cbennett said:
You may want to call and tell them you are in Canada on a Visitor's visa. When I crossed at Sarnia, the agent told me it was no problem to bring my car in and I would do the import when I crossed back in after getting the PR visa. Please let me know what you find out. Thanks!
My car was already in Canada, as I was there on a visitor permit while awaiting PR; however, I was outside of Canada on vacation without my car when I got PPR. I called Canada Border Services to find out the process before landing. They were super helpful and said I only needed the VIN number for the car when landing and to declare it as goods to follow. (All my other belongings were in Canada, aside from the stuff for our short trip.)
I landed upon returning to Canada, at the airport. As I had been instructed, I listed my car (with VIN number) as goods to follow, and told them it was already here. The officers told me I then needed to import it at the customs office, so the day after landing, I went to the customs office and did the paperwork for that. There are usually taxes/fees, I think, but my car was so ancient they decided it didn't have enough value to tax anything on it. (I have no idea what happens if you live somewhere not near a customs office...)
Then, I called the RIV and the SAAQ (the Quebec DMV-type organization) to inquire about the process of properly registering the car. The RIV said my car was too old and I didn't need to do anything at all with them (but normally this is a step that is necessary, it seems). All of these people were also helpful and nice. The RIV can give you the provincial phone number of who you need to contact to find out your province's procedures, so ask them what you need to do next and they can guide you.
Here is the process to register a car in Québec. I imagine the process is somewhat similar in other provinces:
To get the car registered in Québec, there were steps involving getting the car checked by an approved certification place (the SSAQ gave me the address of where to take it) and receiving paperwork of what needs to be changed/fixed, taking that list and the car to be repaired/modified at a separate garage, then going back to the certification place with the paperwork from the garage so the certification people can confirm that the repairs/modifications were actually made. Then they give you the paperwork and a sticker for your car, saying the car is certified and complies with provincial rules. This paperwork and the title (and fact that I owned my car) allowed me to register the car in our province.
Then we had to get Quebec car insurance and quit the U.S. car insurance.
After that, I started the process for getting a Quebec driver's license (which took way longer than expected because of needing a driver's abstract history from the U.S. from the state where I had my drivers license, and some unforeseen delays with that part.) Finally, that was wrapped up last week, I surrendered my U.S. license, and I am now waiting for the plastic Québec license to come in the mail. A U.S. license can be exchanged for a Québec license without taking paper or driving tests.
There were quite a few steps to do all the car-related stuff, and it seemed like a long treasure hunt most of the time, with each step giving me a clue for the next step. But....it does end. (And it is nothing compared to the feeling of waiting for PPR...)
