Details are covered in another thread:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nchorage-51292

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Japan touring information

Just sent off the request for mine and my wife's bikes, 2 separate requests so they don't get arsey over one person asking for multiple.

Then it occurred to me.

This is harder than working ! I think I need a holiday :-)

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

I cleared my bike through New York port customs yesterday. The customs office is 5 miles from the port right beside Newark Penn Station.

The whole procedure took less then 20 minutes & the first thing the customs officer asked for was the EPA exemption. He looked disappointed when I said I had it.

He wanted;

EPA exemption coupled with the 'EPA Form 3520-1' which he stamped 3 times & signed.

Shipping docs (which I printed from an email, I didn't go to the docks to get the originals) that he stamped & signed.

A 'DECLARATION' form that he gave me to fill out (address details, VIN etc.) that he again stamped.

A copy of my title to the bike (my log book from home) & to see my passport.

There were a couple of questions re; occupation, purpose of trip & he also asked if I had insurance but wasn't fussed about seeing the documents.

So the part I was anxious about was relatively straight forward & the 'easy part' of getting my bike out of the docks is proving a pain in the backside.

The Dept. of Agriculture need to inspect every ship prior to it unloading & they have a backlog so although the ship arrived on Tuesday they still haven't been allowed to unload all the Rolls Royces, Bentley's, Range Rovers, Mini Coopers, Jaguars & my bike. Could be next week as they don't work weekends.

Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue...

Good luck with the EPA's & Customs gents.

What was the time lag from requesting the EPA to being contacted by them ?

Its frustrating that they do not acknowledge receipt of the email :-(

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

Hey Smudger,

New York aint such a bad place, take a look around, have a few s, see a few sites.... patience is a virtue....patience is a virtue....

Glad to hear you're underway (kind of) and keep us posted.

See you out there

Well, having followed the usefull advice on this thread I applied for my EPA approval last week including in my application all of the info mentioned on the op. I had it returned to me on monday to sign which I did and emailed it straight back and I have recieved my EPA Exemption letter today which was a nice suprise, in all it has taken 4-5 working days which I think is pretty good... now I need to print off form 3520-1 and I should be sorted for import!

Im glad I came accross this thread as I had never heard of needing the EPA exemption before.

Chris

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www.mainlyduesouth.com in support of the Colin McRae Vision

I love it when a plan comes together

+1

Applied Thursday, got the letter to sign today, sent it back and now have my EPA Exemption.

Unfortunately, not for my wife's bike yet , which I sent stuff off for at the same time :-(

When I queried he said he had not recieved it ... and then 30 mins later found it (as I sent him the date/time stamp detail) lets see how fast he turns that around :-)

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

I thought I would add my experience to this thread since it wa very helpful to me when planning for bringing my bike into the US.

James Cargo had originally advised me that the EPA letter was not required, then later on changed their advice to say that it was, since they had heard of more and more people being asked for it. They also reminded me about getting the ESTA requirement done for my own entry.
The pack of documents they supplied when I delivered my bike to them was very detailed and was extremely helpful when it came to the point of doing the dirty work of extracting the bike from the clutches of the bureaucrats at the airport.

However, pretty much all the documents I had with me proved useless! I had elected to do the processing myself at New York and followed the instructions about going to the airfreight office first (in my case Continental Airlines Cargo) to pick up the official Airway bill documents. Then I went to the Customs building not far away where the customs officer was apparently ignorant of the official way to process my paperwork. He asked for the airway bill, and my passport, gave me _another_ form to fill in, which was headed Unaccompanied Luggage, did a bit of computer fiddling, and then that was that. No EPA letter, no HS7, nothing.

Just goes to show, you can do all the research you like, but on the day it all depends on the person at the counter on the day.

NOTE. Just in case,I should remind people to ring the airfreight office BEFORE you go out there to confirm that your bike is there and waiting. Don't do what I did which was to believe the airway bill emailed to me from James Cargo with the date and time of arrival. I spent a boring and fruitless 6 hours waiting in the hot office only to eventually be told that the bike wouldnt arrive on the truck from Newark until 10pm. So it cost me another night in a hotel and a day wasted before I finally got it.

But JC did a good job of packing the bike, and the Continental Cargo office ladies at JFK were very friendly and helpful. Kudos to Colleen, the forklift driver, for helping me free my bike from the wrappings. She was a dab hand at the crowbar and hammer.

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Ajaxer(Back in the fold)
BMW R1200RT

Very useful thread - this would have majorly tripped us up.

I just emailed the EPA guy mentioned in the first post and got a very quick and helpful response.


Does anyone know if there is a separate DoT letter which is required and, if so, how you go about getting it?

Cheers

NO. A separate US DoT/ NHTSA letter is NOT required.

A very useful thread. Thanks for all the input. Just one question.
Is all the communication done by email or is here some point where a signed document has to be posted?

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If you think you are too small to make a difference you have never spent the night with a mosquito.

Thanks for this post.

Does this letter from the EPA have a use-by date or a validity period?

Since the last posts in this thread are rather old, anyone know if the information (mail adress etc.) in the first post are still valid? Anyone requested the EPA letter recently? Thanks!

In addition to my other question, does anyone know if there is similar requirements when entering Canada with the bike?

Edit: Think I found the answer... https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/motorvehicl...itors-1334.htm