Major problem. Our 4-month ride in South America might have come to a screeching halt.

We were totally screwed by the Federal Police when we entered Brazil from Uruguay. They stamped us in, gave us a paper and our bike documents back and told us we were clear to enter. We did that.

There was no customs office at the border itself, and we were directed to go to the Federal Police office. They are the ones who took our passports and bike documents and told us we were done. We even asked them if we needed anything else, and they said no.

Now, in Salvador, we find that they didn't do the paper for importing our bikes, and the paper they gave us was just a tourist enty form. We have been told by the customs people here that the bikes are now here illegally and will be seized when they see them. We learned all this at the airport cargo terminal when my buddy tried to arrange to ship his bike back home to the U.S. We had to get out of there before they got more interested.

We are working on a solution, but so far nothing is looking good. The U.S. Consulate was little help, although they put us in touch with the senior Customs official at the airport. He didn't sound hopeful, but I have to call him back again later today to see what he found out.

Worst case is we lose the bikes (and maybe all the gear on them). We might try riding back south to Uruguay (where we crossed into Brazil) and 'sneaking' out there. Once we've gone that far, we might as well go back to Buenos Aires and Don can ship his bike home from there. Getting out of Brazil isn't a guarantee, though.

We have seen border offices where the Immigration and Customs functions were in the same place, and that is what we thought had happened. In fact, that's what happened when we entered and exited Uruguay, so we had no other expectation. We are feeling pretty stupid now.

The Customs official we spoke with does admit that the police at the border made the mistake, but they don't care about addressing that.

We'll try the U.S. Embassy next, I suppose.

Carnivals starts tonight, too, so eveything shuts down for the next several days.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

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Done with Prudhoe Bay and Ushuaia.

http://www.errant-ronin.com/PrudhoeBayUshuaia.htm

What happens to the bikes if they are siezed. Are they auctioned off, sold or can you reclaim them for a nominal fine payment?

I know if it was my bike and I was sure I was losing it for good I would ensure that no one else would want it. I'm thinking long drop or left idling with the throttle flat out.

However this is just me and I do tend to get petty over this sort of thing.

Hope it all works out well for you.

Rick

I imagine how you feel. We would almost had been in the same situation when we entered Brazil from Iguazu (Argentina): they stamped the tourist papers and said we're good to go. Thankfully we insisted on importing the bike and went to the aduana. Only then it turned out the bike actually needs to have a separate temporary-import procedure. It took us 1-2 hours to go through i(because border official was new to this procedure and computer stuff), but we got the paper.

So ALWAYS double check your vehicle's temporary import paper - does it exist (it has to!) and if everything is correct.

We've had so many cases when the import papers are wrongly written - wrong nationality, faulty numbers etc. We've managed so far and learnt from our mistakes, have it correct in the first place.

Also a lot of border officials just forget to give some of your papers back from time-to-time, and in border bureaucracy hassle you tend to forget them yourself, finding it out later (a disaster, been there done that!).

If you decide to smuggle your bike out: don't do it through Chuy (Uruguay), there's migration and aduana in different locations 20 km apart, so it will be impossible to leave the country without anyone noticing (you will be stopped by the aduana anyway).

Personally I'd have someone with good portugese in hand (i.e. a local friend or a random guy who knows also good engish) and let him call back to the office where you entered the country and see what options there are: if they can post the correct papers to Salvador or you have to ride back to the border post. I'm sure the official who let you into the country w/o issuing TIP document will be a bit embarrased too about his mistake (that is, if you find THE right guy who did that via phone). It may work and it may not work, but I think it is worth trying.

In any case, you can ride around w/o TIP (temporary import) document - not a single police stopped us in over 9000km/30 day visit of Brazil. So you should be able to go with "clean hands" here-and-there to sort those paperwork things out.

Good luck and keep us posted, Margus

Marty you may find the best way is to ask about the possibility of paying an 'on the spot fine' This is the nice way to ask if they,re going to take a little bribe to fix your problem.I,ve learnt with 13 years experience that I,ve never met a cop who wouldn,t look the other way for a small fee.
Try to forget your past and ask for the 'multa de immediato' or what ever it is in Portugese.
Al thedogsbollocks

If you really want to leave Brazil unoticed just go to Paraguay. There are no Brazilian custom office when you enter to Paraguay at Cuidad del Este.

Patrick

that is a long way to go from Salvador but if you conclude that's what you need to do, Patrick is correct. No Brazilian customs, they only have them entering Brazil.

Very tricky situation, good luck

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The Road To Rio - Locokiwi