so while we were waiting for my K3 process, I kept the car with canadian plates and drove it back and forth, therefore, not doing the customs declaration for it. however, for my last trip, i flew out and back and the car remained in the US. I asked the immigration officer about it at the airport but she said 'she has no idea'.

now we obviously need the customs papers to switch over the plates. apparently, we can go to the local airport customs area and get them to do the paperwork. However, when I called them, they were extremely edgy and very much on defense. I guess there thing is that they car should have been declared when it drove in. even though i explained why it didn't, he didn't seem convinced and said come in and we'll decide!
In my view there's nothing to it, I know we had to plan better and it was probably dumb on our part that we didn't do it that way.

my question is, is it best for us to go back to a land border (about 8 hour drive) and do the paperwork OR try out this airport customs route?
has anyone done this before?

Frustrated I did mine at the Detroit Border. I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. The paperwork was simple and short as long as you have both Manufacturer letters. One from Canada and the other from the US. I had honda so I needed Honda Canada and Honda USA to write letters saying the vehicle met safety standards. If you need more help, feel free to message me.

really, i didn't even consider the manufacturer's letters. it's an infiniti, so infiniti would have to issue a letter? is it not possible to get an local inspection done? if this is a requirement, i need this before i go to any customs office, right?
by the way detroit is 10 hours from me! which is my usual route to TO but manitoba is my closest border.

Ports of Entry are not necessarily at the borders/airports only. I actually went to the local Toledo CBP office after I had been in the country almost three months and filed the actual import there. As long as you have the manufacturer's letter confirming FMVSS compliance and EPA compliance, you should be fine. It wouldn't hurt to have along a blank copy of the US-EPA Form 3520-1 and FMVS Form HS-7 in case the local CBP office does not have copies. I also had along with me my initial bill of sale for the car as proof of value. This is an arbitrary number because you should not have to pay any taxes on a car imported for personal use - I didn't anyway. Local offices can be found here:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/ports/
On this same day, I added my car to my husband's policy, went to the Dept of Motor Vehicles-Ohio Title Office with the US Entry Form for inspection and title transfer - they will keep your canadian ownwership as back up, so be sure to keep the plate portion with you if you intend on returning your canadian plates for a partial refund - and then to the Licensing Office for my plates (and I'm pretty sure you need a valid state DL). Finally contacted my Cdn insurance company to cancel that policy
All done in a day, I left home with a Cdn plated/insured car and came home with a US plated/insured car.

Not sure, but normally it is state by state procedure, know some folks that drove over from Mexico in Nissan bought and registered in ole Mexico, then established residence in US state, then went to local license bureau where you get US State driver license and auto plates/registration and then just filled out form and registered car there, no questions asked, local office was mainly interested in whether they paid fees for plates and getting it on the local property tax list so you get to pay property tax on the auto. You may not have to declare or claim a lot of the stuff you are thinking. Just a thought.

i've checked at the local office and they do require the customs form.
I will look into our CBP office and the forms mentioned by one day at a time. thanks for the link.

Also good information here:
http://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/ph...amp;p_topview=1

FYI - In my case, I emailed Hyundai Canada (customer service) for the manufacturer's letter and attached a copy of my ownership. They referred me to an outstanding recall before they could issue the letter. I went to the local Toledo dealership, got the recall work done and emailed Hyundai Canada a copy of the work order and the next day they emailed me the letter. All done in one week

You VJ member are great. this place has better advice than going to any lawyer!
went to our local CBP office and yes they need that letter from the manufacturer and they will issue import papers.

thanks guys