Owning a US car as a tourist

I'm not a Canadian, but this is a question Canadians may be familiar with...

I'm British, retired, have a home in Mexico (near the US border) and usually drive to the US to visit for a few days each month. My car is registered in the US (easier language, better insurance than Mexico). UK D/L.

No problem until today, when I was told at the US border that "tourists cannot own cars in the US" and to get it re-registered elsewhere asap. This is a new one on me, but they can essentially pick any rules they like. I do understand this could show "immigrant intent" (although if I wanted to do that I wouldn't be leaving every month after a few days!).

How do Canadian snowbirds with US registered cars handle this? For example if you fly down to Arizona or Texas foe the winter and own a local car there, do you get any trouble at the border if you go to/from Mexico with your US car? Do you get similar problems at the Canadian border, in either direction?

It might not be possible to import the car into Mexico (they limit the model years they accept) so I'm even considering importing it into Canada, if it would help to convince the Americans I DON'T want to live in their country (that's why I'm in Mexico).

If somebody could point me in the direction of documents or rulings which state that merely owning a car registered in the US does NOT constitute immigrant intent (I'm guess that Canadians in particular will have this problem) that would be extremely helpful.

They let me in today, but I'm essentially trapped in the US until this is resolved. Which is a terrible fate I'm sure some Canadians can sympathise with.

Check the DMV websites for individual states.

Unfortunately things have changed quite a lot since 9/11 and some states won't even give you a drivers license if you don't have a green card. I imagine owning a US registered car if you are not a legal resident will be difficult.

My Aunt & Uncle used ot keep a car down in Florida, but they don't go there anymore for winter. And again, things have changed, I don't know what is possible or not anymore.

Plus, a lot of Canadian snowbirds just drive their own Canadian cars down for the winter.

How do Canadian snowbirds with US registered cars handle this? For example if you fly down to Arizona or Texas foe the winter and own a local car there, do you get any trouble at the border if you go to/from Mexico with your US car? Do you get similar problems at the Canadian border, in either direction?

They drive their car down, or they buy the car in the US and leave it there generally and registered, which they can do (in some States) because they have a physical abode there but it never crosses a border. Another common way of doing it is to buy it in the US, drive it up to Canada, register it in Canada and then drive it back down which is also possible because they have a physical address there. State law generally requires you to be resident in a State to have a car registered there, although there are some exceptions for commercial vehicles and military personnel, sometimes for students as well.

Personally I think it's a bad idea to live in one country and have a vehicle registered in another (even if you spend several months there) because it increases your residential ties to that country which causes various problems, e.g. with tax and also immigration, which is the problem you've got. Obviously if you have a Florida-registered vehicle in Florida and never take it across the border it never comes up, which is how some people get away with it.

It might not be possible to import the car into Mexico (they limit the model years they accept) so I'm even considering importing it into Canada, if it would help to convince the Americans I DON'T want to live in their country (that's why I'm in Mexico).

If somebody could point me in the direction of documents or rulings which state that merely owning a car registered in the US does NOT constitute immigrant intent (I'm guess that Canadians in particular will have this problem) that would be extremely helpful.

US vehicle registration = residential tie to the US because generally only a resident of the US can register the vehicle there, ditto for Canada so registering it in Canada would be the same situation (plus Canada has tighter import rules than the US), really you need to register it in Mexico, there's no way around it I can see.

There have been people on here denied entry because they were in some temporary immigration category and had their vehicle registered in the US, so CBP took that as proof they didn't have non-immigrant intent.

Like Reba said, things have gotten a lot tougher since 9/11 anyway, I remember years ago Florida used to have a provision whereby commuters could register their vehicle in Florida if it was primarily used in Florida and they lived in another State, I remember I used to see the "non-resident" plates on cars when I was down there, but that provision was scrapped some time ago now and Florida was unusual to have it in the first place.

The only way around it now I could see would be to have a US corporation and register the vehicle to the corporation, but I imagine that would make getting insurance difficult if it was just a paper corporation.

Thanks for the responses.

really you need to register it in Mexico, there's no way around it I can see.

After my initial annoyance at being told (by CBP) something that has been acceptable so far is now not acceptable, I'm reluctantly agreeing with you. They did actually ask for the registration one time last year but have never mentioned a problem with it until this time.

I do own the US car. It's registered in South Dakota which has some counties that are flexible on residence requirements. No problem owning it, it's the result of that which is now (some time later) causing misundertanding (in any misunderstanding with CBP, the visitor loses). I have insurance through Progressive, who are one of the few to do foreign driver's licenses with online quotes, and it's actually not too expensive.

There have been people on here denied entry because they were in some temporary immigration category and had their vehicle registered in the US, so CBP took that as proof they didn't have non-immigrant intent.

That's the problem really, not the ownership of the car, but the fact it implies long-lasting ties that might not fit with the profile of a typical tourist. I didn't realise this at the time, especially in the border area here where cars from both sides are on both sides and owners might be from either country.

The only way around it now I could see would be to have a US corporation and register the vehicle to the corporation, but I imagine that would make getting insurance difficult if it was just a paper corporation.

That did occur to me also (like the Montana LLC's used for RV's), but it wouldn't solve the fact the car implies long-lasting ties, and would probably make it much worse - "you're a VISITOR who does not work but you OWN a US Corporation that GIVES you a Company Car..."

The real hassle is that Mexico only permits certain model years and models to be imported, and that does not include mine (it's not old enough yet). So I may have to sell it and/or buy another either in Mexico or one in the US that is suitable to import.

For the foreseeable future this car will stay in the US.

And I'll revise my lifestyle to cut the border crossings, do more shopping etc in Mexico and much less in the US. Which is I suspect the Canadian approach to the less friendly borders also. Coming from the European Union, where borders are being increasing abolished, it really feels like a throwback to a more primitive era!

The one thing that got me about living in the UK is that the UK and Ireland aren't part of the Schengen agreement, so if you go to France the border guy at the tunnel is asleep but they really want to see your passport on the way back in. On the mainland there are no border posts so it rarely comes up. Even the Swiss recently decided not to bother stopping private vehicles and even Switzerland is in the Schengen area even though they're not in the EU! Typical UK paranoia about Europe.

Last time I was in San Diego I met a woman who had a brand new VW Beetle registered in Baja California, I guess she must have bought it there, but she lived around Tijuana and commuted in every day through San Ysidro. She told me it made sense because of the cost of living was much lower, although personally I think I would go insane going through that border crossing every weekday morning.