Can US permanent residents enter the US in a Canadian car without importing it?

[intex 0]

I am a Canadian and my US green card just got approved. Can I drive my Canadian bought car (with Canadian plates) into the US as a US permanent resident without importing it? The CBP website says that non-residents can drive a Canadian car in the US without importing it for a year. But do US Permanent residents also get a year before they have to import it?

 

Thanks.

[Lemonslice 4,583]

Big hiccup might be to have your Canadian insurance cover you when you are no longer a resident there. 

 

[Chancy 6,233]

*** Moved from Working & Traveling During US Immigration to the Canada regional forum, for input from others who brought in their car from Canada ***

 

[intex 0]

I was planning to make 2-3 trips to the US while still living in Canada before finally importing my car and moving there permanently in 4 months. Is that feasible?

[Kai G. Llewellyn 829]

15 hours ago, intex said:

I was planning to make 2-3 trips to the US while still living in Canada before finally importing my car and moving there permanently in 4 months. Is that feasible?

CBP take the view that they'll take the 'meh' approach regarding requirements to permanently import your vehicle for the first few entries. So you'll probably get a couple of entries without hassle, but at some point they will insist that you properly import your vehicle.

 

There has been one instance where someone was activating their visa, but while they were stamped in as a LPR, their vehicle was denied entry, so they had to come back in a UHaul.

 

So your mileage may vary.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Kai G. Llewellyn

[cdndesro 44]

19 hours ago, intex said:

I am a Canadian and my US green card just got approved. Can I drive my Canadian bought car (with Canadian plates) into the US as a US permanent resident without importing it? The CBP website says that non-residents can drive a Canadian car in the US without importing it for a year. But do US Permanent residents also get a year before they have to import it?

 

Thanks.

Keep in mind that importing the vehicle and registering/insuring it are 2 different things.  You can import the vehicle through CPB (Federal) and they don't care about registration/insurance (State).  My experience was as follows:  before I left Canada I spoke to my insurance company and they continued coverage as long as my vehicle was registered in Canada.  On my initial entry in to the US, I had my visa stamped and I imported my vehicle which was still registered in Ontario.  I continued to drive with Canadian plates and insurance until I received my SSN so I could then get my Michigan drivers license.  I had to get US insurance on the vehicle before I could get it registered and plated, so once I had SSN/Michigan DL & US insurance, I registered the vehicle with the SOS and got it plated and then cancelled my Canadian insurance.  It was about a month from importing to when I got it registered in Michigan and drove back and forth a few times from/to Canada during that time with no issues.  As long as your insurance company will cover you while it is registered in Canada, you could just import it and get it registered in the US later.

[Lkkclub123 23]

On 8/3/2022 at 11:48 AM, cdndesro said:

Keep in mind that importing the vehicle and registering/insuring it are 2 different things.  You can import the vehicle through CPB (Federal) and they don't care about registration/insurance (State).  My experience was as follows:  before I left Canada I spoke to my insurance company and they continued coverage as long as my vehicle was registered in Canada.  On my initial entry in to the US, I had my visa stamped and I imported my vehicle which was still registered in Ontario.  I continued to drive with Canadian plates and insurance until I received my SSN so I could then get my Michigan drivers license.  I had to get US insurance on the vehicle before I could get it registered and plated, so once I had SSN/Michigan DL & US insurance, I registered the vehicle with the SOS and got it plated and then cancelled my Canadian insurance.  It was about a month from importing to when I got it registered in Michigan and drove back and forth a few times from/to Canada during that time with no issues.  As long as your insurance company will cover you while it is registered in Canada, you could just import it and get it registered in the US later.

May I ask if your Michigan drivers license was directly replaced with a Canadian driver's license? Do you need to take the exam again? What documents are provided? Thank you

[cdndesro 44]

On 6/28/2023 at 10:38 PM, Lkkclub123 said:

May I ask if your Michigan drivers license was directly replaced with a Canadian driver's license? Do you need to take the exam again? What documents are provided? Thank you

Yes they took my Ontario license and replaced it with Michigan. There was no exam or road test. Just an eye test and photo.