Car Concerns While Visitor

[Scb12]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, and I have a long story concerning my poor car. I didn't know where else to look for help, but if anyone has suggestions I'd really appreciate them!

I'm having some concerns re: my car. I arrived as an IEC visa participant in September 2019. I temporarily imported my car, which apparently didn't require any paperwork because I received none at the border. (I suspect I did need paperwork and no one gave it to me.) The borders closed in March 2020, as I'm sure many of you are aware, and my visa expired in September 2020. My car's original Texas registration expired in July 2020.

I applied for a visitors record in August 2020, requesting six months. I hoped by then, the border would be open. (It wasn't.)

I hoped to get a temporary import form in August 2020, but when I went to the airport for said form, I was told I could only get it for the rest of my IEC visa, which at that time expired in 4 weeks. I was advised to come back when I got my visitor's record, so I could show them the official visitors record. Once I had that, they could give me the temporary import form. This was in lieu of crossing the border and coming back, because I obviously couldn't do that. Once I had that form, I could register my car in Ontario and get insurance.

Again, as I'm sure many of you suspected, my application took six months to process. I didn't get the official paperwork until the last week February, and it expired March 31, 2021. By this time, I had applied for PR in December 2020, so I requested 6 more months. I applied at the end of February 2021, asking for time to hear back about PR. At the rate they've been going, I don't expect to hear back from them about my visitor record extension until August 2021. By then, theoretically I should have heard back regarding PR.

My concern at the moment is: what do I do with my car? So far, it's been sitting in my parking lot since August. I occasionally move it from one parking space to another so people think I'm using it, and made sure to clean snow off of it in the winter to emphasize I'm paying attention to it. My car, however, is finally asking me to drive the car to recharge the battery. This really worries me, because:

- It's not registered anywhere. I haven't registered it again in Texas because it requires car insurance, which they can verify I don't have.
- I can't get American car insurance because Ontario made me change my driver's license ages ago. I need an American driver's license for American car insurance.
- I can't register this car in Ontario because I can't get the forms for even a temporary import because my only official visitor's record expired 30 days after I got it and I'm on implied status.
- Can I get Ontario car insurance anyway?? I know it's the law to register your car after you get insurance for it, but I can't register my car for the reasons stated above.

My plan, in case I need to move back to the US, is to get my American license back and then get American car insurance to drive back to the US. Unfortunately, even then I don't know where to register my car, because Texas only lets you renew online 9 months after your sticker expires, and by June that will be 11 months.

I'm stuck. This would have been easy any other time, but the pandemic has complicated everything, as I'm sure you're aware. How do I move my car around to keep the battery okay? What if something happens and I get pulled over or something? Do I print out my several proofs of applications and hope they'll be merciful because I'm stuck in a bureaucratic knot? I just want to keep the battery okay; I don't want to use it regularly. And I don't know what to do if after my PR decision is made, either. Please help if you can!

 

[steaky]

I heard some people bring their car to the US by using a towing company and then fly to a US destination to drive the car and then drove back to Canada via the land border. Can you not do the above and exchange your Canadian license to a US one? You could then get the car insurance in US and then later when you returned to Canada, you exchange the US driver license into a Canadian one?

Here's an article that might be of interest:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/border-loophole-canadian-snowbirds-shipping-cars-rvs-to-u-s-then-flying-in-1.5196426?cache=y

 

[Scb12]

I heard some people bring their car to the US by using a towing company and then fly to a US destination to drive the car and then drove back to Canada via the land border. Can you not do the above and exchange your Canadian license to a US one? You could then get the car insurance in US and then later when you returned to Canada, you exchange the US driver license into a Canadian one?

Here's an article that might be of interest:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/border-loophole-canadian-snowbirds-shipping-cars-rvs-to-u-s-then-flying-in-1.5196426?cache=y

Thanks for this! This could be a great option if I get PR, so I'll definitely bookmark this link. As I'm on implied status as a visitor at the moment, I can't leave the country or I won't be let back in

 

[cremze]

Oh, man. I'm so thankful you posted this.

Also new here, also on visitor status, also American. I performed a border crossing by land with my (Canadian) husband 6 days ago. We're intending on applying for spousal sponsorship from within Canada. We stated all this at the border, were only asked about any concealed weapons (nothing of imports, exports, or declarations) presented our quarantine plan and negative Covid-19 PCR tests, and were given the green light.
Since we're presently in quarantine, I've set about the task of trying to get all our paperwork in order. I started looking into the process of registering my vehicle and transferring my license. Oh, boy. Could not have even anticipated the depth of crap I had just stepped into.

So, now I'm trying to figure out how to export and then import my car. I understand that I need to return the US for 72 hours with the vehicle in order to export it from the US and back into Canada. However, this brings on a whole new set of hurdles:

First, I'm not certain I'll be allowed reentry in Canada after returning to the US. I entered Canada under the auspices of Family Reunification, but I'm not certain that I'll be allowed back in. I am, however, aware that I need to be here more than 15 days before I can even attempt to rectify anything.
Second, I'm from the east coast and am presently in BC. We took my car because we needed to move house. If I'm denied entry back in, I will be in a whole new world of hurt.

Now, it is my understanding that I can continue to use my vehicle as a visitor. I am fully licensed in my home state, insured, own the vehicle outright, and it's registration is valid until April of 2022. (Literally the one thing I did right.) I spoke to the ICBC today and their verdict was that I needed to import the vehicle within 30 days. This directly conflicts with guidance currently published on the Government of Canada's website regarding temporary residents and visitors. At this time, I am still considered a visitor and will remain as such UNTIL my status changes. Still, I don't even know how to even go about accomplishing this domestically. I am supposing I should apply for a temporary import, but I'm a little lost? I know this is recommended for those individuals intending on staying more than three months.

When you made the attempt to apply for a temporary import, did they indicate an exit and reentry as a means of accomplishing this?

Any help would be so very appreciated

 

[Kimbear]

Did any of you get an answer to your car import questions? We are in the same boat with my husbands car. and just realized his USA licence is expiring soon an cannot be renewed online and he will have to get Ontario DL but then cannot drive his USA registered car even though we have valid allstate insuranc eon it for usa and canada.