Registration question for Canadians

[Scatterling]

Just wondering how long it takes for Transport Canada to process an application for vessel registration? Anyone with recent experience?

[hammertom]

Hi I did it last year, for transfer of ownership. took about 4 months. but they have a bill of sale and the current registration and you are legal. it's all on the website, gov't website.

[DavidLGCrawford]

We just registered in February of 2016. We sent in the documents and got a response in a few days. We were not allowed to keep the name we wanted so it took us a few days to get a new name selected. Then submitted that and it was approved and the documents emailed to us in two days.
Total time from first submission to receiving our documents was Feb 4 to Feb 10, and the 6 and 7 was weekend too.
They mailed the originals to our house in Canada. They arrived before the end of February.
I would suggest you pick your vessel's name first. Here is a link to the registry where you can search names to see if your choice is not taken.
Vessel Registration Query System

[DavidLGCrawford]

Oh, and this was for a foreign vessel (South African) being registered in Canada for the first time. A Canadian vessel just transfering ownership may be faster, I don't know.

[got cake]

I have application if for first registration on a foreign new build. My application went in mid march and I called in on March 30 to enquire on the progress. I was told that as of the morning of March 30 the were working on an application that had been submitted on March 4. They did say that they deal with them in order of application. I suppose that my timing is going to depend on how many applications went in between March 4 and March 18 but I am going to guess that one can expect 3 to 4 weeks.
If you are in a rush, you might try getting the application in and add any outstanding documents while your application is in the queue.

[Scatterling]

Originally Posted by DavidLGCrawford

Oh, and this was for a foreign vessel (South African) being registered in Canada for the first time. A Canadian vessel just transfering ownership may be faster, I don't know.

Great! Thanks for this info. This will be a US licensed vessel being registered in Canada.

[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by Scatterling

Great! Thanks for this info. This will be a US licensed vessel being registered in Canada.

Based on our experience purchasing a vessel from an Italian owner, registered in France and located in St. Lucia it all went reasonably well and Transport Canada (TC) was helpful on the phone & email when I needed advice to get everything right. For you it should be the same as long as you have all your forms filled in to their satisfaction and paperwork in order.

You will likely need a tonnage survey for your vessel to complete the registration process. For us that was going to take a little while as you need to use an appointed tonnage surveyor registered with TC and this meant we had to go to St. Martin to avoid very high travel costs for a surveyor to come to the boat.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafet...rsintl-456.htm

This delayed TC from issuing the final registration and we had a Provisional Certificate of Registry for a period of time until TC had the official tonnage survey in hand and then they issued the final Certificate of Registry in a day or so.

Best of luck!

[DavidLGCrawford]

Originally Posted by krafthaus

Transport Canada (TC) was helpful on the phone & email when I needed advice to get everything right.

You will likely need a tonnage survey for your vessel to complete the registration process.

I must say that TC was EXTREMELY helpful on the phone & email with us as well. We had forgotten to fill in part of one form, plus then we had issues finding a name (as previously mentioned).

We just went with an “Assigned Formal Tonnage” according to our length, so we are registered as 14.99 tons. A little ridiculous since our boat is really only 5000 kgs, but it was the easiest and quickest.
https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafet...nnage-1515.htm
"More than 10.5m but not more than 12m = gross tonnage of 14.99"

[alctel]

It took me almost 6 months from what I remember last year, but I was missing some documents in the paper chain of user transfer. Had to get something from the USCG as well to verify it was struck off the register there.

[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by alctel

Had to get something from the USCG as well to verify it was struck off the register there.

Yes that's correct.....a "deletion certificate" from the previous country where the vessel was registered.



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[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by DavidLGCrawford

I must say that TC was EXTREMELY helpful on the phone & email with us as well.

I'd agree with extremely..... 👍


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[Pete O Static]

If your boat is less than 15m long you can use the simplified measurement in lieu of an actual tonnage survey. Simply fill out the PDF form from the TC website, complete the formula based on the boat dimensions and submit photos of the bow straight on, stern straight on, view looking forward from helm, starboard and port profiles. No survey required.

[Scatterling]

Originally Posted by Pete O Static

If your boat is less than 15m long you can use the simplified measurement in lieu of an actual tonnage survey. Simply fill out the PDF form from the TC website, complete the formula based on the boat dimensions and submit photos of the bow straight on, stern straight on, view looking forward from helm, starboard and port profiles. No survey required.

Thanks! Very helpful info. Based on what I've discovered from talking to the FL tax department, I may be better off just paying FL tax and licensing in FL rather than registering in Canada. Then make that change if Cuba or beyond looms on my chartplotter.