US Citizen Traveling In Spain
 

Hi, my friend is coming to Spain. He has a US drivers license for car and motorcycle. He also has an IDP he obtained.

Can he buy and insure a motorcycle during the time he is here and if he stays, he would obviously have to convert his drivers license to a Spanish one.

I am just curious what is possible for him. I understand that Spain does not offer a direct conversion for the the USA license, but I cannot imagine it is not possible for someone to move here and not be able to ride a motorcycle (especially if it is the persons only transportation - not the case here just as a matter of point) before he or she gets their Spanish license.

Any help is greatly appreciated

Two different questions here.

1) If your friend comes to Spain to visit you, it seems he cannot easily just buy and register a vehicle in his name as a non-resident - he would need a Spanish tax number and a permanent address with a long-term rental agreement, etc.

1.1) However, if you are a Spanish resident, you can certainly register the bike in your name and allow him to ride your bike around Spain with his US license, same as he would if he rented a car from an agency. (Make sure your insurance covers any driver of the vehicle.)

2) If your friend moves to Spain and somehow gets permanent residency there, then he will need to exchange his non-EU license for a Spanish one, in practice this often means taking a local driving test - which makes sense, as a lifetime spent driving huge pickup trucks on straight roads in Alabama does not necessarily translate to driving a manual Seat Arosa through central Madrid.

Hi, thank you for your reply

He already has NIE and is looking to move here, but using this visit time to travel around and see where he wants to live the most. I should have explained that part, I am sorry!

I am a Spanish resident but do not have a motorcycle license. So, I do not think it is possible for me to buy a motorcycle and get insurance for it.

Understood, but in the meantime, can he use his US DL to buy and insure a motorcycle since he has a NIE and my address as his temporary residence?

Thanks in advance for your help!

If he moves he'll need to satisfy the requirements for changing his NIE over to the residencia version of the NIE, which in turn is needed for lots of official things in Spain. I don't know what the requirements are, but for coming from the US it may require a work contract and a certain amount of money in the bank - I know it's a lot harder than for EU residents.

Regardless, he'll need a padron to register and insure a bike. The driving license needs to be changed over within 6 months of the date on the padron, otherwise if he gets pulled over he'll be in it up to his neck.

Best to talk to a specialist, like NIEBarcelona, because they know exactly how to navigate the bureaucracy.

Like Tubrofurbal said, you get six months to get your Spanish license. An American friend of mine did this last year.