Australian Bike in Europe
 

Hi I am shipping my Australian (Perth) bike to Europe with a Temporary 6mth import. I would like to leave it there longer than 6 months so I can return & do another trip. Is there a way I can cross into a non European country to re-set the 6 month time frame
Any help appreciated

Shouldn't be a problem I am sure there are others here who have done it, where are you shipping it to? There have been problems at German ports with customs there requiring a bond or carnet which is not needed elsewhere.

Bikes abroad shipping to UK arrives early May, they have filled a container with bikes

Shouldn't really be an issue , immigration authorities are interested in your status not on your bike's. The legal requirement is that your registration needs to be up to date back home and obviously you need to find EU insurance . There are plenty of people from abroad who keep their bikes here in storage and come back to ride them for a couple of months every year.

I've no idea of the technicalities regarding road worthiness tests and registration in your country when the bike isn't physically present but I suspect that there isn't a single policeman in all the EU who will know what an Australian reg. document even looks like .

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I asked the Estonian vehicle licensing agency about this, and they said a non-EU-resident's vehicle is alright for a year at a time here (and if you have a Russian visa, you can cross in and out to reset it). We also have a well-developed network of secure moto storage facilities for the winter months.

You might be surprised (and that goes double for border guards). However, the saving grace is that here at least, the law says that as long as your vehicle is insured, you are allowed to proceed along public roads en route to a technical testing facility. Which would be in Australia. So you could definitely take a very, very long way around. :)

But yes, nobody's going to care about the tech test as long as you have local insurance and the bike is not obviously unsafe.

In the past I never really worried about it but last time (because it came by air, rather than land like all my previous entries) I got a TIP with a six month limit. A phone call to UK customs confirmed that the rules only allow the bike to stay six months and then you have to convert it to UK registration - in the end it actually stayed 9 months without anyone asking any questions.

In reality my Australian bike has in the past spent 3-4 years in the UK being used for a few months each year around Europe. This included a short period when it was stolen and then recovered by the UK police - they were totally unconcerned about it's import status.

So I suggest the reality is you will be fine as long as it is obvious you are a traveler and not a permanent resident.

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As always, the main risk with stretching the rules comes when you have a serious accident. Then the lawyers and the police will inspect passports and vehicle documents very carefully. Since you can only stay in the Schengen zone for a maximum of 90 days in any 180 days, you will have to cross out of the zone so that results in more chances for officials to check paperwork.

One thing in your favour is that having a WA reg bike, there are no safety inspections so you can keep the registration and insurance current for the whole time you are away

If you cross to Morocco or Turkey or some of the non-schengen EU countries you will/may be issued with their visas and TVIP, and while that doesn't necessarily reset your Schengen clock, it may reset your vehicle's EU clock. Doubt whether you could find anyone to give you a straight answer though