Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy & Red Tape
If you are in the States as a tourist for a short time, staying at local hotels and renting a car or camper van and using your credit card from home to pay for items, then there is little likelihood that you will encounter any federal bureaucracy or local red tape.

However, if you are intending being in America for a few months, picking up a cell phone and perhaps buying a vehicle, then you will come up against an administration that takes some understanding and at times is just plain bewildering.

Listed below are a few of the things that we have learnt along the way that may help you if you are intending to be in the States as more than just a simple tourist.

We are indebted to our Kiwi RV mentors Warwick and Natalie, our English friends Colin and Amber who have been RV’ing in the States for seven years and to lots of other RV friends we’ve met along the way who have been happy to share their advice with us.
This is our collective knowledge to date;

Alien
The first thing you need to understand is that, as a non-American citizen, you are an alien in their land. You are not a tourist, nor a visitor. It’s official, it’s on their immigration computers, you are formally known as, and will be called, an alien.

Whilst this label may not seem complimentary, after all it’s just a word, it foretells the formidable wall that you are up against as a person with no status in a foreign country when dealing with their bureacracy.

Add to this, the daily concern the Americans have with their fear of terrorism and the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that attempt to cross their boarders every month, particularly from Mexico, then you start to get an understanding of the extent of the attitude you have to deal with.

Boarder Crossings
Whether you arrive by air, sea or land, the first official you will have to deal with is an Immigration Officer.
Immigration Officers are seen as the first line of defense in the protection of the USA and it’s citizens from undesirables that may be entering the country to take jobs from the locals, to claim benefits from the state or to pose a threat to their homeland security. And make no mistake, Immigration Officers have the power and the absolute discretion to accept you or turn you back at the boarder.

As a tourist you are welcomed of course, but you will need to demonstrate your genuine intentions at the boarder before being let through. You will be questioned closely yet politely by the Immigration Officer about your onward travel, your ability to pay for the duration of your stay and any number of other subtle yet searching enquiries as to the veracity of your story.

We take the view that it is a privilege, not a right, to enter the USA.

Social Security Number
If you are in the country for more than a few weeks you may want to pick up a cell phone or buy a vehicle and arrange insurance cover for it. At this point you will find yourself up against the problem of not having a Federally issued Social Security Number.
We have come to understand that all references to an individual in the USA are linked back to that persons Social Security Number, not their name.

We find this constant reference to Social Security Numbers by business and service providers very bewildering given that no other country that we know of uses this style of identity so broadly.
Whereas these numbers used to be issued to people like us for these sorts of purposes, since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, these rules have been reviewed.
We have made several attempts to be issued with this number, or even a temporary number of some sort, but to no avail.

Credit Rating
Because credit ratings in the USA are referenced back to an individuals Social Security Number, not their name, we find that Americans are able to quote their individual numbers off by heart.
Because businesses report on their customers credit worthiness to central agencies by using the individuals number primarily, then people like us get left out and are therefore assigned a negative report by these agencies.
The problem for us occurs as we cannot quote a Social Security Number and therefore we have no ability to create a credit rating history within the country.

This lack of credit rating means we cannot make the most elementary purchases, like obtaining a wireless internet connection for our lap top, as those monthly payments require a credit rating clearance first.
We certainly cannot lease or hire purchase a car nor can we obtain reasonable insurance for the vehicle we’ve paid cash for when the law makes it mandatory to have our vehicle insured.

The practice of business to business credit references seems to be little used but one way round this problem is to be able to quote one or two service providers we have had a short history with. If we can get a business to contact another and check our credit worthiness then some headway can be made. But many businesses are reluctant to do this even when we offer to pay for the cost of making the enquiry.

Drivers License
As we are hoping to be here for a few months there are a couple of good reasons to obtain a US issued drivers license.
One reason is that it lowers our vehicle insurance premiums (rather than having our International Drivers license) and the other is that the issued photo ID license is an excellent form of identification. It’s also a good idea to sit the exam to get a better understanding of the US road rules.

However, there were some things we needed to prepare for. First up was the problematic Social Security Number. We found that most states would not proceed with the test if we couldn’t provide this number.
The state of Arizona will bypass the need for the Social Security Number on production of a valid entry into the States. Our current visa provided enough evidence even though it was due to expire in eight weeks from the time we sat the test. We passed the test (on the second attempt!) and the license was issued with an expiry date that coincided with the visa – eight weeks hence.
But Arizona will also give us up to a year after the expiration of our licenses to apply for a renewed license (cost $10). Once again this is against the production of a valid entry to the States, so it means that if we organize our visits here in a timely way we could conceivably maintain a valid drivers license by turning up every 18 months with our visa in our passport.

Bank Account
Surprisingly, we found it a very simple exercise to open a bank account in America. All the Bank needed from us were two forms of photo ID and a local address (supplied by a friend).
Although there was a space for the dreaded Social Security Number to be given, the bank manager simply bypassed this requirement! We supposed that our cash was good enough in the alternative.

We opened the bank account in the States as we wanted trouble free ATM access to our money by having it within the American system. We frequently find when traveling that it is wise to have three or more separate bank accounts with accompanying debit cards as the ATM machines do not always recognize cards from overseas banks. This can be most disconcerting when stuck in a small town with an ATM that will not disgorge our much needed life line of funds.

Another bonus in having an American account was the debit card issued gave us a photo ID card from a local bank and this is always preferential to overseas identification.

Vehicle Ownership
It is a relatively straightforward exercise to buy a vehicle. Simply pay cash (we presented a bank draft made out to the dealership, but travelers checks would also suffice) and the vehicle is transferred into your name. We only needed a local mailing address (supplied by a friend) for the registration papers to be sent to and that was that.
Same thing for buying and owning our 5th wheel trailer home.

All motor vehicles must be insured, it’s the law, and proof of insurance must be carried in the glove box of the vehicle at all times.
Proof of ownership must also be carried in the glove box of the vehicle at all times too.

Automobiles do not need any form of renewed safety inspection but the rules of the road make certain minimum safety standards applicable. However, it’s up to the owner to maintain the vehicle. Consequently there are a lot of vehicles of dubious safety on the roads. Cracked windscreens, rusted wheel arches and bald tyres are a fairly common sight.

Insurance

The policy is issued for six months at a time with premiums due at the outset. There is a large excess to pay in the event of a claim.
The insurance is valid for all of the States and Canada but is not valid in Mexico.

The insurance on the rig is much more palatable, is paid annually, includes our contents and has a much smaller excess. It is not valid in Mexico.

(We are working closely with the insurance company to drive down the vehicle cost by offering business to business credit history and by having a claim free history with them. Our NZ insurance history was of no use to them even though we had arrived with letters of introduction and a five year claim free history from our NZ brokers.)

Sales Tax
Every State in America levies a sales tax over all purchases and this applies to vehicles and mobile homes as well. Choosing a State with a low sales tax to purchase and register a vehicle in can save a lot of money.

Property Tax
Property Tax is levied annually on all residential homes. Mobile homes, trailers (caravans), motor homes and 5th wheels are all classified as residential accommodation and are therefore taxed annually as well.

Several States offer low sales tax and property tax but the State of Montana is considered by RV’ers as the best State to purchase and register vehicles and motor homes in. Montana has zero sales tax and zero property tax. By purchasing and registering a rig and vehicle in Montana many thousands of dollars can be saved

Visa – USA
Most people from the west are able to visit America for up to 90 days at a time and as New Zealander’s this is the case for us. However, as we wanted to spend more than three months traveling about then we applied for a special visa.

Before we embarked on this journey we obtained a B2 Visitor Visa from the American embassy in Auckland, NZ. The visa is affixed to our passports.

The B2 visa is for tourism only with visits lasting up to six months at a time, and runs for the duration of the life of our passports. As we had obtained new passports just prior to the issue of the visa we now have ten years worth of multiple entry with each visit being up to six months duration. The visa specifically excludes us from obtaining employment and can be revoked at any time by the Americans.

The B2 visa in itself is not the authority that allows us to enter the US, it only demonstrates to the Immigration Officer at the boarder on the day that we have had a certain mount of vetting by his Embassy.

If the Immigration Officer allows us to enter the States he issues us a six month (or any lesser time he deems fit) permit called an I-94 and this is temporarily attached to our passports. We must leave America, and hand back the permit, before the end of each six month period stipulated on the I-94.
We must then re-present ourselves at a boarder crossing in order to obtain a fresh six month entry permit for the next period and so on.

We are not certain as to the criteria for times between exit and reentry but a friendly immigration officer did tell us that we must have made a ‘significant departure’ from the States before we can re-present ourselves for a fresh six month I-94 permit.

A ‘significant departure’ is not defined but would not include popping across the boarder into Canada for the weekend. However, we did drive across into Canada for eight weeks with our rig and on reentry into the States this immigration officer granted us a fresh permit. We know of others who have spent a month or so down in Mexico and been able to reenter the States. We also know of a number of visitors that have been closely grilled at the boarder before being issued with I-94s.

We think that the main criteria for reentry is to be able to demonstrate that you are not living in the States and you have a history of arriving and then leaving the States. The Immigration computer is extremely vast and we have seen our own movements recorded on their data base. We would never flout their rules, not even to overstay by one day, as we know we could be forever banned from coming back in.

Visa – Canada & Mexico
We do not need any visas to enter Canada or Mexico as both countries allow us up to six months entry at a time only on production of our passports.

Have Your Say
Anyone reading this is welcome to add their experience and knowledge to the above. It all adds to the pool of collective information.

Please contact us by sending us a note in the box below. Thanks