New registration affecting Canadian snowbirds in U.S.

David A. Altro, with Alexia Gezink/May 8, 2025

There have been several changes in US immigration policy under the new Trump administration, including changes to filing and registrations that affect Canadian snowbirds vacationing in the United States. In March of this year, Yana Timokhova, Altro LLP attorney, wrote a blog on our website anticipating the implications of the Executive Order, the details of which are now clear.

Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP, immigration attorneys in California, recently wrote an excellent article on the registration requirements that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) have implemented as of April 11, 2025. The article explains that for non-US citizens over the age of 14 who plan to stay in the US for longer than 30 days, they must be fingerprinted and register with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) before the 30 days is up. Legal guardians will need to register children under the age of 14, and reregister within 30 days after their 14 th birthday. Individuals who are not snowbirds but hold a Green Card, visa, have employment authorization, are a parolee, and individuals in removal proceedings, are already registered.

A question raised in our above mentioned previous blog regarding whether the clock resets has now been answered by the US Embassy and Consulates in Canada website. If you leave the US before the 30-day time limit, you are not required to register upon re-entry. That is, your maximum 30-day visits to the US does not accumulate.

These changes to immigration regulations in the US have created much uncertainty for our clients, as we have received an influx of inquires related to the topic, including on clients selling their US property before the legislation took effect. We now know exactly how non-US residents must comply. For those who own property in the US and wish to continue to enjoy their winters down South, this will be a requirement for you to continue this snowbird lifestyle.

Should you be contemplating selling your Florida property and are unsure of the sales process, withholding issues, capital gains tax issues, etc., please feel free to contact us by way of a request for a consultation on our website: Altro LLP.