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Sens. Nelson and Rubio File Bill to Extend Canadian Snowbirds' Stay

Housingwire
The flags of the U.S. and Canada

Florida's U.S. Senators — Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio — introduced legislation Thursday to extend the stay of some Canadian citizens who vacation in the U.S. 

If passed, the bill would allow Canadian citizens to stay in the U.S. for up to eight months of the year — two months longer than they're allowed to now.

But, the bill applies to some, not all, visiting Canadians.

The language of the bill specifies that they must be over the age of 50 and rent or own property in the U.S., but they cannot work for American employers while here or seek public assistance.

An estimated 3.2 million Canadians visited Florida in 2016, according to VISIT Florida. And, the Canadian embassy says those coming to the state contribute more than $4 billion to Florida's tourism-based economy each year.

Rachel Iacovone is a reporter and associate producer of Gulf Coast Live for WGCU News. Rachel came to WGCU as an intern in 2016, during the presidential race. She went on to cover Florida Gulf Coast University students at President Donald Trump's inauguration on Capitol Hill and Southwest Floridians in attendance at the following day's Women's March on Washington.Rachel was first contacted by WGCU when she was managing editor of FGCU's student-run media group, Eagle News. She helped take Eagle News from a weekly newspaper to a daily online publication with TV and radio branches within two years, winning the 2016 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia in a cross-platform series she led for National Coming Out Day. She also won the Mark of Excellence Award for Feature Writing for her five-month coverage of an FGCU student's transition from male to female.As a WGCU reporter, she produced the first radio story in WGCU's Curious Gulf Coast project, which answered the question: Does SWFL Have More Cases of Pediatric Cancer?Rachel graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.