Client Portal
+1(514) 937-9445 or Toll-free (Canada & US) +1 (888) 947-9445
  • Forums
  • Moving to Canada from the U.S.
  • Permanent Residence in Canada

Question Regarding US Car in Canada After PR

S

ShivaOm

Star Member
Jun 24, 2020
63
12
Hi Everyone,

We are US citizens who moved to Canada 6 years ago, as my partner was a student. Because she was on a visitor student visa, we were allowed to keep our USA license plate and insurance.

We recently received PR and still have our car with US license plates. It's insured by a US company, and under normal circumstances, we would go back to the US and export.

Seeing that the border is closed still, with no end in sight, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas as to what we should do as we can't go through the formal export process at this point.

I guess I'm also wondering what inland people who received PR do with "goods."

My experience has been that the border officers are fairly understanding, and that if in a few months, the border opens and we can go back to the US and do the formal export process, we can just explain why we had to wait.
 
Last edited:
S

ShivaOm

Star Member
Jun 24, 2020
63
12
primaprime said:
As US citizens and Canadian PRs, the border isn't closed to you in either direction.
Click to expand...
Yes, but.....COVID. 14 day quarantine when we return, and from what I've read it takes a few days for the export to be processed, so we'd have to stay for some time in the US, which is a bit of a COVID nightmare compared to BC, where we are now.
 
primaprime

primaprime

VIP Member
Apr 6, 2019
3,390
884
ShivaOm said:
Yes, but.....COVID. 14 day quarantine when we return, and from what I've read it takes a few days for the export to be processed, so we'd have to stay for some time in the US, which is a bit of a COVID nightmare compared to BC, where we are now.
Click to expand...
So it's that you don't want to go through the process, not that you can't.
 
S

ShivaOm

Star Member
Jun 24, 2020
63
12
Copingwithlife

Copingwithlife

VIP Member
Jul 29, 2018
3,963
1,925
Earth
ShivaOm said:
Oh god, you're one of these forum members. I get it. Thanks for the lecture.

From the website

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/declare-eng.html?wbdisable=true#_s20

Travellers departing Canada
Avoid all non-essential travel
To limit the spread of COVID-19, the Government of Canada advises that you avoid all non-essential travel outside of Canada until further notice.
Click to expand...
You’ve had close too SEVEN years to take care of the issue , and more than likely the PR process took awhile to complete. So you were aware for awhile it was something to do .Going thru PNP & PR doesn’t just happen overnight.You’re in no position too take a holier than thou position . That ship has sailed
 
  • Like
Reactions: rodsamlisa
S

ShivaOm

Star Member
Jun 24, 2020
63
12
After checking around the forum, it was good to see that there's some other people that are in our shoes. I hope this info helps them.

Again, we were in Canada as US Citizens on a study visa, so we didn't need to change our USA plates/insurance when we brought our car into Canada/BC a few years back.

In June we got PR and were worried about what to do.

Went to a local CBSA office yesterday and they said no worries and handed us a Form 1 and said we could keep driving the car and go through importation the process.

The problem is a classic Catch-22. We could import the car to Canada without going to the US, but then if we drove the car back to the US ever again it could be seized. And while we could technically cross the border, we'd be exposing ourselves to much higher COVID rates in Washington, and we'd have to quarantine for two weeks upon return. Blaine's import office was inflexible: they require us to be in the USA for 72 hours to export the car, and as the other poster says, a car import isn't "essential travel" from Canada's side.

So today we went back to the CBSA office and explained the situation and the officer said, "Don't worry about it. As long as your car is insured you can have it here with US plates until the border opens to non-essential traffic."

This is in line with this part of the CBSA site about COVID Info for Canadians and Permanent Residents:

https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/covid/canadians-canadiens-eng.html

"Temporary import of US-plated vehicles into Canada
Until further notice, the CBSA is lifting the 60-day condition regarding the temporary import of US-plated vehicles by Canadian residents. A new deadline for when these vehicles will need to be exported or permanently imported with applicable duties and tax will follow."

Hopefully this helps any folks out there in a similar predicament.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.