Touring the USA for one year
 

Is it possible to tour for one year, given the Visa restrictions and , so I understand, banking problems. WE would like to buy a motorhome and wander around. What are the problems?

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Presumably you're a Brit, right?

The visa waiver program (VWP) means you can come here sans visa for up to 90 days.

A B2 visa can give you admission for up to 6 months, but unless you're retired, or somehow ineligible to use the VWP, the chances of you obtaining one are slim.

I'm not sure what "banking problems" you are referring to.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Some (but not all) of the problems are:

• getting a visa (there is no visa that does exactly what you want for the length of time that you want)
• being admitted to the US (even if you have a visa that does not guarantee that you will be admitted to the US)
• attempting to buy, register and insure a vehicle as a non resident (this will be difficult and expensive)
• getting appropriate medical insurance for a 12 month stay in the US (this will be difficult and expensive)
• having enough money

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Please use the 'search this forum' on the word 'motorhome' and you'll find several threads where people detailed their problems, immigration being one of the notable ones.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

And registering the thing is another massive hassle if you don't have a place of residence.

Renting one would cost a fortune too.

Just do a 6 month tour on the B2 if you're able to get a B2 and then tour more of the country another year.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Friend of mine from England is doing just that. He came over a couple of months back and purchased a motorhome, then went back to the UK. He has no connections to the US, but found plenty of dealers who would assist with the registration, insurance etc. In fact he was only here five days to buy the thing and had it all done and dusted by day 2.

Monday he arrived in Florida to collect the motorhome and started a 6 month tour. When the 6 months are up he will return to the UK for a few months and then come back, and start where he left off for another 6 months.

He and his wife are retired, had no trouble getting B2 visas in London, and no problems at Miami when they landed Monday.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

That's the key though. For folks not retired, getting the B2 is a tough sell and travelling around isn't often a good enough reason. Once retired, far more likely to get it to be a snow bird and not have the need to work.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Agreed, but they are in their fifties so not the "normal" retired profile. They're retired because they choose to be, not sure how that would play on the mind of a Con. Officer.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Thanks for the info so far. I am retired and according to the US embassy visa site we score highly on being over 60, travelled extensively and own our own home in the UK. It is interesting that there are differences of opinion on buying. I will look at other sites. I have insurance conformed for both of us (with various illnesses for just over £700 for the year, which is cheaper than when we went to Australia for a year

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

If you want to buy a motorhome you need to do your research in advance - in particular you want to make sure to choose a state in which the purchase, registration and insurance can be done fairly easily by a non-resident. Sounds from lansbury's post that Florida might be a possibility but you need to check it out in advance. Also doing an initial trip to set things up would be a much safer bet than just arriving and trying to get everything done in the first few days.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Thanks for that. My major problem at the moment is that I can't get any RV supplier to reply to my emails to give me some advice

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Phone them up, they probably think the email is a joke.

If Florida is as easy to get going as it sounds, that's probably your best bet, because it certainly isn't that easy in the New England states to register, plate and insure a vehicle.

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

I've sent your details to my friend. He used a dealer near Orlando and was very impressed. Hopefully he will contact you soon, but as he is just arrived to start his journey he maybe a bit busy for a few days.

Knew I had it somewhere. This is the dealer he used http://www.lazydays.com/

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

Hi There Landsbury

Was just wondering how your friend is finding owning the motorhome and how he is enjoying his trips

We are planning to buy a motorhome and store it in Florida and the fly out a couple of times a year to stay for 2-3 months and tour different parts of the USA.

I have to say your post was a good find as mostly we could not find anyone else who had seemed to be successful in doing this. So thank you so much for posting -and the link - i can now go back to planning ! first trip is From Florida (probably where we will purchase ) driving up through the Rockies in Canada and then on to Alaska - Small trip to start with !

Thanks again

Re: Touring the USA for one year
 

he is doing great, wintering in Arizona at the moment.

OK there is a small problem with your plan. Hope I am remembering this correctly. If you buy an RV personally in your name you cannot still own it when you leave. What my friend did was register a company in Montana for not very much money and the company owns his RV and car.

Here is an FAQ page on his blog with lots of advice http://rv-and.us/travel/?page_id=2344