B4 and B4a forms necessary?

[OhCanadiana]

I have a little question about the B4 and B4A.

My spouse is coming Canada for a week on vacation, and will officially land before permanently moving here. He plans on coming back in December with his car and his belongings. Does he have to fill out the B4 AND the B4A, or ONLY the B4A (by checking "goods to follow" on that form)?

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me, as I am pretty confused about the whole process.

Any other requirements/advice about the car? He's coming in December with his car, but does he already have to "declare" his car on that form when landing?

Thank you so much for your help

The important thing for you to realize is that when he lands he needs to declare EVERYTHING he's EVER bringing - including car or anything else he currently owns, uses, and posses that he intends to eventually import to Canada. You only have one opportunity to declare the goods you will import free of duty under your immigrant eligibility.

How he fills out the forms is a bit more flexible. One idea to make it very clear according to how the forms are filled out is: If he is leaving anything behind on his vacation trip/landing trip, put that on a B4 and continue the list on B4A forms until you have enough space to complete the list. For those B4A forms, do NOT check the "goods to follow" on the top right to indicate they are being imported initially when he lands. Then, fill out one or more B4A forms with the goods to follow box checked that includes all the items he will import in the future.

For the car, the process depends on where it's coming from. Check out RIV.ca for instructions. If he's bringing it from the US, note that he'll need to export it from the US first - US CBP will stamp his title authorizing the export and the Canadian CBSA and MTO will look for it to allow the import and to register the vehicle. Each border post has specific instructions on how to do it (e.g., some require that you mail the title so they receive it 3 days prior, others require an e-mail or fax copy of it, others require an e-mail with the VIN number but no attachments). Also note that on the US side, not all border posts export vehicles and many that do have restricted hours that he'll need to consider in December (e.g., Mon-Fri 8-4pm or only certain days of the week). I would highly recommend calling the border post on the US side a few weeks prior to ensure you abide by their specific rules.

It's easy to export the car and import it into Canada as long as you have your paperwork in order (title, registration) and schedule time in for the inspections you need before registering the car. The RIV process really is set-up to be helpful.

Is he driving his car up for vacation? If so, he needs to be prepared to explain why he doesn't want to import his car yet (e.g., he is landing for immigration purposes before his visa expires but needs to be able to go back to settle his affairs and needs the car to have US plates still for certain reasons).

For December, consider: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/thread-for-outland-buffalo-applicants-t41886.0.html;msg1405419#msg1405419