Hi all,
My partner is going to be coming to Canada from the USA this year. We would like to apply to extend his visitor status so that we can achieve common law and apply for permanent residence. He will be bringing his car.
I understand that you are not required to permanently import your car, register your vehicle, or obtain an Ontario driver's license while you are a visitor. We would like to hold off on doing all of those things until we have confirmation that his visitor status will be extended, because it would be a huge waste to import his car and go through all that and then have his application be rejected and he has to return to the US with an exported car registered in Ontario.
The hangup here is insurance. US insurers tend not to cover you in Canada beyond a maximum of 90 days, which is not long enough for a 6 month visit. But I also don't think he can get an auto insurance policy in Ontario without an Ontario driver's license. But to get an Ontario driver's license, he has to register his vehicle, and to register his vehicle I think he also needs to permanently import it. And all of this will be a problem if his application is rejected and he has to leave Canada after 6 months is over.
So I have a few questions:
- Is it possible to obtain visitor's auto insurance for 6 to 12 months, whether issued from an American or Canadian provider?
- Alternatively, would he be able to register his vehicle while it is declared only a temporary import, so that we can get his license and registration worked out for an insurance policy without jumping the gun on a permanent export that is not 100% guaranteed to be permanent (and perform the permanent import if his extension is successful)?
- Or are his chances of the visitor extension being rejected so low that we should just declare the permanent import as soon as he arrives to Canada and hope for the best? (We're a bit wary of doing this because he has to declare a misdemeanour charge on record for which he would be considered "deemed rehabilitated", but it's one of those things that I'm just anxious about IRCC being picky with.)
My partner is going to be coming to Canada from the USA this year. We would like to apply to extend his visitor status so that we can achieve common law and apply for permanent residence. He will be bringing his car.
I understand that you are not required to permanently import your car, register your vehicle, or obtain an Ontario driver's license while you are a visitor. We would like to hold off on doing all of those things until we have confirmation that his visitor status will be extended, because it would be a huge waste to import his car and go through all that and then have his application be rejected and he has to return to the US with an exported car registered in Ontario.
The hangup here is insurance. US insurers tend not to cover you in Canada beyond a maximum of 90 days, which is not long enough for a 6 month visit. But I also don't think he can get an auto insurance policy in Ontario without an Ontario driver's license. But to get an Ontario driver's license, he has to register his vehicle, and to register his vehicle I think he also needs to permanently import it. And all of this will be a problem if his application is rejected and he has to leave Canada after 6 months is over.
So I have a few questions:
- Is it possible to obtain visitor's auto insurance for 6 to 12 months, whether issued from an American or Canadian provider?
- Alternatively, would he be able to register his vehicle while it is declared only a temporary import, so that we can get his license and registration worked out for an insurance policy without jumping the gun on a permanent export that is not 100% guaranteed to be permanent (and perform the permanent import if his extension is successful)?
- Or are his chances of the visitor extension being rejected so low that we should just declare the permanent import as soon as he arrives to Canada and hope for the best? (We're a bit wary of doing this because he has to declare a misdemeanour charge on record for which he would be considered "deemed rehabilitated", but it's one of those things that I'm just anxious about IRCC being picky with.)