Taking owned car into the US for a year

[lausmithson]

I'm going to Michigan for a year for a surgical residency and would like to take my car. I'll be on a J1 visa. Is this allowed? Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I have to 'import' it or can I just drive over the border?

[Steven]

If it's less than a year and you're a non-immigrant you don't need to formally import it, at least as far as Federal law goes. Michigan may have a requirement to register it within a certain timeframe and if you reside in Michigan you may not be able to get out of it (most States exempt students, some don't). So in that situation you will have to formally import it, because you can't register it without a Michigan title and you can't get the title without formally importing it. You'll have to check with the Michigan DMV.

There are lots of threads on this subject in the US sub-forum, do a search.