TN Visa holder, buying a car and travelling for 1-2 days in canada and back, is it allowed

M

magrawal

New Member
1) I am a TN Visa holder for past 2 years. I have a house in canada and my family leaves there. I currently have a canadian car which is getting older and want to buy a car in US. I have a US and Canadian drivers license. Is it allowed to take a US car in canada for short duration. I am canadian citizen.

So far I have been using canadian car to travel back and forth.

2) I have applied for renewal of ny TN Visa for 3 years. If I get it, is it necesary to maintain a address in canada, if i sell my house?

Please advice.

Regards

Mahesh
 
1. Yes. It is a US rental car that you cannot cross border with.

2. It is not necessary to maintain any Cdn residence on TN, and never has been.
 
If you own the vehicle, then it is OK for you to cross the border. If it's a rental...
I think the reason is probably because in case you were denied of re-entering the US, the rental company will have to send someone cross the border and bring the car back.
I had a Cdn car registered in the US and I drove home with a CA plate on it without any problem.
 
Its not simply a rule established by the rental car industry to save them trouble, but PLO's point is a good one. It's a long standing rule put in place during the days of the Auto Pact, so its an import/export reg.
 
I was on a TN, and bought a car in the US. I moved back to Canada, and had to get the car loan company to fax a letter to the US POE stating I was legally ok to take the car from the US to Canada. This was a few years ago...
 
That applies to the two-step process of permanently importing a car to canada, which first includes exporting from US.

This thread is on taking a rental car from US to canada temporarily.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
nelsona said:
That applies to the two-step process of permanently importing a car to canada, which first includes exporting from US.

This thread is on taking a rental car from US to canada temporarily.
Click to expand...

Well I've been renting cars as a USC now and driving them into Canada and before that I did that with the Green Cards. I'm pretty sure I did that as well back when I was on a TN in the late 90's as well.

Not sure when the rules changed or if they just never bothered to ask about it. I always rented a car at the Detroit Airport and just showed them my drivers licence and gave my credit card. They never have asked anything about where I was going. I do remember one time asking on the phone to one rental car company on the poilcy of driving to Canada, and they just said as long as you're insurance covers it, then there's no problem.

So has this changed then since the 90's?
 
I think you misunderstand. US residents (ie. people with a US drivers license -- it has nothing to do with immigration) are allowed to rent cars in US and bring them into canada, and always have been.

It's Cdn residents (ie. those with a Cdn DL) that cannot rent cars in US and bring them into canada, and this has been true for decades, and is still the case.
 
Re

Nelson is right you can rent 10 cars if you can and drive them all to Canada.

In my past TNs i have done the same however this time i will just try to take my own car. Problem is if you get rejected that you might have to export the car back to US or ship it and that means more charges keep in mind that for every day the car is in shipping process your still paying the rental fee plus insurance it can get really costly.
Thanks
 
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