Permanent residence begins on admission with the immigrant visa, and from that day the expectation of U.S. residence applies; there is no grace period during which living in Canada is treated as residence.
The residence clock starts at admission
The Gold Card sequence is application and fee, vetting, gift, immigrant processing in EB-1 or EB-2, and admission on an immigrant visa, at which point permanent residence begins. From that date the consultant is a resident of the United States for immigration purposes, and each subsequent trip abroad is measured against it. A first entry followed by a return to Cantley for the rest of the year is the beginning of a record that officers may read as abandonment.
If the household needs time to wind down the Cantley practice, the honest approach is to complete that before the immigrant visa is used, within the visa’s validity, or to obtain a re-entry permit promptly after admission for a defined absence. Because the program is administered by executive order and its procedures are new, published timelines for other categories are not a reliable guide, and the official page should be re-checked before each step. Hypothetical example: an archaeological-services founder plans to pay now and decide next year whether to leave Canada.
The first review should establish the classification DHS may appropriately determine, the fee-and-gift sequence, visa availability, and a genuine residence plan before funds are sent. The individual’s gift, or a corporate gift made on the person’s behalf, is treated as evidence in an expedited existing immigrant classification; it does not create a new conventional visa category or preserve a right to reside mainly abroad. A late decision to move can conflict with the obligations of permanent residence once it is granted.