The Gold Card, if the case succeeds, delivers permanent residence, and permanent residence requires an intent to reside in the United States. Living mainly in Canada afterward risks abandonment of the status, while the gift is not recoverable. It does not function as a standby option.
Residence is the product, and residence has conditions
The official framework routes a successful applicant into EB-1 or EB-2 and, at the end, lawful permanent residence. That status is not a right of entry to be exercised at will; it is a commitment to reside. Border officers assess returning residents on their pattern of presence, ties and intent, and a card holder who spends most of each year in Saskatchewan running a business, owning a home and filing Canadian taxes as a resident presents the profile of someone who has abandoned U.S.
residence. A re-entry permit can cover an extended absence for a specific purpose, but it is not designed to preserve a residence that was never established. If the status is lost, the fee and the gift are gone.
Before paying anything, decide whether the family genuinely intends to move, and when. If the honest answer is not for years and only if circumstances change, the Gold Card is the wrong instrument, and the classification question under EB-1 or EB-2 has not even been reached.