What documents are required to drive a motorcycle from Kazakhstan to China?
- By
- Aparna Patel
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- 30 Jul, 2023
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Your question is quite broad and not completely clear, but I assume you arrive from Kazakhstan and want to cross at Khogas into China and then drive on to Beijing and/or Shanghai. I’m no expert but I will try to give you some pointers.
Comments to start with:
- For any venture through the Stans be sure to study the excellent Caravanistan site.
- Have you looked at distances? China is huge.
- There are tons of trip reports from people on forums such as Horizons Unlimited and others, do check those out and do some reading.
I see three possible issues here:
- Driving in Kazakhstan
- Crossing the border (with your bike)
- Driving in China
The latter (and thus related likely the second) seem the most difficult to me.
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Caravanistan has a page on driving in Kazakhstan. Beyond insurance there does not seem to be any issues. According to adcidl.com an international drivers license will do for up to six months.
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The border crossing is described here. It only mentions bikes getting across. Also check if the border is open. For motorbikes stuff now gets tricky:
China does not recognize international driving license nor your french license plate.
Some links for starters are Caravanistan again and Wikivoyage. Wikiyovage also has a section on driving motorcycles in China.
The most complete info I found is on this forum. According to that you only need:
- a Chinese drivers licence
- a Chinese vehicle registration certificate
- a Chinese number plate
- a state recognized/authorized guide plus his transport in a jeep
See that forum post for more details. Be aware though, it is from 2000. On the same forum however you should be able to find more up-to-date info.
Another paperwork list for motorbiking all of Asia is here (as of 2008 but not very complete for China). With some possible exceptions mentioned on Caravanistan or here you will need a guide in China. This is expensive but they should also be able to arrange documents for you or at least help you with that. Now check the forums for recommendations.
If your guide does not get you a Chinese license, check out Wikivoyage which also describes an interesting workaround by converting your international license first to a Hong Kong license and that one then you take to China to make it a Chinese one.
Finally the trip report here (from 2012, many entries) may be helpful.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘