Car Temporary Import -> Permanent Import After Landing As PR

[vbvmalhotra]

Hey, I have the same problem here. ICBC (DMV of British Columbia) took away the original certificate of title. I'm considering selling the car to a dealership in Washington but they require the US title. Any solution?

Hi were you able to figure out the title problem. ICBC took away my title too and i plan on selling it back in Washington in future.

 

[mitwa1990]

Hey,

I will be moving to Toronto, ON on work permit from USA and have a few questions. Can you please help me out with this?

- I will have to do a temporary import so I don't have to export my car from USA by filing a AES and getting an ITN number...correct?
- I am going to stay in Canada for more then 1 year. Can I get a Canadian license plate? Will I still have US license plates?
- Can I get enrolled to Canadian auto insurance from auto companies?
- Do I still have to pay RIV fee?
- What are the formalities to be done in US and in Canada?

 

[Caramel005]

Hey,

I will be moving to Toronto, ON on work permit from USA and have a few questions. Can you please help me out with this?

- I will have to do a temporary import so I don't have to export my car from USA by filing a AES and getting an ITN number...correct?
- I am going to stay in Canada for more then 1 year. Can I get a Canadian license plate? Will I still have US license plates?
- Can I get enrolled to Canadian auto insurance from auto companies?
- Do I still have to pay RIV fee?
- What are the formalities to be done in US and in Canada?

Hi, Did you successfully import your car? I just got my EIN and I am trying to figure out how to file with AES. Please share any thoughts you have. Thanks.

 

[RKOT_WILLYS]

Hi All,

I am planning to move from USA to Ontario, Canada next month in a work permit visa. I would like to temporarily import my vehicle to Canada. I will also export the vehicle from USA (i.e. get an ITN, email to the border at least 72 hours in advance etc.). Will there be any issue in getting an Ontario number plate on a temporarily imported vehicle?

I would also like to know what will happen if I become a permanent resident while staying in Canada. Can I permanently import my vehicle after becoming permanent resident? Do I need to pay any additional fees? What is the process? I may not have an US visa by the time I become permanent resident. Can I import the vehicle permanently without leaving Canada?

Hi RKTK,

I am exactly in the same as you are. It would be of great help if you can please share your experience.

 

[robkin]

I am not quite sure what your question is, but I temporarily imported my vehicle into Canada (BC). I asked at the border to do a temporary import. I had a filed out form 1 to present to them but they told me it was not correctly filled out. I can't recall exactly what they did after that but I got some paperwork from them. Then I just had to get the vehicle inspected in BC, and present all of the paperwork to my insurance company (CAA, well technically it is ICBC but administered through CAA). CAA took my title. I'm not sure what will happen when I want to sell the vehicle if I don't permanently import the vehicle into Canada. Maybe it's on file somewhere. In either case I just requested a replacement title from California where the vehicle was registered. So I have another title now anyway. I didn't do anything else. But yes I have Canadian plates, and the old ones from California sitting in a box.

 

[xiaojunz]

Hi RKTK,

I am exactly in the same as you are. It would be of great help if you can please share your experience.

Hi I am in the same situation now, work permit, crossing the border over to Ontario.
Did you export your car from USA? Did you perform any federal inspection or pay any import fee to RIV?
Driving with US car plate or are we able to change to ontario car plate?

 

[dpH133]

Anyone recently did the temporary import to permanent import process after changing from Work permit to PR? Please share the process. Thanks!

 

[dpH133]

Hi I am in the same situation now, work permit, crossing the border over to Ontario.
Did you export your car from USA? Did you perform any federal inspection or pay any import fee to RIV?
Driving with US car plate or are we able to change to ontario car plate?

I did a temporary import in Oct 2020. I did an export through the US customs using the ITN ( 35$), but i did not do the RIV process since it is not required for temporary import.
You will get the vehicle import Form 1 for temporary import from Canada CBSA and you dont pay anything there if you declared it in B4.
You can take your Form 1 to Service Ontario together with your US title and ontario safety certificate ( you can easily get it from many auto shop ) and get the vehicle registered.
Service ontario will then take your US title and give you ontario vehicle permit and number plate.
These are the steps for temp import if i remember correctly. When you get PR you can convert the temp import to permanent import by paying RIV fess of 325.

 

[xiaojunz]

I did a temporary import in Oct 2020. I did an export through the US customs using the ITN ( 35$), but i did not do the RIV process since it is not required for temporary import.
You will get the vehicle import Form 1 for temporary import from Canada CBSA and you dont pay anything there if you declared it in B4.
You can take your Form 1 to Service Ontario together with your US title and ontario safety certificate ( you can easily get it from many auto shop ) and get the vehicle registered.
Service ontario will then take your US title and give you ontario vehicle permit and number plate.
These are the steps for temp import if i remember correctly. When you get PR you can convert the temp import to permanent import by paying RIV fess of 325.

Thank you for the reply
I was able to do a temp import successfully without exporting the car from US side because they did not reply my email of notification/answer call in time.

 

[skdesert]

Hi were you able to figure out the title problem. ICBC took away my title too and i plan on selling it back in Washington in future.

Did you ever find out what to do in regards to the title? I'm going to be temporarily importing my car on a 3 year WP, but when I head back to the States, I'm not sure what to do to get the title back.

 

[robkin]

Well they took my title in BC, but BC never notified California or anything for title transfer. So just requested a replacement title from California and they sent me a new one.

 

[dpH133]

Few days back I completed the conversion of temp import to perm import in Ontario. Original US Title of the car is not required for this process. Went to the CBSA near Toronto YYZ airport and they gave new vehicle import form 1. Paid RIV fee online using the case number in the Vehicle import Form 1. RIV then gave the inspection form and took that to the Canadian Tire near me and got the vehicle inspected. After passing inspection RIV sent the Canadian label via post. Stick the label in your car driver side door post below the latch. Process complete. Now you can sell your car in Canada if you wish.

 

[xiaojunz]

Few days back I completed the conversion of temp import to perm import in Ontario. Original US Title of the car is not required for this process. Went to the CBSA near Toronto YYZ airport and they gave new vehicle import form 1. Paid RIV fee online using the case number in the Vehicle import Form 1. RIV then gave the inspection form and took that to the Canadian Tire near me and got the vehicle inspected. After passing inspection RIV sent the Canadian label via post. Stick the label in your car driver side door post below the latch. Process complete. Now you can sell your car in Canada if you wish.

did you not surrender your US title when registrating for ontario car plate and ontario car registration?

 

[dpH133]

did you not surrender your US title when registrating for ontario car plate and ontario car registration?

yes. Service Ontario took the US title with "Exported" stamp from US customs when i did the registration in ontario first time after temp import.

 

[aruns1494]

Hi all. Apologies for bringing this topic back up again. I would like to explain my current scenario and would like to seek advice as it is very very similar to what the OP had.

I came to BC on a Work Permit last year(May 2021). I had initially filed for an Export and got an ITIN and gave 72 hour notice. However, at the border, I made a stupid mistake of taking the wrong turn because of which I ended up directly at the Canadian Border instead of stopping first at the US CBP to export my car. I immediately contacted the broker through whom I had obtained my ITIN and he cancelled it immediately to make sure that I was not in violation of any sorts.

The CBSA officers at the Port Of Entry (Blaine) were understanding and did a temporary import of my vehicle and sent me on my way. With that temporary import done, I went to Canadian Tire, fixed my car to be compliant, and then went to ICBC to get my insurance and registration. At that point, my California Title for the car was taken from me. (Not sure if I will ever see it again lol). They registered my vehicle, got me my new plates and everything (I still have my CA plates with me though).

Fast Forward to now and I became a PR a couple of weeks back. Now I need to do a permanent export and import of my vehicle. My problem at this point is that I do not possess a visa to enter the US. I have applied for a visitor visa but due to appointment unavailability, I still don't have a visa so cannot legally enter the USA.

I understand that the car can still be imported permanently if I just drive my car to the same border that I entered through (I am waiting for my PR Card to arrive and don't want to go there with just my eCoPR in hand). However, at this point, how do I export my car from the US to stay legal? Do I apply for a duplicate title from California DMV? I still have the original bill of sale that I was given by Volvo Palo Alto when I purchased my car which lists my name and the VIN number. More importantly, do I need to enter USA to finish exporting my vehicle? Can I have someone else drive my car across the border, keep it in the states for 72 hours and drive it back to finish the export process?

Apologies for the long post. Any help would be deeply appreciated! If you live in the BC area, I will buy you a beer as well if you could help!