polar,
To gain permanent residency in the US, you'd need
to meet one of the qualifications. Usually, these are difficult to meet,
because you either need to be brought in by a relative (spouse, parent
or child) that is a US citizen, or be born here. So if you were married
to a US citizen, or if your children were born here, then you would be
all set.
For permanent residency, there are a couple of other
possibilities that people who are not related to a US citizen can do.
For instance, if you run and maintain an incorporated business in Canada,
and have been doing so for two years, you can acquire a visa that you can
use to move to the US to start another business (your Canadian company
must continue to propser in your absence). Once you've been here for a
period of time (four or five years), you qualify for applying for a green
card (which is the next best thing to citizenship, it's permenent residency
and must only be renewed once every ten years). You also have this potential
if you're highly educated and want to put your skills to use in the US,
like a doctor.
Gaining temporary residency is easier, because
there are more qualifications that you can meet. For instance, you can
apply for a visa to attend school while here. Unfortunately, this particular
visa does not allow you to work, and expires at the end of school. You
can also apply for a work visa, and this would usually happen if you work
for a company in Canada, and they want to transfer you to one of their
offices in the US. Or if a company in the US is looking for a person to
hire and they cannot find that person in the US, then they can seek potentials
employees in others countries, and you could move here with that.
The
problem with temporary visas is that they have to be renewed often (usually
annually) and they often cannot be renewed beyond a certain term.
If
you're retired, you may want to consider living in the US during the cooler
six months of the year, and in Canada for warmer six months. We have lots
of these people in Arizona| Arizona | (air-i'-ZON-u') | The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada. |
-- We call them snowbirds.
Naturalization
services also has a toll-free number that you can call to ask questions.
Let them know what your situation is and ask them what the possibilities
are. You may also want to consider speaking with an attorney.
I
hope some of that was helpful!
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