Gene:
Just a 'head's up' for you on a slightly different but very closely related matter:
As long as your bikes have Canadian plates on them, DO NOT allow anyone else to ride them while they are in the EC. Doing so puts you at risk of having import taxes imposed on the bike immediately, along with a corresponding penalty.
I learned this the hard way a few years ago. I had my Canadian-plated bike in Germany, and loaned it to a good friend (Austrian citizen, EC resident) for two days. He was stopped by German police in a routine traffic check, and the police determined that by the very fact that he (not I, the tourist) was operating a vehicle that had not been properly imported into the EC, full import duty and taxes were due on the bike, as well as a penalty amounting to 100% of the duty and taxes. The whole bill added up to well over €2,000.
Hence my advice to not let anyone else ride your motorcycles until you get the Canadian plates off and the local (European) plates on.
I also suggest you be very careful about doing anything that implies establishing your residency in the EC without simultaneously getting the bikes plated in the EC. In other words, if it appears you are resident in the EC, rather than a bona fide tourist in the EC, you could get nailed for not properly importing the bikes, as they would no longer be considered as 'tourist vehicles temporarily imported for pleasure purposes'.
In the context of the above paragraph, there could be certain advantages to you having entered the EC on your Canadian passports (rather than EC passports). As you pointed out, citizenship does not equal residency, but the whole matter is a lot 'cleaner' if you are 'all-Canadian' on the transaction.
Michael
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