Motorcycle driving licences - Uk to Canada and possibly in reverse
 

I am now in Toronto and thought I'd do a post for the benefit of others or possibly those looking to head to the UK. I arrived here on September 11th 2021 and am now legal to ride the DR650 I purchased via kijiji prior to my arrival.

So, how I did it......... The mainland UK does not have a reciprocol agreement with Ontario but Northern Ireland (still part of the UK does). This makes no sense to me whatsoever but this is exactly how it is. So, with the super kind assistance of others (in Belfast) I had the use of an address and visited Ireland in August and also applied for my licence. The forms are only available in Northern Ireland and it isn't a process that can be done online but you could do it by post via an NI mail address if you had friends as good as I was lucky to have. So, my NI licence was issued and a few weeks later I attemped to exchange it in Toronto. The one issue I did have was a 'certificate of entitlement' which is definitely required. This is a document issued in Ireland that shows your driver history and any motoring convictions or endorsements. Thankfully I was able to receive one online (and after lots of conversation was accepted) but had I had this arranged it would have been a simple process. Once I had my licence I was able to insure and register the bike and I am now legal to ride.

This situation, in reverse, might help Canadians who would like to own a UK registered bike for a while and ride incident free but I can only comment on UK to Ontario.


I'm not quite sure as to when I will start to head south, but the eventual 'plan' will be to ride to the bottom of South America having first hopefully ridden the Trans American Trail.


All plans are subject to change though, because as we all know, things often happen to stop us in our tracks - it did for my previous trip in 2019. I was using my ultra reliable 2005 UK registered Honda XR 250 Tornado and covered 18,000 miles before returning to the UK. The issues I had surrounding importation and possibly exiting the States without my bike made me think that the way forward was to purchase here and start over. Whilst the initial outlay might seen prohibitive I've saved the freight costs but more importantly have no insurance or import issues. Unbeknown to me, I was mostly riding uninsured in the States because progressive insurance cancelled my policy because of an admin error (on their side) with my chassis number. They wrote to the address I used for setting up despite dealing with everything else by email. I would never knowingly ride unisured especially in the States.

Back in 2008 I purchased a 1982 GL500 silverwing in Alpena Michigan for a little States based road trip and once registered (fairly easy despite being told otherwise) I rode incident free for a while. I should have remembered this when planning my Alaska trip on the mighty Tornado..

Oh and I just noticed in the top right hand corner of this screen that I last visited this site in 2019 - that tells everything I guess - but huge thanks and appreciation to Grant and Susan for the work they put in, it must be immense.

Happy to answer any questions to those who are genuinely about to attempt a similar thing.

Simon

Hmm - perhaps there's something different about your case, however Canada is one of the ‘Designated countries or territories’ which the UK recognises and so you should have been able to exchange your Ontario licence. Now this is for people moving to the UK as residents. If you are/were not a UK resident then you can't exchange your licence, as I understand the rules. However you can ride/drive on your Canadian licence with no problems.

It's been a while however my recollection is that I was able to exchange my UK licence for a Canadian licence with no problems (Alberta residency).

Am I missing something?

re your American trip - it will be a great trip! We've travelled bits of North America at various times (Canada, USA, Mexico), have travelled in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panamá, and have driven from Colombia to Tierra del Fuego and back (southbound in Western SA and northbound in Eastern SA), as well as a fair amount of time on separate travels in Colombia, Venezuela, Perú, Argentina, and Brazil, so would be pleased to offer suggestion and advice if you'd like.

A couple of thoughts:

1. Thanks for the kind words, and for posting this great info!
   
2. For those suddenly worried:
   1. If you are SHIPPING YOUR OWN bike into Canada or any other country, you DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS. You are completely legal to drive on your home country license in any country, as long as you are TRANSITING.
3. It all changes if you are:
   1. Buying a local bike
   2. STAYING over time allowed
   3. becoming resident

okay a few thoughts... ;)
Hope that helps.

Hello Alanymarce:

Yes. The nuance that you are missing is that Simon purchased a Canadian motorcycle, and it is registered in his name. Don't feel bad about missing that, I had to read Simon's post a few times before I could figure out why he went to all that trouble.

I suspect that the most significant reason Simon obtained a Canadian driver licence was so that he could obtain insurance for his motorcycle. Most - if not all - insurers worldwide will not issue vehicle insurance to you unless you have a driver licence from the country in which the vehicle is registered.

Had Simon shipped his own (UK plated) motorcycle to Canada, or had he rented a Canadian motorcycle that was already insured by the registered owner, he could have ridden it using his UK licence.

Michael