The first step in the visitor.us process is establishing your Montana presence.
A Montana presence is required to register a vehicle in Montana.
Step 1a: Verify your identity
Montana requires government-issued photo identification in order to register a vehicle. Passports are acceptable when a registrant does not have a US driver's license. As most visitor.us clients do not have US driver's licenses, our identify verification process requires a passport.
If you have a US driver's license but not a passport, please contact us at hello@visitor.us for support.
After signing up, you'll see this Verify Identity element within Step 1 - Your Montana Presence:
Click the Start verification button to start the identity verification process.
Our secure identity verification partner is stripe.com/identity - a photo of your passport and a selfie are all that’s required.
After completing the identity verification process, the status of the step will display as Completed, meaning that Step 1a: Verify your identity is complete.
Most identities are verified within seconds. Occasionally, a verification must be manually reviewed. We will contact you if additional steps are required to verify your identity.
Step 1b: Sign Lease
Montana vehicle registration law allows nonresidents "with an interest in real property [in Montana]" to register a vehicle in Montana.
A lease at visitor.us' Bozeman, Montana office constitutes an interest in real property in Montana, allowing a vehicle to be registered in your name in Montana.
To learn more about the Montana vehicle registration law, check out this blog post.
The lease agreement can be signed electronically from anywhere in the world.
After completing Step 1a: Identity Verification, you'll see the Rental Agreement element appear within the Sign Lease section:
Click the Sign button to electronically sign the lease agreement.
Note: Safari browser users may experience issues with the electronic signature function. If you encounter issues, please try again with Chrome or another browser. We apologize for any inconvenience.
After clicking the Sign button, you'll be able to review the lease, and sign it electronically.
If you make a mistake with your signature, use the Clear button to start over.
After signing, click the Submit button, and you will see the Rental Agreement's status set to "Pending..."
At this point, your action on the Rental Agreement is done, so the status of the step will display as Completed.
visitor.us needs to countersign the Rental Agreement, and we will do so within 24 hours of your signature.
You can move forward with the process while visitor.us' signature on the Rental Agreement is pending.
After visitor.us signs your Rental Agreement, you will receive an email notification, the element will turn Green, and you will be able to download a copy of the countersigned Rental Agreement for your records.
Step 1c: Receive Mail (no action required from you)
In order to register a vehicle in Montana, the state requires two proofs of presence - the lease agreement with visitor.us counts as one proof of presence.
Two pieces of first class mail, postmarked within the past year, addressed to the person who wishes to register the vehicle, at the address where the vehicle will be registered, count as a second proof of presence.
When you sign up, visitor.us creates and stamps these pieces of mail, and sends them to you, at our address, via the US Postal Service.
We submit these pieces of mail when we register your vehicle.
No action is required from you on this step. (In fact, this step doesn't even appear in your dashboard.) visitor.us creates, sends, and receives the two pieces of mail for you automatically.
Sometimes dealers need to see your proofs of Montana address. If so, please email hello@visitor.us to request images of your postmarked mail.
(Optional: Additional owners)
Vehicles may be registered to multiple co-owners.
Each owner's identity must be verified. Only one owner's signature on the lease agreement is required.
If you wish for multiple vehicle owners, please contact us at hello@visitor.us to arrange identity verification for your co-owner(s).
Next Up: Step 2 - Your Vehicle
After completing Step 1 - Your Montana Presence, proceed to Step 2 - Your Vehicle.