So you're an international visitor to the US and want to buy a vehicle for your travels?

visitor.us is here to help. When you’re ready to move forward, you can get started here.

This guide is a quick overview of the visitor.us process.

Payment

First, we’ll collect your payment via credit or debit card.

Learn more about the Payment step here.

Form Your LLC

Next, we’ll form your Montana Limited Liability Company (LLC).  Your Montana LLC is a resident of Montana, giving it the right to register and own a vehicle in Montana.

You’ll carry out this step, and all subsequent steps, in the visitor.us dashboard.

Identity verification

Verify your identity by providing an image of your government-issued identity document, and a selfie. We use Stripe Identity for this step of the process, and we don’t store your identity data.

Provide your desired LLC name

You can call your LLC anything you want, as long as it’s distinguishable from existing Montana entities.

Provide name(s) and home address(es) of all desired LLC owners

The home address is where the owner lives, and does not have to be a US address.

visitor.us submits your application to the Montana Secretary of State

Either:

The Montana Secretary of State will approve your application, and your LLC will be active and ready to use,

or

The Montana Secretary of State will advise that the name you chose isn't unique, and you’ll be asked to provide another.

Either way, you’ll receive an email notification on the status of your LLC within one business day.

Learn more about the Form your LLC step here.

Provide vehicle details

This part - the fun part! - is up to you: buy a vehicle.  Any vehicle you want, as long as it has US ownership documents.

In the visitor.us dashboard, you’ll be prompted to enter your vehicle’s required details, which include the vehicle's VIN, year, make, model, color, and mileage.

Learn more about the Provide vehicle details step here.

Request Temp Tag (if required)

Once your LLC is active and you have submitted your vehicle details, you are welcome to request a 40-day Montana temp tag. (What is a temp tag?)

We will generate your temp tag within one business day or less.

Learn more about the Temp Tag step here.

Prior title

In order to register your vehicle, we need to submit your vehicle’s ownership documents (usually its prior title) to the Montana DMV.

In this step, we prepare a pre-paid Fedex or DHL shipping label for you to send the vehicle’s ownership documents to visitor.us for registration.

Sign the prior title

In order to transfer the vehicle’s title to a new owner, its prior title must be assigned by its prior owner (the seller).

Please consult our Step by Step Title Transfer Guide for details on this process.

Send the prior title

In the visitor.us dashboard, you’ll be prompted to provide a shipment address.

This address will only be used to populate the “From” address of the prior title shipment.

This address will not be used to send your license plates, registration, and title.

We recognize that you might be on the road when these items become available - so we’ll ask for a “To” address to send your items to when they are ready.

visitor.us receives and reviews prior title

When your vehicle’s ownership documents arrive at visitor.us’ office, we’ll scan and upload them to the visitor.us dashboard and you’ll receive an email notification.

We will review your documents, and notify you if any further action is required.

We’ll provide a estimate for when we expect to register your vehicle and obtain your license plates, registration, and title.

Learn more about the Prior Title step here.

Registration, License Plates, and Title

Upon registration, we obtain your vehicle’s license plates and registration document.

We scan and upload images of these items to autos.visitor.us, and send you an email notification that your plates and registration are available.

Your Montana title will be available about 2 weeks after registration.  We'll send you an email notification that your title is available.

Learn more about the Registration, License Plates, and Title step here.

Receiving your items by mail

After receiving the email notification that your license plates and registration are available, you’ll be prompted to provide a shipment destination for them within autos.visitor.us

You can arrange to have your items sent to any address convenient for you, including a Fedex Office location on your path, where your items will be held for up to five business days for pickup.

Your Montana title will be available about 2 weeks after registration.  As with your plates and registration, you’ll be prompted to provide a shipment destination for them within autos.visitor.us

Learn more about the Receiving your items by mail step here.

And that's it!  That's a quick overview of the visitor.us process.

If you'd like to move forward with visitor.us, you can get started here.