How Can a Canadian Get a U.S. Green Card? Paths, Fees, and Timeline

A Canadian citizen can get a U.S. green card through the same three federal pathways open to any foreign national: sponsorship by a close family member who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, an employment or investor petition, or a narrow set of special categories. There is no Canada-only shortcut, no NAFTA or USMCA fast lane to permanent residence, and no diversity lottery access. What Canadians do get is proximity, a dedicated immigrant visa post in Montreal, and a few practical questions (TN status, departure tax, provincial health coverage) that other applicants rarely face.

Family Sponsorship

If a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative files Form I-130 for you, your wait depends entirely on how the law classifies the relationship.

Spouses of U.S. citizens, unmarried children under 21, and parents of U.S. citizens who are at least 21 are “immediate relatives.” There is no annual cap on this category, so a visa number is available the moment the petition is approved.¹

Every other family relationship falls into the four “preference” categories: unmarried adult children of citizens, spouses and children of permanent residents, married adult children of citizens, and siblings of citizens.² These have annual limits and real waiting lines. Your “priority date” is set the day the petition is filed, and the monthly Visa Bulletin from the State Department tells you when your date is being processed. The waits are not small numbers. The February 2026 bulletin shows siblings of U.S. citizens (F4) with a final action date of January 2008. Spouses and minor children of permanent residents (F2A) sat at February 2024.³

Employment and Investor Categories

Without a qualifying family tie, the employment-based system offers five preference categories. The right one turns on your credentials and whether an employer is willing to sponsor.

EB-1 covers priority workers: people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives or managers. EB-1 usually skips labor certification, and Canadian numbers have recently been current.⁴
EB-2 is for workers holding a master’s degree or higher, or a bachelor’s with five years of progressive experience. Most EB-2 cases need an employer to secure a permanent labor certification from the Department of Labor. A National Interest Waiver lets you self-petition if your work would substantially benefit the U.S. national interest.⁵
EB-3 covers professionals with a bachelor’s degree and skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience. Employer sponsorship and labor certification are the norm.
EB-4 is a narrow category for religious workers, certain international organization employees, and other special groups.
EB-5 is for investors who put at least $1,800,000 into a U.S. business that creates ten full-time jobs, or $900,000 if the business is in a targeted employment area with high unemployment or a rural location. These figures are adjusted for inflation every five years.⁶

Where labor certification applies, the employer must advertise the position, show no qualified U.S. worker applied, and file the certification before USCIS will accept the immigrant petition.⁵ This step alone can take six months to more than a year.

One boundary to be aware of: the annual Diversity Visa lottery is not open to Canadians. U.S. law excludes natives of any country that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years, and Canada exceeds that consistently.⁷ If you were born in an eligible country other than Canada, you can enter based on the country of birth rather than current citizenship.

If You Are Already in the U.S. on TN Status

Many Canadians work in the U.S. under TN status through the USMCA. TN is strictly temporary, and you must show your stay has a definite end and that you intend to leave when it does.⁸ Filing a green card petition signals the opposite. A border officer who sees a pending immigrant petition can refuse re-entry on TN status because you no longer look temporary.

The usual fix is to move from TN to H-1B before starting the green card process. H-1B explicitly allows “dual intent,” so a pending labor certification or immigrant petition is not grounds to deny an H-1B petition, extension, or admission. The cost is real: H-1B has an annual cap (though cap-exempt jobs exist at certain institutions), added fees, and added time.

Documents You Will Need to Gather

The petition form depends on your route: Form I-130 for family cases, Form I-140 for employment sponsorship, and Form I-526 or I-526E for EB-5 investors.⁹¹⁰ Around the petition, expect to produce:

Identity and Civil Records

A valid Canadian passport and a long-form birth certificate from your provincial vital statistics office. Marriage-based cases need the marriage certificate and proof any prior marriage ended. USCIS will ask for every address and employer from the past five years.

RCMP Criminal Record Check

Canadian applicants need a Certified Criminal Record Check from the RCMP based on a fingerprint search. The State Department specifies a search of the “RCMP National Repository Entire Holdings.” You submit fingerprints at a local police service or an RCMP-approved agency.¹¹ Allow several weeks. This is the document people most often leave until it’s a problem.

Affidavit of Support

Family-based cases require Form I-864 from your U.S. sponsor showing income of at least 125% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2026 that means a two-person household needs at least $27,050 in annual income in the 48 contiguous states.¹² Active-duty military sponsoring a spouse or child only need to meet 100%.¹³ A joint sponsor can co-sign if the primary sponsor’s income falls short.

Medical Exam

If you’re adjusting status inside the U.S., a USCIS-designated civil surgeon completes Form I-693, seals it, and you submit it unopened.¹⁴ Exam fees typically run $150 to $500, with vaccinations billed separately and potentially adding $100 to $600. If you process through Montreal, the consulate directs you to an approved panel physician in Canada.

Any document not in English needs a certified translation, and every form must be the current edition or USCIS will reject it at intake.

Filing Fees

Federal fees under the March 2026 USCIS schedule:

Form I-130 (family petition): $625 online or $675 by mail.
Form I-140 (employment petition): $665 online or $715 by mail.
Form I-526 or I-526E (investor petition): $3,675, plus an additional $1,000 for I-526E filings.
USCIS Immigrant Fee: $235, paid after approval but before your card is produced.¹⁵

If you’re filing inside the U.S., the I-485 adjustment application carries its own fee that varies by age and category; check the G-1055 schedule for the current figure. None of these fees are refundable if the case is denied.

Adjustment of Status or Montreal Consular Processing

Once your petition is approved and a visa number is available, there are two ways to finish the case.

If you’re already in the U.S. on a valid status, Form I-485 lets you adjust to permanent resident without leaving. You’ll go to a biometrics appointment and then to an in-person interview. If approved, the card comes by mail.

If you’re living in Canada, the case moves through the National Visa Center and then to the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal, which is the only post in Canada that processes immigrant visas.¹⁶ You complete the medical exam with an approved panel physician before the interview. The consular officer either issues the immigrant visa or refuses it; if issued, you enter the U.S. as a permanent resident.

How Long It Actually Takes

Immediate relatives face no visa backlog, so timing depends on USCIS processing. Family-based adjustment cases were generally running 6 to 18 months in early 2026, and employment-based cases roughly 11 to 31 months.

For capped categories, the Visa Bulletin is the honest answer. In February 2026, EB-1 and unreserved EB-5 were current for Canadians. EB-2 sat at April 2024 and EB-3 at June 2023, so those applicants were waiting roughly two to three years for a visa number before USCIS processing time even started. Family preference waits ran from February 2024 for F2A out to January 2008 for F4.³ For employment cases that need labor certification, add six months to over a year on top before the I-140 can be filed.

Cross-Border Tax Consequences

Becoming a U.S. permanent resident triggers tax changes in both countries, and this is where Canadians most often get caught off guard.

U.S. Worldwide Income

The day you receive your green card, the IRS treats you as a U.S. tax resident under the “green card test.” You must report worldwide income for the entire calendar year in which you become a resident, including Canadian rental income, investment gains, and interest from Canadian accounts.¹⁷

If you keep Canadian bank or investment accounts and their combined value tops $10,000 at any point in the year, you’ll likely need to file FinCEN Form 114, the Foreign Bank Account Report. It’s due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15, and penalties for missing it are steep even when no additional tax is owed.¹⁸

Canada’s Departure Tax

When you leave Canada to become a U.S. resident, the CRA treats you as having sold most of your property at fair market value on the emigration date, even if nothing was actually sold. This “deemed disposition” can trigger capital gains tax on investments, real estate other than your principal residence, and personal property such as art. If the fair market value of your worldwide property exceeds $25,000 when you leave, you must file Form T1161 listing it.¹⁹ You also owe Canadian tax on worldwide income for the part of the year you were still a Canadian resident.

The Canada-U.S. tax treaty prevents most double taxation but doesn’t erase the planning. Talking to a cross-border tax professional before you file the immigration petition, not after, is often where the money is saved.

What Happens to Your Canadian Benefits

Canada Pension Plan payments generally continue no matter where you live. Old Age Security is conditional: with fewer than 20 years of Canadian residence after age 18, OAS stops six months after you leave Canada; with 20 or more, it continues abroad. The Guaranteed Income Supplement is payable outside Canada for only six months after departure regardless of history.²⁰

Under the tax treaty, Canadian social security benefits paid to a U.S. resident are generally taxed only by the United States, at the same graduated rates that apply to U.S. Social Security. You can apply for Canadian benefits at any U.S. Social Security office using the CDN-USA 1 form.²⁰

Provincial health coverage lapses after an extended absence. Rules vary by province, but coverage generally ends after three to seven months away, and reinstatement on return can take up to three months. Provincial plans reimburse care in the U.S. at Canadian rates, which covers only a fraction of American hospital charges, so plan on U.S. insurance from the day you land.

A Tax-Free Savings Account can stay open after you leave, but new contributions aren’t allowed while you’re a non-resident and contribution room won’t grow.¹⁹ RRSPs carry cross-border complications of their own and are worth reviewing with a tax advisor before the move.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1151 – Worldwide Level of Immigration
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
3
Travel.State.Gov. Visa Bulletin for February 2026
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 6 – Permanent Labor Certification
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
7
Travel.State.Gov. Instructions for the 2026 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
8
eCFR. 8 CFR 214.6 – Citizens of Canada or Mexico Seeking Temporary Entry Under USMCA
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
11
U.S. Department of State. Canada – Visa Reciprocity and Civil Documents
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864P, HHS Poverty Guidelines for Affidavit of Support
13
USCIS. Form I-864 Instructions for Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Find a Civil Surgeon
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). G-1055 Fee Schedule
16
U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Canada. Immigrant Visa Process
17
Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Tax Residency – Green Card Test
18
Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
19
Canada.ca. Leaving Canada (Emigrants)
20
Social Security Administration. Agreement Between the United States and Canada