Believe what ever makes you happy !

Good luck ; over and out .

Thx

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guaterider,
When you enter the USA from the south don't you have to go through the US border control office and fill out the " I 94" application with its silly prying questions and then pay $6 to get that little green I 94 card which gives you permission to remain in the USA for only 90 days ?
Your German nationality AND. your residency in Guatemala , North America , PLUS your promise that you will leave the country does make it easier to get into the USA .The US border guards are deathly afraid that you might want to seek work in the US and stay there.

But how would it go if like Marten , you were travelling on a German plated bike On a world tour ? Marten will not qualify for the " I 94" visitors visa.

European riders in Martens situation report that they face far more quizzing and documentation requirements than you and I who can zip across the border to our respective countries of North American residence. The border guards will want proof of onward travel being already in possession . Overstaying the time allowed in the USA can lead to serious legal problems .
Unlike you or I Marten will NOT be permitted to simply hand in his expiring border crossing " visa" to then quickly get a new one for the additional time.

Caveat emptor

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

It's been 2 years since I crossed the last time on a land border, and back then I had to fill out a form and pay 6$ . But even on my European (not German) passport I have a visa that allows me to stay 6 month , not only 3 like every European entering just with the ESTA permit . I got the visa , because I wanted to stay longer then 90 days .
I've entered the US 4 times by plane over the last 2 years and I never had to fill out any immigration form anymore ; they stopped using them . Just the custom form is still in use.

Immigration officer at the border might ask you how you are going to support yourself during your stay in the US .
But that's immigration , not custom . Custom does not issue a TVIP or keep any record of your bike .

TVIP are issued in countries with very high import duties in order to "protect" the local dealers . Bikes in the US are cheaper as in any other country of the continent , therefore there is no need to "protect" the local dealers from more expensive imports ;-)

Guaterider Is Right ,
This morning it was such a beautiful day that I decided to go for a ride into New York State and hand in my latest I 94 W form which expires in two weeks anyhow .
I took the time to stop and pose these specific questions to a US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION person ( CBP)

For years now I enter the USA without a visa and just pay $6 for the I94W Visa Waiver for 90 days each time. As I never intend to stay that long it saves me the time and expense of the 6 month Visa , type B1 /B2 , and the additional $6 for each 90 days when I enter.
I asked the CBP guy and he clarified things .
Marten and all EU / German passport holders fall within the ESTA visa exemption class .
That means that if Marten shows up at the border he too can simply fill out te form, get fingerprinted and photographed and after approval pay $6 for the I94W. He can then ride into the USA for 90 Days . The CBP guy said that he could get a new I94W by returning to the border and go OUT OF THE USA for a day , then coming back ,re- applying and paying for the second I94W , and so on.

To get a 6 month B1/B2 VISA you must apply to the ESTA PROGRAM ( it is on the Internet) but you must then do it through a US CONSULATE IN SOME OTHER COUNTRY , not in the USA .
You cannot get this type of visa at the US border when you arrive at the US border.

Then the tricky part about the bike storage and returning to/ from Europe.
CBP guy said that riding a bike WITH GERMAN PLATES in from Mexico
would not be a cause for paperwork if the bike(s) was covered for liability insurance in the USA.
It depends on who is at the gate that day- some guards may be very understanding of your tourism , others may take delight in going full boat on paperwork.
However if you were to fly to Germany you would cancel the I94W and apply for a new one , or a 6 Month B1/B2 Visa .
Here he cautioned that it would/ could be handled on a " case by case basis" . If the next CBP agent was a stickler for rules , or a fan of " extreme vetting " he might have a notion that you should have temporary import papers for the bike .
I would suggest that if you go to the border without the B1/B2 visa ready you , like Guaterider and myself ,will get into the USA with the bike . Then I would suggest you keep absolutely quiet about your plan to fly to Germany for several months . Do not volunteer that information . Mum, silence ! If they do not insist on import papering then store the bikes. Again total silence about THAT also when you do the return from the round trip to Europe .At the end of your vacation REMOVE THE BIKES FROM NORTH AMERICA.

The problems I've read about seem all to have to do with folk overstaying the time limit, wanting to stay personally in the USA.
An other cause of problems is when they bring bikes into USA or Canada straight from Europe by air or by sea .In those cases there is definitely the requirement of clearing the machines through customs and doing the import permission and payments.

.
I think that is what Guate and friends must be doing with success, DONT TELL. the border guys your plans to leave bikes in storage , be sure to show that you are just a temporary tourist and that the bikes are NOT going to be sold in the USA and then you can fly " under the radar"

It is much simpler if one makes a crossing of the LAND BORDERS between Mexico. USA and Canada

Now a bit more of personal experience . The I94W is good for 90 days and on its back is the statement that it must be returned when leaving the USA . Actually what I find is that it can be kept for the duration EVEN IF YOU CROSS OUT OF THE USA to Canada and Mexico. Do that and you can sail right back into the USA .Some US CBP guys on the north border are very easy to work with, even will accept the entry stamp of the same date i n your passport as proof that your I94W is in order.
This will be handy for you on your way to Alaska. Keep the card in your passport and you zip right north and into Alaska if it's 90 days will cover that . If not hand it back when leaving the lower USA and get a new one when you start Alaska and keep that one for the return run visit in the lower 48
But make sure you NEVER ride in the USA with an expired card

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

As I was in an investigative mood I asked some more questions at the CANADIAN border. I found it interesting to explore this stuff since I don't really need to use this info because I live here.

You should be happy to learn this because as a German Citizen with German EU passport you do not need any complicated visa process, you are visa exempt. You can just ride the bikes to the Canadian land border from the USA , show your D passport .As long as you prove that you are "admissible " , meaning no criminal record or stuff like that , then you will be given a 6 month tourist visa.
If that is not enough time you can go back to one of the border crossings about a week or two before your permit expires and cancel it . Then you can immediately apply for a new 6 month permit, as long as you are still "admissible". So if you got in the first time the second permit should be a sure thing. You do not need to leave the country for a while.

The bikes also can be ridden into Canada without doing any paperwork for them. It will be understood by you that you MUST remove the bikes from Canada, and that you can not sell them here. But as a bona fide tourist that should not be a problem. .
Yes it is true the borders of Canada and USA do not check paperwork for cars and bikes as people drive across. The Canadian border worker put it this way ... The border workers are only responsible for issues of citizenship and immigration. The license and ownership and insurance is a question for the police and the tax man. The former will ask for ownership and insurance any time they have reason to stop you or if there is an accident. The latter will get involved if the bike is sold and the new owner tries to get Canadian (provincial) plates and registration. But that will not happen.

Another few points about the US entry process you should remember,.

That I 94 W application form must be filled out by you .On one side it has about 5 questions which are pointless for most people and kind of dumb things to ask . The answers are either YES or NO and there lies the trick.
The " right " answer to each one is NO
Any question answered with a YES will likely get you refused , or at least will lead to some really intense attention and questions .
There may also be some oral questions of a prying nature so be on your toes and give only simple NON SELF INCRIMINATING answers. . Remember , that guy behind the desk has the absolute final word on whether you get into the USA or not, ( and some can be fanatically righteous ) Recently there have been cases where visitors from Canada were denied entry because they admitted to having smoked pot at some time in the past. Now I am not a pot user , have nothing good to say about it, but for such a rule to be applied by a country where it is already legal in several states is just plain nutso .
Canada customs for their part have a big interest in keeping guns out (GOOD )and they also keep tabs on folk with criminal convictions which includes convictions for drunk driving in the past. (debatable good /so so ok or maybe too much in the past ? you decide. )


So mind your manners at the US border, don't make any jokes , dont complain and don't volunteer info that is not asked for. You will be told to leave the keys on he bike as well ass any telephones, cameras and computers . No photographing permitted in the border terminal .

Another point about renewing the I94 W , If you reallydo need to exit theUSA for a day or two then you can do that at the Mexican side , without actually officially processing into Mexico. You only need to go to one of the border towns after handing back the expiring I94 W TO THE USA CBP people. Then spend you next night in a hotel in that Mexican border town That is your legal right for 72 hours. Make sure you buy Mexican liability insurance for those days.

When you leave the USA for Canada and wish to hand in the I 94 W card you may do that at the US CBP office but you are also allowed to hand it to the CANADIAN OFFICIALS and they will then return it to the US side.
I buy two or three of these 90 day documents during each year and hang on to them until near time to cancel then I go to one of the border points and drop it of at Canadian customs. I have also turned them in at US CBP on the Mexican border and bought new ones for the trip back to Canada

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

Hi there,


Wow - Sjoerd - nice Investigation...

First - I applied already before my trip for a B1 /B2. It's valid vor 10 years and it depends on the border control if I can get 3 - or 6 months visa. I expect that I could also get the paper for the bike for the time I get my personal visa.

I also was investigating a little and I got this information from a fellow biker from Germany.

He told me that the "island" Yucatan close to Cancun is like a custom free zone. Furthermore did he tell me that he didn't had to pay this 400$ and there was no paper work. He drove then to Central America and came back a few months later. Then he had to do all the necessary paperwork at the border.

Another option could be David in Panama - where they have more or less the same situation with the free of customs area. He told me that he stored his bike within this zone. In the garage of a company - he paid like 50$ a month - which of course could be different. Probably kind of difficult to find a company that is willing to store the bike.

Mexico would be much better. The problem is, that I have to fly back to Germany as long as I am in Cancun. Once I leave that place I fall back into the normal system. I will dig a little bit deeper there

Thanks for the support.

Greetings.

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Great job Sjoerd !
Only one thing : I don't know if there has been any change in regulation in the last 3 years , but until back then, once your I-94 was expired , you had to leave North America (Mexico,Us,Canada) before you were allowed back into the US.
This is not hear saying , it happened to somebody I was travelling with .

From my own experience it is to this date as I described in previous posts.
Again this may be only MY experience because I have PERMANENT RESIDENCY in Canada with passport of an EU country. Any time I have cancelled the I94W it was always upon leaving the USA for a period of travel in Mexico and CA , or like yesterday while actually home again in Ontario , so I have never tested if I could cancel and then immediately get a new USA permit .
It will be a few months now before I get the next I94W .
As the Canadian border will issue entry permits for consecutive periods without exit demands I suspect the USA will do that also .
Again , my permanent resident status in a North American member of the NAFTA countries may set me apart from a European who is only passing through with a German plated bike.It would be totally idiotic to send me back to Europe when I don't live there and my bikes bear Ontario plates.
Even if such overseas visitors were required to remain outside the USA for a day that should be no great hardship , just make sure you are at a CDN or MX border crossing BEFORE the document expires.
If Marten already has the B1/B2 visa he will still have to pay the 6 bucks for each 90 days , and I'm sure they will not boot him back to Germany before his 6 months are used up.
Q Marten. : is that visa good for "10 years" or does it mean you have a window of 10 years in which to exercise your option to spend 6 months in the USA ONCE , or
do you have permission to make a six month trip several times ?

Your friend was describing his visit to the island of COZUMEL which is off the east coast of and part of the state of QUINTANA ROO which is in the south east sector of the Yucatán peninsula . Quintana Roo also contains Cancun and borders on Belize and Guatemala . QR is designated as a " duty free territory " and " zona Fronteriza " . Its economy is highly dependent upon tourism and it is exempted from the requirement for TVIP , ONLY if the tourist rides only within QR and leaves to Belize ( QR has no tourist border crossing into Guatemala )
Clearly your friend went from QR directly to Belize , that is why he did not need the TVIP . Then when he came back into Mexico in another state to travel north he did have to get the TVIP which only costs about $36. The $400 payment would have been for the TVIP SECURITY DEPOSIT , and that is REFUNDED . Did your amigo cancel his TVIP AND GET HIS REFUND before entering the USA or going back to Germany ?
You need to remember that detail. Some tourists do manage to ride past the Mexican. customs without getting the required documents and that will make things interesting if they are stopped along the road by a Migracion checkpoint .

Q Guaterider : did your friend get sent back because he allowed his I 94W to " expire" while he was still travelling in the USA? That might explain why . ? Always get out of the USA before your time is up . European visitors have been jailed for that " offense " . Always make sure to stick to their rules .

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

My friends I-94 was not expired ; he inquired about an extension before his expiration date and he was told in some federal office (I forgot the name of it) that he could not get an extension and that he had to leave North America before retrying an immediate reenter . He was not send back , he just flew to the Bahamas for the weekend and came back and got another 90 days .

Hey, if you like to park your bike in Mexico (if the 180 days are enough for you) you could park it as well here in Puerto Vallarta. We had just 3 guys form Canada here. They parked their bikes until next March. Then they will go to Guatemala.

PS. I am from Germany as well

We are here:

Where we are - Bike-Mexico - Guided Motorcycle Tours and Rentals in Puerto Vallarta


Saludos Jürgen

Hi

if youre coming in from Cuba - i assume you will land in Quintanaroo? Cancun perhaps.

Quintanaroo is a FREE state and is one of 3 states in Mexico that doesnt require a TIP (as long as you stay in Quinitanaroo).

You can in theory leave your vehicle here forever without a TIP. This is a good place to store the bike.

Thing is - when you return and travel through Mexico, you need to get a TIP - which you can get at the border with Belize or maybe (i need to research further on this - as my bike is in storage in Cancun), maybe the port of the arrival of your boat/aeroplane...

Out of interest, how are you travelling from Cuba to Mexico?

Customs do not even look at or ask for papers on your bike when entering from Mexico, you can leave it for 2000 years and no one cares.