Stephen Gallagher wrote:
> This guy was definitely Customs, and it was a US port
> of entry that handled car exports. . . . But, this guy
> seemed totally in the dark about any requirements, . . .
> Looking back on the situation I think that he either was
> unaware of the procedures, or despite my telling him that
> I was taking the car into Canada permanently, he didn't
> understand. . . . Canada didn't care whether US customs
> had approved the car for export, nor did Ontario.
When my family and I immigrated to Canada in late 1992, we brought
our car (an '84 Honda Accord) with us. The car met all Canadian
requirements, and it was transported in our moving van with our
household goods. We did not deal with the RIV, because the RIV
did not yet exist at the time.
For starters, I had an extremely difficult time convincing our
moving company that the US vehicle export regulations even existed.
Once that hurdle was out of the way, the next problem was that the
movers initially said they could not (or, at least, would not)
commit to any specific border crossing -- which made it impossible
for me to send the vehicle title (or notarized copy thereof) to
the right US Customs office prior to the vehicle's being exported.
Eventually, the moving company agreed to let me know which border
crossing the van would use on the day after they loaded all our
stuff. I sent a notarized copy of my vehicle title to the right
US Customs office via an overnight delivery service.
When we met the moving van (a few days after our arrival in
Kitchener, Ontario), I discovered to my dismay that the driver
had not bothered to stop at US Customs before entering Canada!!
However, the Canadian customs people who cleared the van (at a
bonded warehouse in Guelph) didn't seem to mind or even care
about this -- I got the paperwork approving the importation
of the vehicle as part of our settlers' effects, and I had no
problem at all getting the vehicle insured and registered in
Ontario.
Shortly afterwards, I wrote a letter to the HQ of US Customs in
Washington, DC, explaining the entire situation and asking what
I should do at this point. I eventually received a reply saying
that US Customs was satisfied, that I didn't need to do anything
more, and that they did not consider me liable for the movers'
violation of the export rules. (I never did find out whether
the moving company and/or the driver got in trouble or not.)
Now, please note that this was over a dozen years ago, before
the Canadian "Registrar of Imported Vehicles" program was set
up, and my experience may or may not be indicative of what would
happen now. I suppose it's possible that responses by both the
US and Canadian customs agencies to experiences such as mine may
possibly have forced moving companies to update their procedures
when transporting vehicles from the US to Canada, but I've never
had occasion to research this question.
Rich Wales richw@richw.org http://www.richw.org/dualcit/
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer, professional immigration consultant,
or consular officer. My comments are for discussion purposes only and
are not intended to be relied upon as legal or professional advice.
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