<p>Hi all - I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced a precedent for this situation (I’m sure this must come up all the time.) For a US student who goes abroad to attend a college in Canada - how can he bring his car with him? Does one need to become a Canadian citizen in order to get a license/registration? Does he have to pay extra import taxes and fees?</p>
<p>I would suggest simply taking your car with you, but leaving it registered at home in the US. Unless you are trying to establish residency there, you are a visitor. I have family who has lived in Canada for a year or two at a time and always kept their US auto registration and driver’s licenses.</p>
<p>But this would be a multi-year thing, where there would be no residence or address kept in the US, so the car’s current registration will not be able to be renewed. </p>
<p>Would it be more cost effective to sell the car before the move and if needed, buy another one in Canada, as opposed to paying import fees and taxes?</p>
<p>Last time I checked, which was awhile ago admittedly, it was entirely legal to bring your car up with the plates and registration of the state you are from so long as on a student visa. You can re-register to your state through the mail (but that may vary by state?). </p>
<p>When or if you became a permanent resident (if you roll your student visa into a permanent residence status, which is not citizenship), I believe you’d have to import your car to keep it (which can be sometimes unrealistic if changes are needed to the car…like back in the day you had to have daytime running lights which were not standard on US cars at the time). The import fee was not that much as I recall if it was treated as immigrating with you, just like all your other assets (as opposed to the import fee and tax for Canadians to buy a US car and bring it over the border). </p>
<p>But I believe my info is dated. But it’s a common and easy to question for them to answer.</p>
<p>I think you also need to change the dashboard and gauges to be in KM instead of MILES, so that could be pricey.</p>
<p>Do you have family in the US such that you would use their address as your official permanent address? I have a kid who lives abroad and my home is her permanent US address and that is all fine, she is not a resident of the other country, she is only there temporarily so would need to keep a location in the US.</p>
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<p>Unless the car is very old, it should have km/h markings in the speedometer.</p>
<p>Many vehicles originally sold in the US can be imported into Canada with little or no modification, although some are not importable into Canada. Some information can be found here:</p>
<p>[BSF5048</a> : Importing a Vehicle Into Canada](<a href=“http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html]BSF5048”>http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html)
[Vehicle</a> Importation from the United States - Transport Canada](<a href=“http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safevehicles-importation-usa-index-445.htm]Vehicle”>http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/safevehicles-importation-usa-index-445.htm)
[Registrar</a> of Imported Vehicles - Importing a Vehicle](<a href=“http://www.riv.ca/importingavehicle.aspx]Registrar”>Registrar of Imported Vehicles - Importing a Vehicle)</p>
<p>One question I’d ask is what school you’ll be attending. For many Canadian schools, a car is unnecessary and would likely be more of a problem than a benefit.</p>