Posting this in case anyone else runs into this issue.
We were in Canada as US Citizens on a study visa, so we didn't need to change our USA plates/insurance (which covers us in Canada) 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 (with a 72 hour wait), 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, and car importation is certainly not essential travel. Blaine's import office was inflexible: they require us to be in the USA for 72 hours to export the car.
After emailing with Blaine, 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."
All was great, and we went on a two week vacation in BC. When we returned home we had a letter from RIV, saying we were late paying our import fees, and that if we didn't pay within a few weeks we'd be delinquent.
They required an email directly from CBSA to put a stop on the import.
Went back to CBSA today for the third time, and the border agent sent an email to RIV saying that the Form 1 was issued in error. He also canceled the Form 1.
Long story short - if we had done nothing, we would be fine! The headache was created by trying to make sure we were following the rules.
Now we just need to keep an eye on the CBSA website for when the border opens we can properly export/import the car.
Hope this helps if there's any other US citizens with new PR trying to figure out what to do.
We were in Canada as US Citizens on a study visa, so we didn't need to change our USA plates/insurance (which covers us in Canada) 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 (with a 72 hour wait), 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, and car importation is certainly not essential travel. Blaine's import office was inflexible: they require us to be in the USA for 72 hours to export the car.
After emailing with Blaine, 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."
All was great, and we went on a two week vacation in BC. When we returned home we had a letter from RIV, saying we were late paying our import fees, and that if we didn't pay within a few weeks we'd be delinquent.
They required an email directly from CBSA to put a stop on the import.
Went back to CBSA today for the third time, and the border agent sent an email to RIV saying that the Form 1 was issued in error. He also canceled the Form 1.
Long story short - if we had done nothing, we would be fine! The headache was created by trying to make sure we were following the rules.
Now we just need to keep an eye on the CBSA website for when the border opens we can properly export/import the car.
Hope this helps if there's any other US citizens with new PR trying to figure out what to do.