Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi Forum,

The in-laws have arrived from the UK on the Parent/Grandparent Supervisa.

The Visa itself is basically a "letter of introduction" confirming 'approval' being granted of "an authorized period of extended stay" rather than an IMM document. It does contain both a 'File Number and UCI number' and has a validity date expiring 2017.

The Problem(S)

1. The in-laws are here for a minimum of two years while we await the unfreezing of 'Permanent Residence' avenues.
2. They have bought and insured a vehicle
3. ICBC are stating the 'Letter' is not a valid immigration document/Visa as is not in IMM format.
4. ICBC will not allow licence exchange of UK to BC due to point 3.
5. You can only drive in BC on a foreign licence for max of 6 months.

Any ideas?

My next step is to contact either CIC Canada or the High Commission in London though i am not yet sure exactly how to proceed.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

ICBC need to revise their policies as clearly the supervisa and visitor record that should have been issued are legal CIC documents.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Bus pass?

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Right, been busy!

Have written to ICBC head office.
Have written to Canadian High Commission in london.
Have written to Office of Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.

I will be back to update with any news, hopefully!

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Isnt it 3 months on a foreign licence ??

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

3 Months, if you are 'Landed Immigrant Status'
6 Months, if you hold 'Visitor Status'

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

UPDATE:

The response from ICBC.

So, as IMM1442 is a multi-use application should we apply for

a) a Visitor Record
or
b) a Temporary Visitor Permit

I'm thinking a Visitor Record though this was not made clear. Here's the IMM1442 page link . In addition to this i note a fee may be payable for applying for IMM1442 though a fee was not required for the Super Visa processing :thumbdown:, dependent upon option chosen can take 1 month or 6 months :blink:



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Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

UPDATE 2:

The response from Canadian High Commission, London

Quote:

---

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Please contact Service Canada regarding this information, as we cannot help within our Immigration department.

We apologize for not being of more assistance at this time.

Regards

CSU (VCM)

---

We will probably try this before going the IMM1442 route, just incase there is a simpler option:fingerscrossed:.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

The IMM1442 is a generic blank document issued by CIC & CBSA. The document can be used for Visitor Records, Study Permits, Work Permits etc etc. Visitor Records are free if issued at a POE. When arriving on the super visa route they should ask for a VR to be issued at the POE when they arrive.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi, problem is they arrived here in November and no Visitor Record was issued at POE. Hence their predicament.

The issue with applying under the above is they did not enter Canada on any of the above 'Valid' documents. Applying under 'Verification of Status' unfortunately appears to carry a cost AND has processing time of 6 months. :eek:

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Okay more news;

Today we headed to Service Canada as directed by High Commission in London unfortunately they were unable to assist but they did direct us to the 'Service BC' offices located at our local Law Courts.

Service BC also were unable to assist but the clerk had by chance been reading about Supervisa's and Driver Licensing a little earlier - Result!



The Outcome

All Supervisa visitors (at least to BC?) require form IMM1442 'Verification of Status' if not holding a form IMM1442 'Visitor Record' in order to exchange UK license to BC license via ICBC if they plan on driving in excess of 6 months.

As this was not known on arriving, and no IMM1442 'Visitor Record' provided automatically by CBSA there is a cost involved of $30 per person/application. The applications are now on route to Ottawa for 6 months of processing :frown:

Hope this helps and informs, there must be at least a few others !:blink:

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi


Nope it doesn't. The IMM 1442 is a visitor/work/study permit issued at a Port of Entry and there is no cost when you enter Canada. Sending $30 to Ottawa for a copy of visitor record, that doesn't exist is going to be futile. Your parents were never issued a document, so there would be no record.

Go to the Border Port of Entry and explain the problem to CBSA, if they are in a good mood they should issue the Visitor record which should have been issued anyway for a stay of over 6 months.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Thanks for this info I have a parent hopefully arriving on supervisa so will ensure she requests a visitor record form . Trouble is, the super visa is so new it's going to take a while to filter through.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

PMM

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi

How are they going to verify your parent's status? They weren't issued a document. You spoke to service BC, Service Canada, which have nothing to do with Canada Immigration. Phone the call centre, 1-888-242-2100 and you should get the same response as I gave you. But it was your $30.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

1. Supervisa aka 'Parent & Grandparent Authorized Period of Extended Stay' (an actual document).

2. The Supervisa carries a UCI Number which can be matched to the application.

3. We applied on the multi-use IMM 1442 to "Verify Status" which will result in an IMM 1442 being generated.

4. I never said BC Service were anything to do with Immigration, but they DO deal with Licensing. The Clerk read an official interdepartmental communication outlining the process required in front of me.

5. It was $60 (2 x $30)

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi Fellow Kamloopsian!
Interesting to read what you've tried with this as we're having the exact same problem. So I'm wondering if we go down to the border and do a flagpole whether the entry document you've mentioned could be prepared there and then. Sounds better than having to wait 6 months. My mother in law was given insurance when she first came out here on a visitor visa (bizarrely), and has been in and out of the country several times since then. She got her super visa last spring, but was only just told recently that her insurance isn't actually valid unless she goes out of the country and back in again. It's absurd that this makes a difference.
Anyway, if we go with the above option we'll let you know if we get anywhere.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Update to above for anyone still having these problems....

First - the best thing for anyone coming on the supervisa would be to ask for a Visitor Record when arriving.
If you didn't do this then try what we did - a flagpole - which is to leave the country at the US land border and then come back in again.
To do this, go down to the border and enter the US. You'll have to go through a bit of a rigamarole but it's worth it. Just tell the US authorities you need to do a flagpole and they'll know what you mean.
Then back around entering the Canadian side you should tell them you were not given a Visitor Record when you first arrived and that you need it to get your licence and insurance issues dealt with with ICBC. They will issue the document. I don't remember that my mother in law had to pay anything - she got it with no problems, just a few questions asked.

Hope this helps anyone still facing this problem. Just one thing to add, ICBC would only issue insurance to cover her until the supervisa runs out, so bear this in mind.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Realised not updated the forum :o
We waited the 6 months (5 1/2) for a cannot process response after I'd been advised offically that was the way forward.

Ultimately we did an early renewal of the supervisa which came with the proper documentation, a nice colourful IMM 1442, fortunately we were not required to purchase a fresh year of medical insurance. As we were 8 - 9 months in on visa we thought a flagpole would require renewal of the 1 year minimum med insurance at 'each entry' into Canada would be required, so did an early renewal to avoid that, it was quite straightforward that way and processing was around 2 months :D

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

The key to solving this problem is indeed the 'Visitor Record'.
This is a colourful official document issued free by Canadian Immigration and is affixed to your passport and should be obtained on arrival, although it apparently needs to be asked for and can, with effort, be issued retroactively at any border office. Although it doesn't change your status, it apparently ticks a box. Not only that but in discussion wth both ICBC and CBSA officials, I got the impression that neither talks to the other or has any wish to. Lots of shaking of the head by both sides and comments like 'they don't know what we need' don't help the client and only go to show that the system is cracked if not ever so slightly broken.
Nevertheless, drivers licences have now been approved and we await their arrival for the nominal fee of 17CAD each. One thing to bear in mind is that your UK drivers licence will be taken and, I believe, returned to the UK. If you have, as we did, an old fashioned paper licence, you may meet with some incredulity, as my wife did, that the licence is in fact a valid document. Another item of note is that, although my UK licence stated that I was able to drive a motor cycle, the BC licence omits this. Apparently if I want to drive a motor cycle later I would have to take a driving test. I suspect that, as experienced many times over this issue, the ICBC official knew less than I did but I let it pass because driving a motor cycle isn't high on the list.
Whatever you do, don't listen to official advice. I contacted (on a premium line after having to wait 15 minutes) an immigration help line official, only to be told that the official was located in Montreal and knew nothing about BC licencing and, worst of all, was emailed a document to complete that would, like a previous post, have introduced a worthless delay and would certainly have incurred cost.
So all's well at the moment and we await the next glitch.
Dave_J

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Glad it's sorted and yes the Motor cycle addition is hit or miss, hubby had his included on licence, others haven't !

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

I had my motorcycle license added later, I questioned it at the time and checked with icbc head office in Victoria. They confirmed the entitlement was transferable but as my license had been returned to UK I would need to obtain a copy of my driver record from dvla.

I did this for a £5 fee. Later getting the entitlement added at my local licensing office. :D

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Many thanks Psyched, will bear that in mind.
Like a number of pensionable men who owned old british bikes in their twenties and in my case into their forties, there's always this feeling that I'd like to own another oil leaking, rattling heap of scrap but I came to the conclusion some time ago that I'm not the rider I once was and there's a tree or a wall with my name written on it somewhere and it'll take me if I give it the chance.
So, like a number of pleasurable activities that I'm no longer good at, I'll give this one a miss for the time being.
Dave_J

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Hi all, I'm in the same boat, so its a Visitor Record paper, It can be obtained at the Border with the USA, or maybe going down to the Airport where we arrived at to get the paper done?
it ticks the box that then tells the licensing department they can exchange my licence? if this is right? this is great news and not all that hard to do, i guess.
What surprises me is that they take your UK licence from you, what if you need to return to the UK for perhaps an emergency,relative ill or something and you need to rent a car to get about? no licence! I just think its strange why they would take it from you. you guys really know your stuff, thankyou to all of you, where would we be without your help,

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Your licence is taken from you as in most provinces it's illegal to hold a foreign and local licence. If you return to the UK for a visit, your provincial licence is perfectly ok to drive with and rent a car with. If you return permanently, the DVLA will re-issue your UK licence.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

No problem at all to rent a car in the UK with a Canadian driving license.

If you're returning for an extended period (6 months or more, I think applies to the UK too), then you'll have to swap back to a GB license and go around the block again for Canada on your return. That time ask for an Visitor Record on re-entry.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Thanks guys, That sounds fine to me, I understand now.
My mother is 90, she seems ok and is being looked after but when someone is 90 at sometime i could get a phone call asking me to get to the UK, I hope she lives forever,but that's not going to happen i know, I ring her every Sunday morning for an hour. thanks again guys.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Slightly off topic question... You guys say it is illegal in most provinces to hold a local and a foreign license at the same time... When I leave Canada for Malta, I will (most likely ;)) have an Ontario driving license. I cannot exchange said license for a Maltese one, I have to take drivers ed and a road test in Malta to receive their license. They will treat me like I have no driving license, hence they don't care about the Ontario one... What is Ontario going to do about it when I come back to Canada for visits and use my Ontario license to drive around here? Or say I moved back to Canada in the future, what are they gonna do? I already have an Ontario license which I didn't switch for my foreign one ......

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Nobody said it was illegal to hold a local (Canadian provincial) license and a foreign one at the same time. Merely that, as a visitor, you can only drive on the foreign one for 6 months (Your Province May Vary).

If you're staying longer you'll have to swap your foreign license, but the trick is to dodge around between countries a bit and take a driving test in more than one.

For example, I have a German license and an Ontario one, both of which are perfectly valid. In the past I've had a GB license and one from California.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

RICH said it was illegal !

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Indeed. From ICBC:

Giving up your previous licence
Please note than when you qualify for your new B.C. licence, you’ll need to surrender your previous licence to ICBC. B.C. law requires that you only have one driver's licence.


http://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing.../other-country

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Well, as long as you've got a spare to swap, how would they ever know? I would never present or otherwise use the German license in Canada, but nonetheless I possess it and it's still valid until I'm 70.

I first had a GB license, but when I moved to California swapping wasn't an option, so I retook a trivial driving test there and was issued a California one. When 5 years later I moved to Canada (for the first time), I swapped the CA one for an ON license.

Later, when I moved to Germany I swapped original GB license for the German one, keeping the ON one which I simply renewed when I returned to Canada several years later.

It can be done. Moreover when I move to France next year I can drive on the German license until I'm 70 or, better, swap it for a French one.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

I saw a programme on TV about driving in India, it seemed to be a free for all,whoever had the most nerve or didn't care,got to where they were going first, I bet they don't even have licences.
I thought the driving tests in the UK was one of the toughest, I belive its a written exam now,then your actual driving test, [if you pass the paperwork test] then a few questions at the end of the test, got to be one of the toughest tests around, I took a Bike test in the UK many many moons ago, the guy was on foot, he said," go up this road,turn left,then left again,and left again until you get back here, when I got back, he's gone!!, I kept going round and round, then on my fifth lap he appeared and said I hadn't passed??
How does he know? very wierd.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

When I swapped my license here in Sask, they asked to see my UK license then gave it back to me. I therefore have 2 licenses. I may just be one of these Provincial anomalies.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Thanks, so I guess it's one of those "gray areas" where if you don't tell them you have another one, they won't care... (why would I use a Maltese/EU license in Canada anyway LOL!)

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

No one will be surprised to hear that Qc is also a provincial anomaly in this case, I expect;)

(& I have a "spare" French one too)

Not that any of this helps with the OP's original dilemma!
SB

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

I'm cognizant of the fact that at your age, you don't have any licenses at all, but presumably you'll get your first one in Ontario. Apart from Lorna's tale of sloppy bureaucracy, the only way you could get an EU license in Malta later on would be to take another test there (I haven't checked but I doubt ON and Malta have a reciprocal exchange agreement. If there's a blanket ON/EU one I'd be wrong).

But the California license I got back then required passing a multiple choice "driving code" exam which even a Californian would have found unchallenging and then driving my 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme automatic* around a few blocks in equally unchallenging conditions for someone, like me, who had 10 years driving experience at the time.

*Not new, this was in 1977. Like all young Brit immigrants to North America, the first car one buys is a gas-guzzling monster. That, I'm fairly sure was the last automatic I've owned and certainly the last gas-guzzler.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

This thread is old. The OP solved the dilemma some time ago. It got resurrected when Mo asked an identical question and was referred here.

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

(Note to self: put glasses on before posting)

Re: Help! Supervisa and BC Drivers Licence exchange?
 

Yeah, that was my original question... Since I don't "exchange" the ON license for a MLT one (I have to do the test there like any other MLT citizen/resident) I was wondering if since its "illegal" (according to RICH) to hold two licenses in most provinces, what (if anything) they would do about it. And judging by the reply, seemingly nothing LOL

Although, I could go to UK and trade my ON one for a UK one, then exchange the UK one for MLT, if I couldn't pass the MLT test... ;) And you're correct, i'll (hopefully!) be driving on an ON license in about 11 months! So it'll be my first. :thumbsup: