Bike legalities in the America's
 

I'm am a british citizen who intends to ride through the America's on a UK registered bike. Is there anything I need to know about Visa's and the like? In particular, what happens to the bike numberplate and tax disc. I was going to get an enduro plate with no date on it and take my tax disc holder and bin it. Is this the right thing to do? :confused1:

visa is best
 

the tax disc issue wont make any sense to an american and only really applies to the roads of the country issuing.i still pay my rego for oz as its more of a headache for when i return than is worth it and its like a rego/mot/tax combined in oz anyhow.
one thing you will definately need is a tourist visa as the visa waiver only lasts for 90 days.
the tourist visa(think it was a B12 top of my head altho i always want to call it a B52?!?!).... this gives you 6 months but on arrival in usa they also decide that the clock ticks from that date and includes canada and mexico.
you have to make a "meaningful" departure to get a renewal of another 6 months although thats at the discretion of the chief rambo officer protecting his country at the time of entry.
i think border people all over the world are bred on some galaxy far far away...
hope that helps....

UK road tax is irrelevant outside the UK. Just SORN the bike when you leave but they can get arsey as I think the SORN only lasts 6 months. I had mine away from UK for about 11 months and started getting chasing letters from the DVLA but nothing more than that.

Simple, just ride with your UK tag, driver license and Uk registration. That's it.
Always check you plate tag , somebody lose their tag and had to wait a few days for replacement.
Keep title safe. Title is never needed but sometimes crossing countries they ask for. Registraton is the one more used.
In extreme undeveloped countries such central america and some in S.A. use copies all the time, good copies that look original.
I don't recommend using fake ones in Chile & Argentina where cops are well trained and respected, they never bribe.

Peru is one of most corrupted ones , they stop you all the time along the Pan American Hwy. They like briber, but do not lose control, eventually they wave you away.
I heard of a story recently from a British in Peru (highlands) who was required to have national license, because his was expired. Forget that, there is not such law. I have the written statutes with me.

I am a bit puzzled by what you mean by plate with no date, UK plates don't have dates on them and are the property of the bike owner. Just sorn it, this lasts for 12 months and if it is more than 3 years old I would MOT it before you leave then you can tax it on you return if you are back within the 12 months. If asked about registration, road tax to us, anywhere don't mention not having any, it can cause problems, just say it is up to date.

Derek:

See this post: Paperwork for USA and Canada.

As others have already mentioned, the tax disc means nothing in North America. All that matters is that the registration does not show an expiry date. I believe that UK registration documents show the owner name and the licence plate, but no expiry date. That's good enough.

If it has expired, take the tax disc off the bike, it will just confuse the Customs people when the bike arrives in North America.

Michael

Thanks for the responses. I've got my ownership docs(REG), insurance and no dates on the plates. Should be good. I'm gonna be gone a while and dont expect to bring the bike back to the UK, but rather to South Africa(where I'm from). Should I send off the export section of my reg to the DVLA? Will this stop requests for road tax and the need to SORN?

nope!
 

umm...dont confuse the DVLA.
just do the SORN, ride on your UK plates as the guys above have said. remove your tax disc as it will just confuseborder guards etc.
make sure you carry your V5 with you and also get a IDP and I also carry an ICMV which for a few pounds has been invaluable as it looks so very official.
you can get one of these when you apply for you IDP via the RAC- however, I think the AA are taking over issuing the ICMV's later this year.

you will need insurance (real insurance not fake!) when you travel in the USA.

make sure you do your SORN each year (you can do this online now i understand) and when you get to ZA then thats the time to 'sort' things out with the DVLA.

enjoy :-)

(extra hint: never provide too much information unless asked, otherwise governments bodies/banks and the like get their knickers in a real tiwst about things that are infact very simple)