New Canada US Border Regime

[Luv2play]

The announcement this week in Washington of the so-called perimeter negotiations heralds a new way of regulating the Canada-US border which will affect many things and people. What was striking to me was the announcement that henceforth, people leaving either country for the other will be registered on a data base which will be available to both governments. This means individuals will be tracked and the amount of time they spend in either country will be monitored.

 

Government officials have said that this will help among other things in the monitoring of recent immigrants to Canada who must spend a certain time in Canada to achieve citizenship. It will also affect those who draw unemployment benefits in Canada and then spend the winters in Florida collecting their checks and supposedly available for employment at any moment when in fact they are not interested.

 

While I have not seen any reference to another group of indiiduals, they will also be impacted. I am talking about, for instance, those who maintain residences in both countries and for various reasons overstay their time allotment in one country without the authorities being aware of it. This will end.

 

I am thinking of those who are retired and have the flexiblity in their schedules to come and go as they please currently. They may be Canadian snowbirds who only live for the warmest months in Canada, say from June to September and then head off to their places in Florida, Arizona or California. Currently they can maintain their health insurance in Canada (medicare) which stipulates in each province that you are no longer eligible if you are out of the country for more than six months. They can do this because there is no way of knowing how long they actually spent in the US.

 

When I spent my winters in Florida, I filled out a form each year for US Immigration called a "closer connection" form. This was required and in it you had to state how many days you spent in the country cumulatively each year. If you went over the six months you would become subject to US income taxes. I imagine there are many who don't bother to fill out this form but in the future they will be caught if they omit to do so.

 

There are others, say Americans, who spend more time each year in Canada than in the US. I knew of several in Montreal who only went to the US for their health care and to look after their US properties and see family and friends there but who spent more than six months in Montreal. THis will no longer be possible.

 

I imagine there are also Canadian dancers and escorts who overstay their time in the US currently and still claim Canadian benefits and residency. They too will be impacted.

 

The new regulations and system will be put into place over the next two years. But I heard in the speech by Prime Minister Harper yesterday in Washington that trial systems will be put into place soon to test the new approach. I think I heard him mention Montreal was going to be one such location.

[+ Charlie]

California, a common destination for Canadian snowbirds, also requires that you pay state income tax if you spend more than half the year in the state.

[+ Lucky]

More government monitoring! Geez, why don't we all wear GPS units so they can always tell where we are. They could attach it to our cellphones...

[instudiocity]

More government monitoring! Geez, why don't we all wear GPS units so they can always tell where we are. They could attach it to our cellphones...

All cellphones have positioning programming in their basic function. Cellphones actually communicate with multiple cell towers simultaneously so that the phones can switch seamless (i.e. unbroken phone call) between towers. For the most part, cellphones in dense tower environments can maintain contact with 4 and 5 towers at once.

 

The notorious 'dropped call' happens either when there are not enough towers in-range of the phone or the towers that are in-range are already at capacity with other cellphones.

 

Right now, today, government can triangulate your location simply by looking at which towers, how strong the signal and the direction of the signal.

 

Modern Smartphones also have GPS chips that bring that triangulation down from hundreds of feet to as little as 3 meters.

 

How do you stop it? Turn your cellphone off and change your location but leave your phone off!

[BSR]

In an article in the local paper about Manny Pacquiao, who had to postpone his arrival in Vegas for tax reasons, it said that the magic number is 180, but not 180 days in a calendar year. The IRS counts the total number of days from the current year at 100%, days from previous year at 50%, and two years ago at 25%. Even one minute in the country, like if your plane touches down at 11:59 p.m., counts as a full day. If that number for the year in which you're filing is 180 or more, you are taxed as a US resident. Less than 180 and you pay taxes as a foreign national. Of course, check with your accountant. He's probably more reliable than some random guy on the Internet.