Cross-border Tax question - Form 8938 and 3520-3520A
u/Some_Can5965r/cantaxApr 7, 2026
I personally just did total account value in part V. Publicly traded stocks are generally going to be held in a custodial account.
You should plan for a months-long work gap on a K-1—the latest adjustment-based work-permit median is 6.4 months after filing—and keeping your Canadian rental and pension brings cross-border tax and reporting obligations.
“I am a Canadian citizen considering moving to the US on a K-1 visa to marry my US citizen fiancée. How long does it typically take to get work authorization after arriving on a K-1, and what are the cross-border tax implications of keeping my Canadian rental property and defined-benefit pension while living in the US?”
Summary
Keeping your Canadian rental and a qualifying Canadian pension does not, by itself, mean you must sell the property or cash out the pension for tax purposes. The manageable part is arranging rental withholding, preserving pension deferral, and coordinating the two countries' returns; the difficult part of K-1 entry is budgeting for a period without employment.
Because you are still considering the move, you can compare the usual K-1 adjustment route, its short initial work-permit option, and marrying before immigrating.
Enter on K-1, marry, then applyUsual K-1 route
Marry your U.S.-citizen petitioner within 90 days, then file Form I-485 for with Form I-765 under category (c)(9). USCIS's latest retrieved FY2026 national median was 6.4 months from receipt to completion for I-765 applications based on a pending I-485, using data through August 30, 2026. Add your wedding and filing preparation time, followed by card production and delivery; USCIS says production should occur within two weeks after approval. ([USCIS K-1 guidance](https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-of-us-citizens/visas-for-fiancees-of-us-citizens); [USCIS historic processing times](https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times/historic-pt); [Form I-765](https://www.uscis.gov/i-765).)
Apply immediately under K-1 statusShort-lived option
After admission, you may file Form I-765 under category (a)(6), using evidence of your K-1 admission. But this EAD is limited to your original 90 days in K-1 status and cannot be renewed in that category. Applying immediately is allowed; receiving a useful period of employment before it expires is not guaranteed. ([Form I-765 Instructions](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-765instr.pdf), category (a)(6).)
Marry first and immigrate as a spouseWork upon admission
Instead of pursuing K-1 entry, marry first and have your U.S.-citizen spouse file Form I-130 for consular immigrant-visa processing while you remain abroad. You would enter as a permanent resident rather than wait for an adjustment-based EAD after arrival; your properly endorsed immigrant visa in your passport can serve as employment-verification evidence before the physical green card arrives. This avoids the post-arrival EAD gap, but does not establish which route has the shorter overall immigration timeline. ([USCIS spouse immigration guidance](https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-of-us-citizens/bringing-spouses-to-live-in-the-united-states-as-permanent-residents); [USCIS temporary I-551 evidence](https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/temporary-i-551-stamps-and-mrivs).)
The 6.4-month figure below is a national median for adjustment-based work permits, not a K-1-specific forecast or a guaranteed deadline.
Read the full explanationHide the full explanation
Watch out for
The first 90 days are not a work-permit shortcutYou can apply for a K-1-based immediately, but it expires with your first 90 days in K-1 status—not 90 days after approval—and cannot be renewed under that category. Treat this as a short-lived option, not a dependable bridge to employment. The marriage-based adjustment application provides a separate basis for requesting an EAD. (Form I-765 Instructions, categories (a)(6) and (c)(9); USCIS K-1 guidance.)
No departure tax does not mean no departure reportingYour Canadian real estate and pension rights generally fall outside Canada's departure deemed-sale rules. However, a Canadian rental property can still count toward Form T1161: the reporting threshold is more than CAD $25,000 after applying the form's exclusions, which include pension rights. Do not confuse exemption from departure tax with exemption from listing property. (CRA, Dispositions of property for emigrants.)
NR6 creates an earlier filing obligationKeep withholding 25% of gross rent until CRA approves Form NR6 in writing. An approved NR6 commits you to a Section 216 return within six months after year-end—normally June 30—even if the rental produces a loss. A balance owing is generally payable by April 30, before that filing deadline. Without an approved NR6, the usual Section 216 election window is two years after year-end. (CRA Guide T4144; Form NR6.)
A joint-return election can pull in pre-move incomeIf you are married to your U.S.-citizen spouse at year-end, a full-year U.S.-resident election may be available even if you were nonresident for some or all of that year. It requires a joint return for the election year and brings both spouses' worldwide income into the U.S. calculation for the entire year, including your pre-move Canadian income. It is a choice, not an automatic consequence of marriage. (IRS Publication 519, Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident and Choosing Resident Alien Status.)
Federal treaty protection may not carry over to your stateSome states honor U.S. tax treaties and others do not. Your Canadian pension's federal deferral and your treatment of Canadian rental income therefore do not settle the state-tax question; the destination state is needed to resolve it. (IRS, Tax treaties.)
Next steps
Use these steps to plan your work gap and put the Canadian rental, pension, and U.S. tax filings in the right order.
Before Canadian nonresident rental payments
Arrange Canadian rental withholding before nonresident rent begins
Once you are a Canadian nonresident, the payer or agent generally withholds 25% of gross rent. To request 25% withholding on net rent instead, submit Form NR6 to CRA on or before January 1 each year or before the first rental payment is due. Continue gross withholding until written approval arrives. The agent must remit withholding by the 15th of the following month. ([CRA Guide T4144](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/t4144/income-tax-guide-electing-under-section-216.html).)
Requirements
A Canadian-resident agent if using Form NR6
Expected rental income and expenses
Form NR6 if requesting withholding on net rent
If you choose K-1 entry
Marry your U.S.-citizen petitioner within 90 days
Complete the marriage within 90 days after admission. This is the marriage deadline; it is not a promise that a work permit will arrive within that period. After a timely marriage, you may apply for a green card through Form I-485. ([USCIS K-1 guidance](https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-of-us-citizens/visas-for-fiancees-of-us-citizens).)
Requirements
Admission in K-1 status
Marriage to the U.S.-citizen petitioner
After the wedding
File the adjustment and work-permit applications together
File Form I-765 with Form I-485 through USCIS; if you file the I-765 later, include evidence that the I-485 is pending. The standard adult paper-filing fees are $1,440 for I-485 plus $260 for this I-765, totaling $1,700 for these two applications—not the entire immigration process. Budget around the latest 6.4-month national median from I-765 filing, plus preparation and card delivery, without treating it as a deadline. Do not plan to start employment merely because you submitted the applications; you need valid employment-authorization evidence. ([Form I-765](https://www.uscis.gov/i-765); [Form G-1055, edition October 16, 2026](https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/g-1055.pdf).)
Requirements
Completed Form I-485 application package
Form I-765 under category (c)(9)
For the EAD: admission evidence, identity evidence, and two passport-style photographs
For the move year
Determine your tax-residency dates before choosing a return
U.S. tax residence can begin before your green card. The substantial-presence test generally requires at least 31 days in the current year and 183 weighted days: all current-year days, one-third of the previous year's days, and one-sixth of the second previous year's days. If you become a partway through the year, the default can be a dual-status year; if you remain nonresident at year-end, nonresident rules generally continue unless an election applies. If married to your U.S.-citizen spouse at year-end, you may instead elect full-year resident treatment with a joint return, bringing full-year worldwide income into the U.S. calculation. Canada separately examines your residential ties and usually uses the latest of departure, your spouse/dependants' departure, and becoming resident in the destination country. If both countries claim residence, the treaty examines permanent homes and closer personal and economic relations. (IRS Publication 519; CRA Leaving Canada; Canada–U.S. Convention, Article IV.)
Requirements
U.S. travel days for the move year and preceding two years
Dates of your move and any green-card approval
Details of remaining Canadian residential ties
Marriage status at year-end
After each rental tax year
Calculate Canadian and U.S. rental income separately
For Canadian nonresident rent, a uses Form T1159 to calculate tax on net rental income and can recover excess withholding. An approved NR6 normally requires filing by June 30 of the following year; without it, the usual election window is two years after year-end. A balance owing is generally due April 30 of the following year. Once U.S.-resident taxation applies, also report the Canadian rental on Schedule E in U.S. dollars and calculate depreciation under U.S. rules rather than copying the Canadian net figure. Eligible Canadian income tax may support a , generally on Form 1116, subject to limits; this can reduce double taxation but does not guarantee identical taxable income or zero additional U.S. tax. (CRA Guide T4144; Schedule E Instructions; IRS Foreign Tax Credit guidance.)
Requirements
Rent and expense records
Property cost and depreciation records
Canadian tax-withholding records
Canadian-dollar to U.S.-dollar conversions
While holding the pension and when payments begin
Preserve the pension's treaty treatment
If your Canadian defined-benefit plan falls within the treaty's qualifying pension arrangements and you satisfy Rev. Proc. 2014-55, undistributed plan income receives automatic U.S. federal tax deferral. Eligibility includes filing all required U.S. returns, not previously reporting undistributed plan earnings as income, and properly reporting any distributions. If you are not taking payments, this generally avoids annual U.S. taxation of earnings retained in the qualifying plan. If you receive payments, the taxable amount is reported under U.S. pension rules; Canada may also tax Canadian-source pensions, but its treaty tax on qualifying periodic payments to a U.S. resident is capped at 15% of the gross payment. That cap does not cover every lump-sum withdrawal. Eligible Canadian tax can enter the foreign-tax-credit calculation. Covered Canadian retirement plans also have specific Forms 3520 and 3520-A reporting relief. (Rev. Proc. 2014-55 §§3–6; Convention Article XVIII.)
Requirements
Pension plan description and Canadian tax status
Statements of benefits, contributions, and any payments
Records of prior U.S. returns, if any
With each applicable U.S. reporting year
Report foreign accounts and the pension interest when required
A U.S. person generally files an when aggregate reportable foreign financial accounts exceed US $10,000 at any time in the year; Canadian bank accounts used for rent can count. FinCEN Form 114 is separate from the tax return, due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15. Form 8938 is a separate tax-return attachment: for married taxpayers living in the U.S., the thresholds are over $100,000 at year-end or $150,000 during the year when filing jointly, and over $50,000 or $75,000 respectively when filing separately. Your foreign pension interest can count toward Form 8938 even when its earnings are tax-deferred. Directly owned Canadian real estate is not itself reported on Form 8938; ownership through a foreign entity changes that analysis. Do not assume your defined-benefit pension is an FBAR account without establishing its structure. (IRS FBAR guidance; Form 8938 Instructions and IRS questions and answers.)
Requirements
Highest annual balances of Canadian financial accounts
Year-end values of reportable foreign assets
Pension-interest information
Your U.S. filing status
Others who faced this
You are not the first to go through this. Here is how it went for others who asked the same thing.
Legal sources
This answer draws on USCIS guidance and forms, CRA emigrant and rental-income rules, IRS instructions, and the Canada–U.S. Income Tax Convention.
USCIS K-1 guidance
K-1 entrants must marry their petitioner within 90 days and can request work authorization either initially or with adjustment.
USCIS K-1 guidance
Step 4: Marriage; Permission to Work
If your fiancé(e) is admitted as a K-1 nonimmigrant, you and your fiancé(e) have 90 days to marry each other. Your fiancé(e) may also apply for work authorization at the same time he or she applies for a Green Card.
USCIS Historic Processing Times
The latest retrieved national median for an adjustment-based EAD was 6.4 months from filing, not from arrival.
USCIS Historic Processing Times
I-765 pending-I-485 row; FY2026 column and footnote 11
|Form |Form Description |Classification or Basis for Filing |FY 2021 |FY 2022 |FY 2023 |FY 2024 |FY 2025 |FY 2026 ¹¹ | |I-765 |Application for Employment Authorization |Based on a pending I-485 adjustment application |7\.1 |6\.7 |5\.5 |3\.7 |2\.2 |6\.4 | ¹¹ FY2026 uses data from October 1, 2025 to August 30, 2026.
Form I-765 Instructions
The initial K-1 employment document has a short, nonrenewable validity window.
Form I-765 Instructions
Category (a)(6)
You are only authorized to work under this category during your 90 days in K-1 or K-2 status. You cannot renew this EAD.
Form I-765
Approval is followed by card production and mailing, so adjudication time is not the entire wait.
Form I-765
When will I get my EAD?
After we approve a Form I-765, your EAD card should be produced within 2 weeks.
Form G-1055
The current standard paper-filing fees for the two applications total $1,700.
Form G-1055
I-485 general adult filing; I-765 based on a paid pending I-485
Paper Filing: $1,440 Online Filing: $1,390 If you filed Form I-485 with a fee on or after April 1, 2024 and your Form I-485 is still pending. Paper Filing: $260 Online Filing: $260
USCIS spouse immigration guidance
A spouse abroad can use the I-130 and consular immigrant-visa route instead of entering on K-1.
USCIS spouse immigration guidance
Application Process
When the Form I-130 is approved, it will be sent for consular processing and the consulate or embassy will provide notification and processing information.
USCIS Temporary I-551 Stamps and MRIVs
An endorsed immigrant visa provides temporary evidence of permanent residence for employment verification.
USCIS Temporary I-551 Stamps and MRIVs
The employee’s foreign passport with the MRIV is evidence the employee has permanent residence status for 1 year from the date of admission.
CRA Leaving Canada
Canadian departure residence depends on the relevant dates and continuing ties, not just the visa used.
CRA Leaving Canada
When do you become a non-resident of Canada?
the date you leave Canada the date your spouse or common-law partner and dependants leave Canada the date you become a resident of the country you settle in
IRS Publication 519 (2025)
U.S. tax residency can arise before a green card, and a spouse election can extend it to the entire year.
IRS Publication 519 (2025)
Resident Aliens; Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident; First Year of Residency
Resident aliens are generally taxed on their worldwide income, the same as U.S. citizens. If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a U.S. citizen or a resident alien and the other spouse is a nonresident alien, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident. If you meet the substantial presence test for a calendar year, your residency starting date is generally the first day you are present in the United States during that calendar year.
CRA Dispositions of property for emigrants
Canadian real estate and pension rights generally fall outside departure deemed disposition.
CRA Dispositions of property for emigrants
Deemed disposition of property
Canadian real or immovable property, Canadian resource property, and timber resource property pension plans, annuities, registered retirement savings plans, pooled registered pension plans, registered retirement income funds, registered education savings plans, registered disability savings plans, tax-free savings accounts, deferred profit-sharing plans, employee profit-sharing plans, employee benefit plans, salary deferral arrangements, retirement compensation arrangements, employee life and health trusts, rights or interests in certain other trusts, employee security options subject to Canadian tax, interests in certain personal trusts resident in Canada, and interests in life insurance policies in Canada (other than segregated fund policies)
CRA Guide T4144
Canadian nonresident rent withholding starts on gross rent, with an approved NR6 allowing net withholding and a Section 216 return determining net-income tax.
CRA Guide T4144
Rental income and non-resident tax; Withholding on net rental income; Section 216 deadlines
If you receive rental income from real or immovable property in Canada, the payer or agent (such as the property manager) must withhold non-resident tax of 25% on the gross rental income paid or credited to you. Your agent must continue to withhold non-resident tax on the **gross** rental income until the CRA approves your Form NR6 in writing. Electing under section 216 allows you to pay tax on your **net** Canadian-source rental income instead of the **gross** amount.
Form NR6
NR6 is an undertaking to file the rental-income return and pay any additional tax.
Form NR6
Section 3 – Undertaking by non-resident
I, the undersigned, undertake to file an income tax return under subsection 216(4) of the Canadian Income Tax Act for the tax year indicated above, within six months of the tax year, to include all rents from my real or immovable property and timber royalties, and to pay any additional tax owing.
Schedule E Instructions (2025)
The U.S. rental calculation includes U.S.-rule depreciation rather than simply copying Canadian taxable rental income.
Schedule E Instructions (2025)
Part I; Line 18
Depreciation is the annual deduction you must take to recover the cost or other basis of business or investment property having a useful life substantially beyond the tax year.
IRS Foreign currency and exchange rates
Canadian-dollar income and expenses must be translated for the U.S. return.
IRS Foreign currency and exchange rates
You must express the amounts you report on your U.S. tax return in U.S. dollars.
Rev. Proc. 2014-55
Qualifying Canadian pension beneficiaries receive automatic treaty deferral, while distributions remain subject to the applicable income-tax rules.
Rev. Proc. 2014-55
Sections 3, 4.01–4.02 and 6
An eligible individual who did not previously make an election under Article XVIII(7) of the Convention to defer current U.S. income taxation on the undistributed income of a Canadian retirement plan will be treated as having made the election in the first year in which the individual would have been entitled to elect the benefits under Article XVIII(7) with respect to the plan. Distributions received by any beneficiary or annuitant from a Canadian retirement plan, including the portion thereof that constitutes income that has accrued in the plan and has not previously been taxed in the United States, must be included in gross income by the beneficiary or annuitant in the manner provided under section 72, subject to any applicable provision of the Convention.
Rev. Proc. 2014-55 §5
Canadian retirement plans covered by this procedure have specific foreign-trust reporting relief, which is separate from account and asset reporting.
Rev. Proc. 2014-55 §5
Section 5.01
Subject to any future guidance that may be issued by the Treasury Department and the IRS, beneficiaries (regardless of whether they are “eligible individuals” within the meaning of section 4.01 of this revenue procedure) and annuitants are not required to report contributions to, distributions from, and ownership of a Canadian retirement plan under the simplified reporting regime established by Notice 2003–75 (Form 8891) or pursuant to the reporting obligations imposed by section 6048 (Form 3520). In addition, custodians are not required to file Form 3520–A with respect to a Canadian retirement plan.
Canada–U.S. Income Tax Convention
The treaty permits Canadian source taxation of rent and pensions, limits Canadian tax on qualifying periodic pension payments, and provides double-tax relief subject to limits.
Canada–U.S. Income Tax Convention
Articles IV(2), VI(1), XVIII(1)–(2), and XXIV(1)
Income derived by a resident of a Contracting State from real property (including income from agriculture, forestry or other natural resources) situated in the other Contracting State may be taxed in that other State. (a) pensions may also be taxed in the Contracting State in which they arise and according to the laws of that State; but if a resident of the other Contracting State is the beneficial owner of a periodic pension payment, the tax so charged shall not exceed 15 per cent of the gross amount of such payment;
IRS Foreign Tax Credit
Eligible Canadian income taxes may reduce U.S. tax through a foreign tax credit, generally claimed on Form 1116.
IRS Foreign Tax Credit
Choosing to take the credit or deduction; Claiming the credit
If you paid or accrued foreign taxes to a foreign country or U.S. possession and are subject to U.S. tax on the same income, you may be able to take either a credit or an itemized deduction for those taxes. Taken as a credit, foreign income taxes reduce your U.S. tax liability.
FinCEN Form 114 / IRS FBAR guidance
Reportable Canadian financial accounts can trigger a separate annual FBAR.
FinCEN Form 114 / IRS FBAR guidance
Who must file; When to file
the aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported. The FBAR is an annual report, due April 15 following the calendar year reported. You’re allowed an automatic extension to October 15 if you fail to meet the FBAR annual due date of April 15.
Form 8938 Instructions
A married couple living in the United States uses these aggregate Form 8938 thresholds when filing jointly.
Form 8938 Instructions
Reporting Thresholds Applying to Specified Individuals
If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $150,000 at any time during the tax year. If you are married and file a separate income tax return from your spouse, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.
IRS Form 8938 questions and answers
A directly owned rental is excluded from Form 8938, but a foreign pension interest can be reportable.
IRS Form 8938 questions and answers
Foreign real estate; Foreign pensions
Foreign real estate is not a specified foreign financial asset required to be reported on Form 8938. If you have an interest in a foreign pension or deferred compensation plan, you have to report this interest on Form 8938 if the value of your specified foreign financial assets is greater than the reporting threshold that applies to you.
IRS Tax treaties
Federal treaty treatment does not establish the state-tax result.
IRS Tax treaties
Overview
Some states honor the provisions of U.S. tax treaties and some states do not.
These are the official rules and statistics as published on the cited dates; rules, fees, and processing times change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice, and SettleKit is not a law firm.
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