USA for Motorcyclists: Visa, Entry, Roads

The calendar differs sharply between the three regions that come together on OVERCROSS tours. In the Rocky Mountains, real pass closures set the season: Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park usually opens fully from mid to late June and closes on or around the third Monday in October, depending on the weather. Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park - at 3,713 m the highest continuously paved road in the USA - follows a similar rhythm, usually late May to late October; in 2024 it closed on 25 October. Neither road is cleared of snow in winter.

The Alaska Highway has the shortest season: the real motorcycling season is practically limited to June to August, and side routes are not maintained at all from October to May. Snow is not unusual even in the middle of summer.

In the Southwest (Route 66, Arizona, Nevada), by contrast, no road ever closes because of snow, but summer brings different demands: the monsoon season runs from mid-June to the end of September, with fierce afternoon thunderstorms, sandstorms and flash floods in dry riverbeds - usually most intense in July/August, with temperatures above 45°C. Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the more reliable months here. Florida/Daytona is additionally subject to the Atlantic hurricane season from 1 June to 30 November, peaking mid-August to mid-October.

German, Austrian and Swiss citizens normally enter under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) with an ESTA authorisation - no embassy appointment, no visa stamp in the passport. This requires a biometric passport (e-passport) and online registration at esta.cbp.dhs.gov, at the latest 72 hours before departure, ideally earlier. The fee has been USD 40.27 since September 2025, payable online by credit card. An approved ESTA is valid for 2 years or until the passport expires and covers any number of entries - but a maximum of 90 days per entry. This limit cannot be extended within the US or converted into a visa; anyone wanting to stay longer needs a B-2 visa beforehand.

ESTA is valid only for tourism and business meetings, not for paid work. Anyone who has been in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen or North Korea since 1 March 2011, or in Cuba since 12 January 2021, is excluded from ESTA participation - regardless of their own nationality. This particularly affects riders with earlier expedition trips through these countries: in that case there is no way around a regular B-2 tourist visa, with a personal interview at the US embassy or a consulate.

On entry, what counts is not the ESTA expiry date but the electronic I-94 entry record issued by the border officer. It states the actual latest departure date and can be retrieved at i94.cbp.dhs.gov - that is the document that matters, not the ESTA itself.

For bringing your own motorcycle, the USA has no Carnet de Passages, the standard across much of Africa or Asia - the US system works differently. Anyone entering as a "Non-Resident" with a foreign-registered motorcycle for tourist purposes instead needs an EPA exemption ("Non-Resident Temporary Importation Approval"), plus EPA form 3520-1 and DOT form HS-7 at the time of import. This approval should be applied for before shipping, not only on arrival at the destination port - processing, according to the EPA, usually takes 3 to 6 weeks. Once it is in hand, customs clearance at the US port runs without much bureaucracy through form CBP 7501 (Type 11), with no bond required.

The motorcycle may stay in the country for up to 12 months and must then be re-exported without fail - no extension is possible - and it may not be sold at any point during that time. It keeps its home-country registration and plates; a US registration is not required for this type of import. At the port, the original vehicle registration document serves as proof of ownership, together with the passport. If a freight forwarder or customs agent handles the formalities without the owner being present at the port, that agent needs a power of attorney.

Insurance is the real sticking point: there is no nationwide minimum cover, each state sets its own required minimum, and the European green card is not valid in North America. This is solved through specialist providers of short-term liability cover for motorcycles brought into the country - such as Dairyland's "Safe Trip" policy, sold through specialist US brokers - which meets the legal minimum cover of the state being travelled through. This policy must be arranged before arrival; without valid proof of cover, the motorcycle cannot legally be ridden in any state.

Bottom line: shipping, the approval lead time, special insurance and the compulsory re-export add up, for a two- to four-week tour, to more effort than the trip is worth. That is exactly why practically all OVERCROSS tours in the USA - Route 66, Coast to Coast, Sturgis, national parks, Florida/Daytona, the Alaska Highway, the Pacific Coast Highway - run on locally rented Harley-Davidson machines: insured, registered and handed over with no customs paperwork.

An international driving permit (IDP) is not prescribed as a general requirement by federal authorities - your own motorcycle licence remains the actual document. In practice, though, virtually all rental stations, including the big Harley-Davidson rental chains, additionally require an IDP, because their staff cannot easily read a German, Austrian or Swiss licence. A state trooper carrying out a traffic stop also prefers to see both documents together rather than just the original licence in a foreign language.

The IDP under the 1949 Geneva Convention is valid for one year, costs little, and can be obtained before departure from ADAC, ÖAMTC, TCS or the relevant licensing authority - it is only valid together with the valid original, never on its own.

On the classic OVERCROSS routes, road quality is consistently high: interstates and state highways are almost always cleanly paved, even on remote stretches. More challenging than the surface itself are the sheer distances involved - daily stages of 300 to 400 km are normal on many US routes, which is why fixed fuel stops matter more here than in Europe. On open range land in the West (signposted "Open Range"), livestock occasionally stands loose on the road, and wildlife crossing - deer, elk, bison in some parks - is a real risk at dusk, above all in the Rocky Mountains.

Two mountain roads define the northern routes and have their own weather-dependent season (see Best time to travel): Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park and Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, both without continuous guardrails and closed in winter. In the Southwest, by contrast, the historic Route 66 stays open year-round; some original sections in Arizona rank among the best preserved of the entire historic route.

US fuel pumps are sorted by octane number (AKI), not by Super/Super Plus: Regular is 87, Midgrade is 89, Premium is 91 to 94 - at altitude in places like Colorado, Utah or Wyoming, Regular can also be 85. Practically everywhere, what ends up in the tank is E10, petrol with a 10% ethanol content; unproblematic for modern rental Harleys, but worth checking the manual for a motorcycle you bring yourself.

Card payment at the pump ("Pay at the Pump") almost always asks for a 5-digit US ZIP code, which a European card does not have. It usually works anyway: pad your own postcode out to 5 digits with zeros, or simply pay inside at the till and have the pump activated - it only costs an extra minute.

On the main routes of OVERCROSS tours, there is rarely more than an hour's ride between two fuel stations. Off these routes, for example in the Great Basin (Nevada) or on side roads of the Alaska Highway, gaps of 150 km or more without a fuel station are not unusual - before any stretch signposted as "next fuel station far", it is better to fill up fully than to cut it close.

911 is the single emergency number across the entire USA for police, fire brigade and ambulance, works from any mobile phone even without an active contract, and should be given your approximate location (highway number, direction of travel, nearest mile marker) - rural addresses often do not exist. Non-urgent police matters run through a local 311 number in some cities, but it does not exist everywhere; when in doubt, 911 remains the right number to call.

If a state trooper pulls you over: move safely to the right, switch off the engine, keep your hands visible on the handlebars and wait, rather than reaching for your papers yourself before being asked to.

Wildlife crossing is a real risk at dusk in the Rocky Mountains (deer, elk, occasionally bison on the road), and on open range land in the West ("Open Range") livestock can stand loose on the road - both mean a sensible dusk speed is a lower one. In case of a breakdown, AAA membership (also available as a day pass) covers towing, emergency fuel delivery and jump-starts - for a rented Harley, check first what breakdown cover the rental terms already include.

The USA has no state healthcare system for visitors: a single emergency-room visit without insurance often costs USD 2,500 to 7,000. Standard travel insurance policies frequently exclude motorcycling as a "dangerous activity" - check the small print before departure to see whether your own policy explicitly covers riding yourself (not just being a passenger), regardless of engine size.

On passes such as Trail Ridge Road (3,713 m) or Logan Pass (2,026 m), brief altitude symptoms are possible; in the Southwest desert, water needs are well above the everyday amount at home. There is no mandatory vaccination requirement for entry from Germany, Austria or Switzerland.

Cards are standard in the USA, right down to the small till at the fuel station - a travel credit card is enough for almost the whole tour. Cash is still worth carrying for tips and small diners off the highways. For national parks on classic Rockies and Southwest routes (Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Rocky Mountain), a fee of USD 100 per person aged 16 and over for non-US citizens has applied since 1 January 2026, on top of the regular entry fee - factor this into the budget if a tour covers several parks.

For a two- to four-week tour, an eSIM is usually the simplest solution, or alternatively a physical prepaid SIM straight after landing from one of the major carriers. Of the three big networks, Verizon covers remote stretches - Rocky Mountains, Alaska, desert - most reliably by experience, AT&T is solid on the main routes, and T-Mobile is strong in cities but often the weakest of the three on lonely stretches.

Genuine dead zones remain a daily reality regardless: inside Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion and Death Valley, and on long stretches of the Alaska Highway, expect no signal at all. Download offline maps before the tour and plan for these sections as having no coverage as the rule, not the exception.

Lane splitting - riding between moving cars - is legal only in California. The slower lane filtering in stopped traffic is permitted under certain conditions in Utah, Arizona, Montana, Colorado and Minnesota, and is generally banned in all other states - including Texas, Florida and New York: when in doubt, stay in your own lane.

Tipping is customary in restaurants and diners, 15 to 20% on the pre-tax bill, but not expected at the counter or in fast-food restaurants. At the fuel station, no tip is expected except in a few full-service states.

If a state trooper pulls you over: move safely to the right, engine off, keep your hands visible on the handlebars and let the officer approach the vehicle, rather than reaching for your papers yourself before being asked to - keep licence, IDP, registration and proof of insurance ready but unopened in a jacket pocket.