jferguson wrote:But just recently, an automobile import broker told me that in spite of what Texas DOT told me about TN's and their vehicles, I'm driving illegally, because TNs cannot drive a Canadian-registered vehicle in the States for more than 30 days.
You just can't get good advise these days. From anyone.
That advice is bogus, I've seen people mention it on here before, I think it's a con they use to drum up business. The other classic tale is that import brokers tell you to let them to handle the import to avoid the import duty, which is also utter BS, there is no import duty on vehicles imported as personal effects.
If you are on TN-1 you must have "bona-fide non-immigrant intent" and to do that you must have residential ties to Canada. You don't necessarily need a house in Canada to do that but keeping your DL and registration in Canada is a good way to do it. There was someone on here who said their TN-1 got yanked when they showed up to re-enter with a US-plated vehicle.
The impression I got from that was to fly!
By definition on TN-1 you are non-resident, so you do not have to change your tags or get a DL in the US - however you cannot keep a Canadian vehicle in the US for more than one year without formally importing it, as per CBP, which means doing the import paperwork, getting the EPA check done, etc.
Once you've got the checks done and presented the initial clearance paperwork to CBP you have the paperwork necessary to swap the title for a US one and get it registered in the US. However it's an interesting question as to whether you can formally it for Federal CBP purposes and then keep it registered in Canada after that.
I suspect the answer is "no" but being in that situation would be very rare anyway. Canadian insurance also wouldn't carry in the US for more than a year, but I suppose you're keeping residential ties in Canada anyway so why not renew the insurance in Canada?
Steve.