traveling with "power of attorney" in the Americas?
 

Am I likely to encounter problems riding a bike registered in someone else's name, if I have made up a "power of attorney" letter (English and Spanish) where the registered owner gives me carte blanche to "borrow" the bike, and have it signed and notarized by him with notarized copies of his passport?

Would this pass muster at Latin American border crossings?

The situation is this: I'm currently living (as a Canadian) in Korea and have a Korean car/motorcycle license. A friend is holding a bike for me in Alberta, Canada. To register the bike in my name there, I'd need to swap my Korean license for an Alberta license (since I'd need insurance to register the bike, which I can't get in my name without an Alberta motorcycle license). But Alberta won't swap for a Korean motorcycle license, only car, so I'd need to do a motorcycle test.

The harder nut, however, is simply proving Alberta residency for them to swap the license to begin with (seems they've really cracked down on what they'll accept in terms of proof of residency; I could get creative with that, but it still might not fly).

Even a nice south american official poder may not get you into Peru, especially at the southern border. However most other countries accept them, but it would need to be at least in Spanish with lots of stamps and thumbprints, but nothing is guaranteed. Plenty of others down south using just a poder.

'Podor' is just Spanish for notarized permission letter? Is there something special about notaries in Latin America?

Plan 'A' is now the rigmarole of switching the license over and doing the bike license test, but I'm hoping the permission letter would work as a backup plan. I was really relaxed about the permission letter thing since I knew that's no problem in the US and Mexico, but some threads on here about Central America have me spooked, although I'm not clear if people are being turned away with nice permission letters, or just bills of sale.

How about a BC registration
 

I am willing to bet that if you have a friend in BC that will lend you an address that you can register the bike there without changing your license. This would also solve your possible insurance problems at least in North America.

Rick

There are many BC plated vehicles getting around C and S America owned by foreigners so getting it is obviously not a problem in that province.

We own a US motorhome using a Montana LLC and going in to Mexico the Aduana wanted to see a poder even though I had papers showing I owned the company which owned the vehicle. I had a DIY permission slip in which I said I could drive the vehicle and that was good enough. Then I got smart and changed the name of the company to the same as our full names so now all the papers match up and nobody notices the "LLC" on the end of the owners name.

Another report today regarding refusal of Peru to admit vehicles being driven under a poder. Previously others were stopped or delayed when going from Chile to peru, with via Bolivia being OK, but now the Copocabana crossing is also closed.

Will look into BC. Have some family there for an address. That'd presumably require getting it BC safetied since the bike was Alberta plated (but not plated currently), which means trailering it to BC. All doable if need be.

Anyone have experience getting ICBC insurance with a foreign drivers license?

Nice to have options anyway, I guess I now have three: Alberta license, BC plated, power of attorney.