Thanks Judy! I think the critical wording here (and something I got wrong in my post above) is that an international driver's licence refers to the licence itself (e.g. a UK licence issued by DVLA) whereas an international driver's permit (IDP) is the bit of paper you can buy from the AA in the UK that simply provides a universally accepted format of explaining and translating what your licence already says.

Hi Steve,

In this security climate, that should be quite worrying really, when you realise just how easy it is to get it. No proper identity check, you just have to surrender a document that can virtually be bought in some countries.

When I exchanged my licence from Victoria (Australia) in January 2000, the Alberta registry office at which I did it made me show other documents that established my identity and that I was resident in Alberta.

Here is the list of back up documents that the Alberta government considers acceptable.

I'm not saying they made you present such documents. I'm just saying they made me.

What was worrying, though, was that, after we'd lived in Texas from December 1995 to July 1997, we kept on being summoned for jury duty. The correspondence was forwarded to us in Australia. We would write to them and let them know that we'd never been American citizens and were no longer living in the USA. But it took a few attempts before the message sank in. Perhaps since all that homeland security business has kicked in, following 9/11, they've got(ten) their act together.
x

Incidentally, you can get a driving licence in Ontario while still being a 'visitor' if you've got a current licence from the US. That's what I did. I got a G2 licence since I'd only been driving since October (Arizona, California and Ontario – had plenty of experience with driving authorities …).

But it's quite irrelevant whether it's normal or different elsewhere.

I didn't suggest it was relevant, I was simply commenting - making conversation.

If this forum was restricted only to relevant comments, it would be a pretty dry ol' place.

I think the document itself is very secure where the fault lies is the "private" registry offices that take the initial information.

Although there are procedures in place as Judy indicated, it appears that not all registry offices are following the rules.

It is - the DVLA have told me they forbid the holding of a GB license and a license from a country with which GB has a swap agreement. Unhelpfully, they gave me the EU directive for this (which is (91/439/EEC if you care ), they implied the principle extended to other countries as my question was about Canada, although I haven't looked for the legislation myself.

I've posted about it before, but some Canadian provinces also have this requirement - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...6&#post6069996

But I agree, no evidence of residency in Ontario is required for Ontario licenses, and yet the license in turn is taken as conclusive proof of residence and ID by other government agencies Alberta seems to require far more in that regard before you get a license.

The other day when I was asked for ID somewhere .... I forget where now (doesn't matter) .... they would not accept my PR card which I proudly produced, saying they didn't know what it was and didn't know the number to write down on theor record .... they insisted I show my Drivers licence instead!!

Oh I remember .... it was when we went to pick up a prize we'd won in a draw at the local liquor store!

Ah, so these licenses do come in handy every once in a while.

Yahoo drinks on Morwenna.

Congrats on your good fortune my dear.

Thankyou ..... it was a "Little Penguin" Hockey shirt!

Alberta simply send it back to DVLA UK and our registry was fairly prompt about it. It had gone 24 hrs later by which time I realised I wanted a copy of it.

Okay, if they send it back to the UK, what is the point in having a copy of it? Surely, if you were to get stopped later on, using your now invalid UK license, you would be in trouble.

I'm guessing she meant a photocopy of her license so she could refer to her driver's number in future? Ontario gave us photocopies of our photocards, front and back, and left us with the paper counterpart completely...

I'd have been confident in convincing the DVLA who I was should we return anyway, I doubt there's another Biiiiink born on my birthday, who lived at my previous addresses... but I guess there's no harm in having the driver number to make absolutely certain of it