InfiniteNomad
New Member
Dear,
I'm a 23 year old Dutch girl, with a 36 year old boyfriend who is Belgian. We are in Mexico right now and are working on an ambitious project.
Legally we are stuck with a few problems we hope you help us with.
Our plan: We want to buy and convert a 40 ft. old American school bus into a Mobile hostel with a private room and 3 bunk beds in California. We want to do this from July - Sep 2014. When the bus is finished it will get insured and registered as an RV. In October we will start to drive through the Rockies in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Where we will go from ski resort to resort not only to chase powder but also to spread a message about environmental issues concerning the mountains, and solutions, in order to create more awareness in the ski community. We are partnering up with a Canadian production company that has similar goals. From Jan 2015 on we will be in Canada, doing the same. The plan is to do 6 months US, 6 months Canada and the same again the next year. One cameraman will join us for a year and 5 guests will join us for at least a week. The guests can pay (the cost of 50$ a night) through Paypal via our website. 50% of our profits will go to the Canadian production company and the other half will be re-invested into our project.
We will use a crowd funding campaign to raise $20.000, which can be received in our Belgian bank account. (if all goes well)
In order to be in the US for 6 months we are planning on applying for a B1/B2 visa in Mexico city.
We want to do this whole plan as legal as possible but we don't really know how. We do know that we don't need a CDL as the bus will only contain 8 passengers (incl driver) and the bus won't weigh more than 26.000 pounds.
Questions:
- Are we a commercial vehicle? And can we be commercial if we are not employed by a US employer?
- Can we convert and buy the bus in California and register and get insurance in another State? In short: can we cross borders of States without insurance?
- How can we best insure the passengers in case the bus crashes?
- Everything they do outside of the bus (for example on the ski hill) should be their own risk. Can we make them sign waivers for this?
- Can we as Europeans open a US bank account?
Solutions we have been thinking about in order to make this project happen:
A) Just driving around without any formal paperwork (not as a commercial vehicle). Not putting a logo of our organisation on the bus, only stickers from the sponsors who are supporting our project. The guests will be seen just as snowboarding buddies. Money will be received in our own bank accounts in Belgium via paypal.
--> We're only talking about 2000-4000$ a month for renting out 5 beds, can we 'just' receive that in our bank accounts? What about the guests in this case if the bus crashed, will they be covered? Can we put stickers of sponsors on the bus, is their a max. size?
B) Becoming an In Ivzw (International Non-Profit) in Belgium. In case this works, can we then drive as an International Non-Profit in the US? Do you need a special Visa or license for this?
C) Getting hired by the Canadian production company. They can hire me the 23 year old Dutch girl as an employee and the bus can become a commercial vehicle. I can then be doing our project as our job. They can sponsor me or I can apply for a work and travel permit.
--> I had a work and travel permit in Canada in 2009, can I get this again, or is it only possible once? I won't be driving the bus, my boyfriend will, but he can't get a permit in Canada, is it possible do have someone else drive while I'm the responsible one for this project? Can we work for a Canadian company while using a bus with American plates or do we need to buy and convert the bus in Canada in that case? OR can we just convert in the states and drive into Canada to register it there? Or does that mean it has to be imported even though we're not residents? How does the bus officially become a commercial vehicle?
D) Legally getting our money from the guests though the Canadian company. The clients transfer the money to their account and they transfer it to me as a wage, if they employ me. Or is there a way for them to transfer the money to my account without me being an Employee.
E) Using the non-profit license of a non-profit such as a university.
--> Do we need to be have a separate commercial license for the bus if we work for a non-profit? What Visa do we need in this case? How can we receive money in this case (this seems impossible under a B1 visa)? What are the responsibilities of the non-profit towards us, for example in the case there would be an accident?
Thanks you very much for you help. I really hope we can figure this out as the project itself is ready to start, but legally it's not that easy.
I'm a 23 year old Dutch girl, with a 36 year old boyfriend who is Belgian. We are in Mexico right now and are working on an ambitious project.
Legally we are stuck with a few problems we hope you help us with.
Our plan: We want to buy and convert a 40 ft. old American school bus into a Mobile hostel with a private room and 3 bunk beds in California. We want to do this from July - Sep 2014. When the bus is finished it will get insured and registered as an RV. In October we will start to drive through the Rockies in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Where we will go from ski resort to resort not only to chase powder but also to spread a message about environmental issues concerning the mountains, and solutions, in order to create more awareness in the ski community. We are partnering up with a Canadian production company that has similar goals. From Jan 2015 on we will be in Canada, doing the same. The plan is to do 6 months US, 6 months Canada and the same again the next year. One cameraman will join us for a year and 5 guests will join us for at least a week. The guests can pay (the cost of 50$ a night) through Paypal via our website. 50% of our profits will go to the Canadian production company and the other half will be re-invested into our project.
We will use a crowd funding campaign to raise $20.000, which can be received in our Belgian bank account. (if all goes well)
In order to be in the US for 6 months we are planning on applying for a B1/B2 visa in Mexico city.
We want to do this whole plan as legal as possible but we don't really know how. We do know that we don't need a CDL as the bus will only contain 8 passengers (incl driver) and the bus won't weigh more than 26.000 pounds.
Questions:
- Are we a commercial vehicle? And can we be commercial if we are not employed by a US employer?
- Can we convert and buy the bus in California and register and get insurance in another State? In short: can we cross borders of States without insurance?
- How can we best insure the passengers in case the bus crashes?
- Everything they do outside of the bus (for example on the ski hill) should be their own risk. Can we make them sign waivers for this?
- Can we as Europeans open a US bank account?
Solutions we have been thinking about in order to make this project happen:
A) Just driving around without any formal paperwork (not as a commercial vehicle). Not putting a logo of our organisation on the bus, only stickers from the sponsors who are supporting our project. The guests will be seen just as snowboarding buddies. Money will be received in our own bank accounts in Belgium via paypal.
--> We're only talking about 2000-4000$ a month for renting out 5 beds, can we 'just' receive that in our bank accounts? What about the guests in this case if the bus crashed, will they be covered? Can we put stickers of sponsors on the bus, is their a max. size?
B) Becoming an In Ivzw (International Non-Profit) in Belgium. In case this works, can we then drive as an International Non-Profit in the US? Do you need a special Visa or license for this?
C) Getting hired by the Canadian production company. They can hire me the 23 year old Dutch girl as an employee and the bus can become a commercial vehicle. I can then be doing our project as our job. They can sponsor me or I can apply for a work and travel permit.
--> I had a work and travel permit in Canada in 2009, can I get this again, or is it only possible once? I won't be driving the bus, my boyfriend will, but he can't get a permit in Canada, is it possible do have someone else drive while I'm the responsible one for this project? Can we work for a Canadian company while using a bus with American plates or do we need to buy and convert the bus in Canada in that case? OR can we just convert in the states and drive into Canada to register it there? Or does that mean it has to be imported even though we're not residents? How does the bus officially become a commercial vehicle?
D) Legally getting our money from the guests though the Canadian company. The clients transfer the money to their account and they transfer it to me as a wage, if they employ me. Or is there a way for them to transfer the money to my account without me being an Employee.
E) Using the non-profit license of a non-profit such as a university.
--> Do we need to be have a separate commercial license for the bus if we work for a non-profit? What Visa do we need in this case? How can we receive money in this case (this seems impossible under a B1 visa)? What are the responsibilities of the non-profit towards us, for example in the case there would be an accident?
Thanks you very much for you help. I really hope we can figure this out as the project itself is ready to start, but legally it's not that easy.
