I am a resident of India, my friend and me are planning a motorcycle trip from Iran to France we will ship our motorcycle to Bandar Abbas Iran and ride through Iran into Turkey.

As per visa requirements which we have initiated on 27th April 2012, a local resident from Iran has to apply to the Motorcycle Federation of Iran and after their approval which has been approved, then the request is forwarded to the Foreign Ministry of Iran, All is confirmed but now at the last moment they are demanding $8000 (USD Eight Thousand) each from us, we are lost of words as our we are on a shoe string budget and don’t know what to do and where to go for help. Is this the normal procedure to ride through Iran?

Please help, your reply will be highly appreciated

Hi there
I'm not sure of the requirements for India citizens but I have NEVER heard of a $8000 required to get your letter of invitation. You can go through companies like Persian Voyages to get your letter of invitation and it costs about $200 USD.
There are other companies that can organise this for you - google Iranian Visa to see who else is available and also look at which companies other people have recommended on the HUBB. Best of luck

First let me tell you about entering to TURKEY.
Visa Information For Foreigners / Rep. of Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs
For you.
India: Diplomatic passport holders are exempt from visa for their travels to Turkey up to 90 days. Ordinary, Special and Service passport holders are required to have visa to enter Turkey. Ordinary, Special and Service passport holders with a valid Schengen or OECD member's visa or residence permit may get their one month single entry visas at the Turkish border gates upon their arrival.
For your bike.
You will buy a Turkish road insurance at the bordergate if your green insurance doesn't cover Turkey.
No carnet needed..your bike will be stamped on your passport page..You will be asked nothing more...
About IRAN;
Sorry to say that we are hearing unpleasant and sad stories such as unofficial guys asking for money to make customs formalities faster at bordergates where they can't enter normally... (gave some photos of those guys to Iran consulate authorities but nothing has changed and still keep 2 photos.) Also since last september,3 bikers had their tank bags stolen in Esfahan, 1 had his pump stolen on the road, 1 tent,1 passport and 1 wallet stolen...But never heard such a comedy story..If you have the visa for your citizenship, your vehicle can enter together with you when you have the regular documents for your bike..
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR ALL BIKERS;
don't let local people make a crowd around you in town centers,be careful when a bike comes towards you on the opposite and wrong direction...Ask the nearest police and he will help you with the stick in his hand...Iran police and soldiers are very helpful and friendly AS LONG AS YOU ARE NOT OUTSIDE MAIN ROADS BETWEEN TOWNS....

May be one of the Iran visa agencies will solve your visa problem much more cheaper..Best is make your applications personally as we do here and certainly you will meet spirit of adventure biking,friendly and helpful stuff when your documents are completed and satisfying..

A big hello to all friends in New Delhi,Mumbai and magnificient members of 60kph. club in India.

Wish you all the best and luck..

Hi guys thanks for the prompt reply . . . the problem is that we have to go through the Motorcycle Federation of Iran as we are traveling on our motorcycles and the federation is asking us to pay USD 8000/- as fees for the visa for 2 motorbikes.

Are there any other agencies that we can go through apart from the Motorcycle Federation of Iran who will be able to help us?

Amman77,

Do you know by yourself and for sure that you have to go through the Motorcycle Federation of Iran or you were you told that by that Iranian and you accept it as true fact?

If answer is b), I strongly guess that it is not true and it is actually a SCAM.

I don't know about the case of being European resident in India and bringing the motorcycle on a ship into Iran, but in general terms to enter Iran from Turkey/Armenia with your own vehicle you need passport, Iranian Visa, Carnet de Passage (some people refer to another procedure without CdP, but I don't know it, I only wonder if this 8000 USD may actually be this deposit, could be, no idea) and the normal documents (driving licence, documents of the vehicle, etc). Did the guy ever mention the Carnet de Passage? Regarding invitation letter, I can't tell, I never needed one (I'm Spanish but Swiss resident), but it seems the case with other citizenships.

If I were you, I would forget everything you were told by that Iranian guy and would start a through research by yourself, being many threads in HUBB a good starting point, and later would confirm the details asking here, as well as directly with the Iranian Embassy in Delhi (if they are willing to help).

Even if you think it's a hassle, Iran hospitality will compensate all this boring stage (it took me 2 months and many phone calls to get the last Iranian visa).

Happy travels,

Esteban

Found this thread whilst doing some research for my own trip through Iran, my looking around suggests you may have to register with the Motorcycle Federation, although I can't actually determine if that's the case.

"If you wish to drive your own vehicle into Iran, you may be subject to Iranian customs and other regulations. There are particular requirements for travellers wishing to bring motorcycles into the country. We recommend that you contact the Iranian authorities for details well before you travel."

Iran travel advice

8,000 anything sounds excessive, and I'd suggest someone is trying to scam you - Have you tried contacting the federation directly? Or indeed trying to get a competitive quote?

Automobile & Motorcycle Federation of I.R. Iran
http://mafiri.ir/
Address: Tehran - Vanak - Sadra Avenue - Campus Avenue East - No. 31 - Fourth Floor, North
Tel: 88203910 to 88203911
Fax: 88203909
Email: info@mafiri.ir

(I'm not even sure that's the right federation)

Hope that helps...

I am talking to Ms. Nasim Naizi at the Motorcycle Federation of Iran at the email address you have mentioned on the post. unfortunately they are asking for that much. its disappointing as we dont have a choice and feel that we are held at ransom.

However we have agreed to pay a sum of USD 500/- each as the organization fees for processing our formalities which is all we can afford to pay but until now even that has gone to vane as they are not willing to compromise.

I have again written to them yesterday requesting to accept our offer.

I just hope and wish they accept.

USD 8000/- is the fees and not deposit which i have reconfirmed with them, the are also aware that we are traveling with Carnet . . .

I am not sure that I understand what it is you want from the Iran Motorcycle Federation. Why would they have anything to do with it? I have been to Iran on a bike in 2009 and unless something has changed since then, there is no need to even talk to these guys. They may not be scamming you but trying to help you, they just may not have an idea what the situation is.

You need to get a carnet de passage (CDP) for your bikes before you enter Iran. Plenty of information on that on this forum. Typically a CDP is issued by the motoring association of the country the bike is registered in (i.e ADAC for German, RAC for Brits, AA for Kiwis and so on). Rules and regulations vary, but there is generally a fee and some sort of safety deposit involved. ADAC for instance wants EUR 3000 for Iran, which you get back in the end. Where it get's difficult is when you buy a bike in some other country than your own. For instance ADAC won't issue a CDP for a German buying a bike in India who want's to ride it to Europe and the Indian authorities don't do that either. They have however issued CDP to foreign bikes in Germany. So it all very much depends on your particular circumstances. For any hope for a qualified answer one would need to know which country you are a citizen off (i.e. what passport do you travel on), which country you are resident in, which country the bike is registered in and where you intend to start from and where you want to end up and whether the bikes will be returned to the country of registration.

Best of luck.

P.S.: From your post above I now understand that you do have a CDP. Why are you talking to these guys then? You show up at the border with your passport and the CDP and immigration and customs process you in? I feel like I am missing something here. Just don't understand how the Iranian motorcycle association would get involved in the process? If you have the CDP you are good to go as far as the bikes are concerned.

+1. You expressed exactly what I was thinking (in the line of my previous post). And much more now that I read the OP has a Carnet, why do you want the Federation to participate in anything????????

BTW, I got carnets in Spain for a car with Spanish plates and in Switzerland as a Swiss resident for the case of Swiss plates. And it looks like you being a resident in India actually got an Indian CdP (I cross fingers now for it not being a scam from the friend who points you towards the federation! it'd be a terrifying idea!)

If you absolutely want to confirm the need or not of the "8000 USD Iranian Federation" participation in the whole story, search for a website/blog of someone who travelled India to Europe and ask him how he/she made it (with or without the Federation), particularly someone who shipped the bike/car to an Iranian port. You've got 8000 good reasons to avoid them. Please, format unit H: in your brain section dedicated to this trip where they stated "Iranian Federation" involvement and re-start from blank/cheap.

PS: Being very obstinated myself as well, if you have CdP, the only procedure where you may need any support would be regarding customs on arrival to the port, but 8000 USD is MAD money!!!! And you said it's FEES for the Federation!!!

Hi Amman who told you that you need to get approval from the M/C fed. of iran? was it the iranian consulate or 1 of their lackeys or are you just going by what's on the net. When you say everything is approved do you mean you have your visa's and they are asking the money for you to ride through the country?
If it's the consulate who's asking for the money then that's something completely new coz nobody so far who has ridden through that part of the world has had to pay anything apart from the visa fee and maybe some fee for letter of invite. On the other hand if you've already got your visa's,just go ahead with your trip and tell them to go suck cartman's ****'s.
By the way why ship to iran and not ride through pakistan?problems with visa's or was it something else?
nomad.r

We are now fed up of chasing the Iran consulate and the motorcycle federation of iran they just dont seem to care, half of them dont even know what they are doing there phew . . . we were just following the instructions from the consulate here in India Mumbai as to how to go about the visa formalities. . . . that means if this is a scam then all the big guns are also involved and the best part is that they wont communicate through their official mail in spite of me telling them to do so. . . so we have given up to travel through the country.

We will now start our journey from Istanbul Turkey and need assistance, our motorcycles will reach Istanbul port on around 15th or 16th July.

Can we manage our customs on our own? if yes what are the formalities required? how much time will it take and what are the cost implications involved. . . OR do we need an agent to do the same and what are the formalities and costs involved?

If we need an agent then can you please suggest one who will be reliable, efficient and wont charge a fortune . . .

Thank you for all the support so far .

Had you read the posts above? Consulates and Embassies are not travel agencies, even less overland forums: it's not their function. Even Tourism Boards won't give you that info, but here you have first hand.

I apologise in advance, I don't want to sound rude writing in capitals, but this sentence is intended for travelers looking for info about Iran in the future, since this post IMHO is adding confusion to the topic:

FORGET ABOUT ANY IRANIAN MOTORCYCLING FEDERATION, no (proven) need to involve those guys!

Apart from that, wish you the best in your trip from Istanbul. Don't miss Turkey, go East, it's a beautiful country full of beautiful people. It may be the nicest part of the trip and will add the "oriental touch" resembling more to the original plan.
Regards,

Esteban