- Dec 5, 2013
- 0
- Visa Office......
- CPP-Ottawa
- App. Filed.......
- 18-10-2013
- AOR Received.
- 15-11-2013
- File Transfer...
- 04-12-2013
- Med's Done....
- 23-08-2013
- LANDED..........
- 23-06-2014
Hi everyone,
My husband landed on Monday and just wanted to share some experiences with you all and things to avoid.
The first thing I will say is that if you are not 100% sure you want to bring your car into Canada (if it is worth it from the US), it is likely NOT worth it and I would advise you not to.
Car export
We exported our vehicle from NY at the Lewiston bridge and had emailed them weeks before to ensure that it was >72h. They emailed back with a confirmation stating that it was okay to do it anytime 72h after the receipt of the email and there was no need to resubmit it as long as we exported within 6 months. My husband came to pick me up in Ont and we packed up his stuff in the US and then headed back into Canada after a couple days to export car and land. We tried to export the car and the lady stated that the car had to physically BE IN the US for continuously 72h prior to export. No where did it say that on the form. She wanted to fine us $200 and not let us export the vehicle. I explained it wasn't indicated on the form, etc and luckily the other worker understood.
Landing
The actual landing process and import process on the Canada side was great. Took about 20 minutes and the officers were fabulous. Imported car with no problem as well.
SIN
Went to get SIN at Service Canada, no problem with COPR. Just ensure that they stamp your passport when you land and write under it your COPR number because they do check to get the SIN.
Driver's License
Went to get driver's license-> huge problem with NY state abstracts in that they do not accept them because they don't state the date issued of your license on it so you can only get <1yr experience. Plus they also have to be "originals" and mailed to you even though the DMV states that it is okay to print them off as they send you the PDFs. Even having spoken to the NY DMV that stated that it was okay they would not accept them. Drivers Ontario also was very rude and told me to stop saying that I had talked to the NY DMV as if I was lying even though I had spoken to a few different representatives before to ensure our documents were okay and NY had assured me they were.
We went back to the Driver's License place about 4 times this week because they kept telling us to bring other documents and then when we would go get them they would then tell us we needed something else.
Bottom line from after talking to NY DMV again saying that Ont wouldn't accept any of those things: Have to order a lifetime driving record from NY DMV which takes approximately a month to get, and ensure they mail it and don't email it. NYS does NOT issue letters indicating experience even though Driver's Ontario is under the impression they do (NY DMV states that they can't for legal confidentiality reasons). No guarantee that this will work either but this is what we are waiting on now.
Car
So no license, and can't register car.
In the meantime: all the other steps to register a car we did.
Obtained Canadian car insurance, did the RIV inspection (got daytime running lights installed), and got safety certificate and emissions. Pricing all of this out it cost $2 000. The things that we needed to do to pass the safety certificate cost $1300, on a car that is from 2009. We thought since the car isn't that old it would pass with no problems but apparently not. You also can't sell the car once you import it for one year, so we were stuck with having to do it unless we wanted to export it again. Plus all the money we had already put in for fees and the RIV inspection.
The only thing we aren't sure about is whether or not we can cancel the US car insurance yet if it's not technically registered in Canada yet? We are essentially paying for 2 insurances now until we can get the Ontario driver's license. This may take up to a month since we are waiting on the NY DMV.
OHIP
They wouldn't accept the proof of residence of a bank statement that we printed off with his name and address on it from the bank. They said that it has to be mailed, in the envelope. We have paperless statements and I told them this but they said change them to paper to get them mailed and then bring it in. We couldn't use a driver's license since we didn't have one.
Have to go back for OHIP after driver's license then since I think it's dumb to change all my statements to paper and wait another month for the next statement.
Anyways, all in all it has been a poor landing experience and my husband says that he kind of hates Canada now. I can definitely see that given even as a Canadian I feel like this has been an awful experience that makes me question our system. I can even further imagine how difficult it would be for people with English as a second language. Hopefully this will help other people and make it smoother.
If anyone could speak to converting the NY state to Ontario driver's license that would be great given our awful experience. On the system it only shows my husband's record from 2013 because that was the year he renewed his license! They expire every 5 years he said so we just missed out. We don't want the G2 because the insurance rates would skyrocket and have to do the road test.
My husband landed on Monday and just wanted to share some experiences with you all and things to avoid.
The first thing I will say is that if you are not 100% sure you want to bring your car into Canada (if it is worth it from the US), it is likely NOT worth it and I would advise you not to.
Car export
We exported our vehicle from NY at the Lewiston bridge and had emailed them weeks before to ensure that it was >72h. They emailed back with a confirmation stating that it was okay to do it anytime 72h after the receipt of the email and there was no need to resubmit it as long as we exported within 6 months. My husband came to pick me up in Ont and we packed up his stuff in the US and then headed back into Canada after a couple days to export car and land. We tried to export the car and the lady stated that the car had to physically BE IN the US for continuously 72h prior to export. No where did it say that on the form. She wanted to fine us $200 and not let us export the vehicle. I explained it wasn't indicated on the form, etc and luckily the other worker understood.
Landing
The actual landing process and import process on the Canada side was great. Took about 20 minutes and the officers were fabulous. Imported car with no problem as well.
SIN
Went to get SIN at Service Canada, no problem with COPR. Just ensure that they stamp your passport when you land and write under it your COPR number because they do check to get the SIN.
Driver's License
Went to get driver's license-> huge problem with NY state abstracts in that they do not accept them because they don't state the date issued of your license on it so you can only get <1yr experience. Plus they also have to be "originals" and mailed to you even though the DMV states that it is okay to print them off as they send you the PDFs. Even having spoken to the NY DMV that stated that it was okay they would not accept them. Drivers Ontario also was very rude and told me to stop saying that I had talked to the NY DMV as if I was lying even though I had spoken to a few different representatives before to ensure our documents were okay and NY had assured me they were.
We went back to the Driver's License place about 4 times this week because they kept telling us to bring other documents and then when we would go get them they would then tell us we needed something else.
Bottom line from after talking to NY DMV again saying that Ont wouldn't accept any of those things: Have to order a lifetime driving record from NY DMV which takes approximately a month to get, and ensure they mail it and don't email it. NYS does NOT issue letters indicating experience even though Driver's Ontario is under the impression they do (NY DMV states that they can't for legal confidentiality reasons). No guarantee that this will work either but this is what we are waiting on now.
Car
So no license, and can't register car.
In the meantime: all the other steps to register a car we did.
Obtained Canadian car insurance, did the RIV inspection (got daytime running lights installed), and got safety certificate and emissions. Pricing all of this out it cost $2 000. The things that we needed to do to pass the safety certificate cost $1300, on a car that is from 2009. We thought since the car isn't that old it would pass with no problems but apparently not. You also can't sell the car once you import it for one year, so we were stuck with having to do it unless we wanted to export it again. Plus all the money we had already put in for fees and the RIV inspection.
The only thing we aren't sure about is whether or not we can cancel the US car insurance yet if it's not technically registered in Canada yet? We are essentially paying for 2 insurances now until we can get the Ontario driver's license. This may take up to a month since we are waiting on the NY DMV.
OHIP
They wouldn't accept the proof of residence of a bank statement that we printed off with his name and address on it from the bank. They said that it has to be mailed, in the envelope. We have paperless statements and I told them this but they said change them to paper to get them mailed and then bring it in. We couldn't use a driver's license since we didn't have one.
Have to go back for OHIP after driver's license then since I think it's dumb to change all my statements to paper and wait another month for the next statement.
Anyways, all in all it has been a poor landing experience and my husband says that he kind of hates Canada now. I can definitely see that given even as a Canadian I feel like this has been an awful experience that makes me question our system. I can even further imagine how difficult it would be for people with English as a second language. Hopefully this will help other people and make it smoother.
If anyone could speak to converting the NY state to Ontario driver's license that would be great given our awful experience. On the system it only shows my husband's record from 2013 because that was the year he renewed his license! They expire every 5 years he said so we just missed out. We don't want the G2 because the insurance rates would skyrocket and have to do the road test.
No wonder why your hubby hates Canada. What in the world cost $1300 to bring the car up to Canadian standards? I wonder what kind of crap I'm going to run into. I'll be moving with a class A CDL, granted I haven't used it in 14 years, but once you get it, you don't want to give it up.
