Shady question, but anyway: rego has expired, the DMV won't renew it remotely and not all officials are falling for a flashed hostel card. Time to create a new one, good enough to pass close inspection. My experience in this kind of thing is limited to doctoring report cards 20 years ago, so if someone has done it (with licenses, titles, whatever) I'd be curious to hear what was involved.

Cheers,
James

__________________
James Courtier

wouldn't know myself , but apparently a PC, a good scanner to scan the old one, ability to use a picture manipulation package (eg. adobe photoshop, corel) and a good printer, good printer paper(?), laminate it, and hope the person inspecting it has never seen the real thing.
good luck,
ChrisB

[This message has been edited by chris (edited 07 December 2003).]

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Be careful. In many countries you are guilty until proven innocent, and lets face it you would be guilty. Many countries may look at you as a foreign spy etc and things may get blown way out of poportion. It would be easy to spend many years in jail or even worse depending on the country you are in. Many cops can tell when you are doing something wrong even if they don't know exactly what. They then start looking closer until they find it. I'm not saying don't do it, but thing about what it could lead to and what could happen. Perhaps getting it regesterd in another country with a little palm greasing is another option. Again a little shady, but getting caught with a forged regestration will get you jail time here in the US, god knows what would happen to you if they think there is more to it with the new terrorism laws and all. BTW a photo scanner, photoshop and a good printer will get you a long ways if you decide to go that rout.

------------------
John

__________________
John

Quote: "Many countries may look at you as a foreign spy"

I was wondering: Which particular countries are you referring to?

ChrisB

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Normally I'm a good boy and this is something I'd rather not do, but the choice is to use a fake, or show the existing one with the expired date. My guess is that it's more likely that officials will see their chance at extortion - and take it - with the expired original than with a suitably aged fakey. Have looked into registering locally - straightforward, but it requires paying painful import taxes anywhere in SA (e.g. in Ecuador, where I am now, my $5,000 KLR costs $8,000...) and losing all the cred from having NJ plates

Totally agree that this is not something to try in the US! Have that sorted though - will re-register locally in the first border state.

James

__________________
James Courtier

"I have this friend" who used a laptop, some colored paper, and a bit of laminate to create Insurance Cards for his group of friends. This was only to use with the Police to combat extortion, and got him out of paying "fines" on more than one occassion.

Then again, I of course have no personal knowledge of any of this.

-C

__________________
Ride safe, ride far, ride often!
Chris & Erin Ratay - www.UltimateJourney.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
50 countries, 6 continents, 4 years, 2 motos, and 1 happy couple.


Work 10, Travel 2 - be inspired...
www.AdventureRealtyExperts.com

Hey Chris,

In any country a foreign national using forged documents will be looked at as suspecious. Some countries (I'm not going to use examples since I don't want to offend anyone)may believe you are working for western intellagence. Since Sept. 11 a foreign national from any country with false papers is going to be held here in the US and possably deported.

A story to illisrtate how things have changed here. On Sept 11 I worked for a sheriff dept. The FBI, immigration etc knew where several people were that had expired visas etc, but did not care. After 9/11 they started rounding them up, deporting them etc. One guy from India had been in this country for 10-15 years, but did not keep his visa status up. He worked for a local tv station as a sound man. With in six hours of him being arrested immigration had picked him up and taken him away. Granted he was in the country illegaly, but it was one of those laws that they hadn't enforced unless someone was a problem, was arrested etc.

After working in law enforcement for a few years I have learned a few things. One of them is that you can tell when someone is hiding something. When you get that feeling you start to look at everything they have. When you find they have forged documents, many times it is to cover up something more sinister like an arrest warrant,idenity theft , credit card fraud etc. You arrest them because of the false documents (that can be a felony)then start looking into what else is going on. If it is as simple as not being able to regester your vehicle while out of the country, they will figure it out eventualy. Being in jail even in the US is not a nice place.

I am not trying to seem paranoid or point fingers at other countries, but put yourself in the local cops shoes. Here is a person you have never met, from a foreign country that may or may not have good relations with yours, and they have at least one document that is forged. If it is a regestration why is it forged. Ok explain to him you couldn't renew it. Hate to tell you this folks but criminals lie. The cop, of any country is going to immedatly wonder if it isn't a stolen bike with forged regestration. After all you lied about have a valid regestration to start with, why would you not lie about this. Just think about how things may look to other people, remember they don't know you so they can't vouch for your good guy status. Also remember forging papers IS ILLEGAL, and if you get caught there will be trouble.

------------------
John

__________________
John

Go to a local print shop. Buy or have a few different stamps made (or make up your own stamp 'kit' These guys can copy anything. Find a good place to have it laminated. It can look quite nice if you have an outline and then ***** pinholes through your document and the laminate. As well if you have any coins from your home country you can moisten the documents and press the coin into them (with Ink or without) leaving a sort of watermark impression. Practice this.

The computer and scanner thing. I leave this up to you. Most of the time you are only changing dates and a few numbers. You would be surprised at what a print shop with some simple computer programs can do (at a very reasonable rate). As well you may find that one of the gurus that runs an internet cafe are up for a challenge.
Keep you docs in an official looking envelope. You may want to put a bit of mileage on your paperwork so that it matches the bike.

In my humble opinion, it is more the way you present your documents than what you have in hand.
I am sure I will take some flack for this advice, but things aren't always fair. If you do no harm or have malicious intent go for it. I trust you have no plans of flying into buildings.
I better stop with the advice before somebody gets a bit curious..

ekaphoto
thanks for answering my question.
ChrisB

__________________

Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

Hi Guys,
Not that I want to be a wet blanket or party pooper, but sometimes offical people read this bulletin board...
Often "alternative" solutions to impossible paperwork problems are the only answer. Mike is right, it is usually more the way you present yourself than your handful of papers that will do the trick...
Cheers, Peter

dammit Peter you ain't supposed to give my name out. Wait I think I hear sirens.....

Just for info...Victorian (Australia)rego documents that are current have the start date listed as the expiry date, and english is meant to be the first language...very helpful not..especially when the Estonian customs officer has a large book with a copy of all the Worlds registration papers under his desk! I had to show him the rego/Tax lable ( correct expiry date) and carnet to prove the bike was registered. He cross checked the papers with those shown in his book....the book was accurate.
cheers alec

__________________
Close to Antarctica and a long way from reality