Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Hi NZBrakelathes -
Quote:
THERE IS NO motorcycle ENGLISH test - I was smart and asked for something special and luckily was allowed to do it thus far. Trust me this wasn;'t easy it took my wife and I around 50 hours to manage to get 5 places and no guarantee of more etc etc etc
Cluster Fark of rules and restrictions - if you have never lived here you CAN'T understand how simple things become so FARKING complex.
Oh yeah - at least I've been here long enough to know a China day when it rears it head - ha ha - So I'm off to Wenzhou on 7th Feb so I'll keep you informed how that goes. Basically I'm just gonna go to the police station there as that is what the driving licence authority said is the first thing I have to do ........ maybe I can book a date for a test (in English .... if it exists !) ..
Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Hi Richard,
the reason why you are banging your head is there is mixing up of information. There is an English test for Automobiles only. There is NO English motorcycle test. In Shanghai a few years back IF you had a foreign license that had both Auto and Moto you could just take the Auto English test and they would throw in the moto qualification with the Chinese licence. Now they refuse to do this and you have to take the Auto English test AND the Chinese Moto test to get both. Wenzhou will be a failure unless you have contacts or a 黄牛 with their local licensing authority that can get your Chinese test results "faked". Sure take a try but plan a trip to Chengdu and just get NZ to help you...
btw I don't know NZ but based on history on this site seems like best way. I used a 黄牛 in and around the same cost.
Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Hey - thanks for all the input guys ! It's looking more and more like a trip to Chengdu. My wife is from Wenzhou and she has a brother living there that can help me with a 'temporary residency permit' . However my work permit and current residency permit is all from Shanghai so don't know what this means when my details 'hit the system' ! My wife is the one whom called the driving authorities there but I am now thinking that 1) they misunderstood and the test is for the car or 2) They did understand and the test is still for the car but I can transfer the licence as a full licence with the bike thrown in on top.... 3) Nobody understood anything and I'm just going out of sheer persistence ! ha ha - well find out soon enough.
Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Hi ShuBen - That all makes sense - so it seems the most likely story is that I will go to Wenzhou and make sure I apply for a C1D licence so I can get the motorbike simply added to the car licence which should be in English. The difference between Wenzhou and Shanghai hopefully will be that this is taken as a single test in English .... fingers crossed then. Regards - Richard
Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Hello everyone,
First of all, thanks a lot for posting so much useful information here. It's a good starting point for me, and I think, for everyone else looking into this subject a little further.
However, I feel necessary to present my situation, as it's a little different than what I read here: I am a Romanian national, with a Romanian (EU) driver's license. I have both CAR and MOTORCYCLE categories and I've obtained them in 2005 (if that matters in any way). I can add an IDL on top of that, as I somehow feel the translation might be a little of an issue (I wouldn't imagine there are too many Romanian-Chinese authorized translators).
I'm planning to travel to China this autumn or next spring, depending on how I manage to sort out other personal and business issues in the meantime. My target city to start with would be Chengdu, as it's the big city that is closest to the mountains, and also not very far from the desert, both areas which I'd like to visit. I'm hoping to get a motorcycle driver's license, purchase a local motorbike (BTW, any recommendations?) and then ride around for a couple of months. If possible...
And here's the (somewhat elaborate) questions list:
- is it possible for me to obtain the temporary residence permit required for a driver's license on a tourist visa? or must I get a more 'special' visa?
- since I have both car and motorcycle on my current DL, do I still need to do any tests 'in Chinese only', or will it be more like a formality?
- how is it with purchasing a motorbike? possible or not?
- my passport expires in July 2019. In these conditions, would it be possible to get a 6 Month visa at the beginning of 2019 and then based on this do the aforementioned actions? Or would it be better I get a new passport before attempting anything?
I think that's it for now...
My greatest appreciation for any useful information!
Thank you!
Re: How to get a Chinese Motorcycle License
Start of with getting a new Passport IMO