to know is whether your priority date will become current in the same timeline as getting Canadian Citizenship (which is 4-5 years). If the answer is probably yes, then you would want to continue living in US and save the trouble of moving back and forth. I don’t know if there is any way to get reasonable estimate for this (even by immigration experts). From what I hear, priority date current going from 2011 to 2015 might take more than a decade.
If a reasonable hypothesis is that it is going to take a decade or more for priority date being current, I suppose you don’t really need any further advice here as you already know what you want to do? (Which is to just move to Canada in that case, get citizenship and may be move back if priority date becomes current).
I would just say make a decision with a “reasonable hypothesis” of how long it will take for your PD to be current, instead of constantly trying to get some sort of more accurate estimate, given this is very hard to predict.
I just want to add that once you reach late 30s or so, it is crucially important to have flexibility and stability (which Canada gives you with PR or may be even with work permit), especially if you have old parents back in India. I recently had to travel for a medical emergency for my father in India. I booked one way tickets just few days in advance both to and fro. It was so refreshing to have this flexibility. This one event was enough to get emotional validation of my decision of moving to Canada last year. If I was still in US, I may not have been able to go due to visa slot availability etc and that would have been very mentally hard for me.