Atlanta, Georgia

[jboneill]

Going to Atlanta to expand my business and will be financed by a US partner.
Can I buy and car and insure it without difficulties with my BC/Canada drivers license?
Can I open a bank account, business or personal?
Can I get credit? eg. purchase a car or home
Can I apply for a Georgia drivers license?
I plan to be there for 4 or 5 months and then will be back in BC. Are there any problems with that?
What kind of response should I give to the border US Immigration questions at customs?
Thanks,
Jeff

[Reba]

If you're only staying 4 or 5 months, why do you need to buy a car and get a GA driver's license? Are you planning on becoming a permanent resident at some point, or will you be applying for some sort of visa?

Here's the info from the GA DMV, by the looks of it, you'll have to prove legal presence, so if you don't have any sort of visa, you won't be getting a GA drivers' license.

Non-Citizens
Georgia accepts valid out-of-country and International driver's licenses, and you can generally drive in Georgia for one year with one or the other. However, if you become a resident you must apply for a Georgia driver's license.

How to Apply as a Non-Citizen
Schedule an appointment with your nearest DDS Customer Service Center.
Be prepared to take the vision, written knowledge, and driving exams, as well as pay the fee of $20.
Provide your Social Security number or present a Form SSA-L676 if you aren't a citizen or aren't legally authorized to work in the United States. (The Social Security Administration provides these forms.)
Provide proof of identity.
Provide proof that you meet citizenship requirements.
Provide proof that you meet residency requirements.
Have you picture taken for your new Georgia license.
NOTE: Georgia provides a list of all acceptable proofs of identity, citizenship, and residency, as well as a thorough explanation of these requirements. Georgia also verifies all immigration documents through Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE), a program of the United States Custom and Immigration Service (USCIS).

Your Georgia license will be valid for up to five years, depending on the expiration date on your immigration documentation. If there's no expiration date, your license will be valid for one year.

from their website

[Steven]

Going to Atlanta to expand my business and will be financed by a US partner.

So you have some sort of work authorization?

Can I buy and car and insure it without difficulties with my BC/Canada drivers license?

You can buy a car no problem, getting insurance though will be hard. When I bought a car in Atlanta the insurance agent said I had 90 days to show them a Georgia DL. I think you can get insurance with an out-of-State licence but it's more expensive.

Can I open a bank account, business or personal?

Yes, make sure you ask for a W-8BEN from the bank. It is tricky without a social security number, but it is possible. You can't open a business account unless your business has an EIN, which means essentially your business has to register with the IRS to payroll tax withholding (equivalent of a business number).

Can I get credit? eg. purchase a car or home

Maybe, without an SSN it will be very hard though.

Can I apply for a Georgia drivers license?

Depends on your status in the US, just as a regular B visitor, no you can't. If you have some sort of work status that lets you stay a year or more then yes you can.

I plan to be there for 4 or 5 months and then will be back in BC. Are there any problems with that?

Not really, sounds like a lot of effort for not much benefit, imo.

What kind of response should I give to the border US Immigration questions at customs?

It's not clear exactly what you're going to do so it's impossible to say.

However from the sounds of it you may well need work authorization, the first thing to do is to bang "B-1 NAFTA visitor entry" into a search engine and read about what you are legally allowed to do purely as a visitor.

You can't just up and start working in the US, and if you establish an office in the US or you do most of the work there you have a "permanent establishment" there, which entails a substantial amount of tax paperwork.

Even if not, any US-source income is subject to US income taxes (and social security taxes if you're an individual taxpayer). There is an exemption if you are in the US less than 90 days a year and you earn less than $10,000 while working in the US and are directly employed by a Canadian company, but very seriously you need to consider the tax implications of starting a business in the US or expanding one into the US as the tax implications are numerous and complex.

Have a read of this for starters: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/p151/README.html

It mentions various other publications in there you will want to read.