Just crossed into Guatemala at Cuatehmoc Mexico/La Mesilla Guatemala today. Professional and friendly both sides, bike is only out of your sight for a few minutes. Tourist visa was free, bike permit Q160~=$20. I need to check my credit card account in a few days to make sure my Mexican deposit of $200 was refunded.

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Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america

Does anybody know if border crossings in Central and South America are the same for Europeans and US citizens in terms of purchasing my visas? Thanks!

zero visa cost on a UK passport

Perhaps it depends on which European country supplied your Euro passport.
There may well not be a charge for "a visa" but at most of the CA borders you actually do not need a VISA per se.
VISA means a specially stamped page in your passport which you get from their embassy or consulate before you even show up at a border crossing.
The CA countries and Mexico and even the USA (depending on where you now live) will accept your valid passport as adequate proof of citizenship and your good intent as a tourist and will readily issue ,after you complete the forms , a tourist card to let you into the country for a few months stay.
There will be fees associated with getting the tourist card and for temporarily importing your bike or car and for other services rendered at the border such as "fumigacion" ,municipal tourist tax etc. These at each country vary ,some add up to only a few dollars while some may come to a total of around $48 to $50 US DOLLARS at most before you are ready to step into the actual country.
Watch your receipts and the currency required for each payment and do not let yourself be confused by slick operating swindling so-called helpers.
Some borders demand all payment in moneda nacional, some will allow a mix of MN and US Dollars

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

Thanks, Sjoerd Bakker. Any advice helps! I guess I will get the hang of it ... it's just a lot to take in. :-) BTW, I am from Austria, Europe.

Is that true for Mexico as well? My tourist card cost 290 pesos (~$23) on a USA passport. Just curious.

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Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america

I am from Austria, Europe :-)

got to www.visahq.com....enter your country (austria) and where you normally live and then the countries you want to enter and it will tell you if visas are required and if so how much they are, they should be the same price at the borders as you ride thru

That's a great website. Thank you so much! Now I know that I don't need a tourist visa for any of the places I want to go to. Is there anything like this to check if I need transit visas?

when you say transit visa do you mean for importing the bike and related fees? if so i can't think of one off hand, maybe someone else has a site with info, i did a search but couldn't find one...mexico is the only place thats requires a large refundable deposit, their kind of version of a carnet i guess, but nowhere in Ca or Sa is a carnet required that i have traveled thru

I took a look at that site, punched in my nationality, USA passport visiting Mexico for an example, and it says no visa required. I think it is just saying you don't need to apply in advance, because I have always in 12 or so crossings, had to obtain and pay for a tourist permit, but it is issued at the border with no advance permission. So just because it says no visa required, doesn't mean it is free crossing.

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Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america