My husband and I are Canadian citizens and are lawful permanent residents (Green Card) in the US. We are starting to think about having children but I was not able to find much information online about pros/cons of having kids in Canada versus US, or the potential repercussions if we were to pick one over the other. While having children in the US would grant them dual citizenship, the thought of the US Healthcare system (or the lack thereof) scares the bejesus out of us. Returning to Canada would also mean I would be eligible for a full year of maternity leave. However, since I am enjoying my job right now, I would like to stay for a while. So if I were to choose to have a baby in Canada, I would only be going there for that (and coming right back to the US after). Has anyone gone through this and could shed some light here? Apparently, Canadians returning to Canada are not immediately eligible for health care. However, if I stayed longer to wait for eligibility, I am concerned that could put my Green Card at risk. Any advice/insight would be extremely appreciated. Thank you in advance! π
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As a fellow Canadian citizen holder of a US green card (but not a father) this seems like a no-brainer: have the child in the US. Then they're a dual citizen at birth, whereas that wouldn't be the case if s/he is born in Canada. In addition giving birth in the US gives you health insurance (it looks like you're employed) to pay for the delivery which you wouldn't have in Canada (as you pointed out, 3 months rule might endanger your green card).
Other than the dual citizenship benefit, I'm wondering whether there are other potential draw backs. For example, I read that dual citizens (the kids) would eventually have to file income tax returns in the US (regardless if they ever choose to step foot in the US).
Having to file a yearly US tax return if they live abroad is indeed a pain (though there's a good chance Congress might loosen this requirement in the next 18 years) but giving up US citizenship is not so hard if they want to, whereas acquiring it is much harder. Lastly, you might find yourself staying in the US long term, or they might want to live and work there.
You should look into what your insurance plan with your employer covers in the US, if you have options at work you can also switch to a more appropriate plan and switch back after giving birth. It's not that the US doesn't have healthcare, it's just different than Canada. There you pay for it with your taxes, and here it's more a pay for what you use.
I think Microsoft has really generous benefits relative to other companies. But even then, 4 months of mat leave (versus 12 in Canada) doesn't seem enough, and the medical bills associated with child birth can be as high as $1M (depending on the number of complications).
My understand is Microsoft pays for thr premiums and the deductible for a family is 6000 or arround there. I think with Microsoft benefits will cover most of those costs.
Don't have them in the US. You'll be glad they won't have to deal with the US citizenship burden tax wise. Google tax connections.ca. John Richardson is an immigration lawyer based in Canada. He has a blog which you will learn a lot about being a dual us can citizen
Thank you! We will definitely look into this. π
Do your kids need to be born in CA for availing healthcare in the future? Itβs weird that citizens need to wait until they become eligible for health benefits.
When we left Canada, we had to pay towards a Medical Services Plan (MSP) each month for health benefits. On Jan 1, 2020 they eliminated the premiums so now medical is completely free. If it was a matter of payment, that would be easy. Now that you don't have to pay a premium, I'm not sure how it works. If children are born in CA they would be eligible for future Healthcare. However if we move back to the US with them I don't believe they would be covered while living abroad.