BIRD TALK

Hello, I am a snowbird spending winters in Nokomis, Florida. There seems to be a discrepancy in thought between my fellow snowbirds about a rule that does or does not actually exist. There is a large number of snowbirds saying that, if you leave the U.S. and return before 30 days have expired, the time in Canada actually counts as time in the U.S.

Question: If we were to leave Canada and enter the U.S. in November and fly home to Ontario for two weeks at Christmas − and then fly back to the U.S., do the two weeks in Canada count as days in the U.S. or Canada?

Richard Stevens

St. Thomas, ON

Ed.: The trouble with this discrepancy is that it is at the DISCRETION of the CBSA officer. When you re-enter the United States after your Christmas visit to Canada, you may be permitted to stay for an additional six months! The problem that can occur down the line is that when you presumably re-enter the United States next fall, or in following years, a CBSA officer may look at your file and decide, at their DISCRETION, that you overstayed your welcome. He or she may decide to reduce the number of days for which you will be permitted to visit. We have been advised by CBSA that a “best practices” approach to this potential discrepancy is that when you enter the United States to reside there for the winter, short trips abroad and back to Canada should not be deducted from your “days in the United States” count.

Please do not confuse this with the Calendar Year count that is employed on the 8840 Form. The 8840 Form is an IRS day count for tax purposes and only counts the actual days spent inside the United States from January 1 to December 31 of each year.