petitefrancaise

Here is your California Driver Handbook with all the regulations in it.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/web/eng_pdf/dl600.pdf

Page 2 New Residents stuff
your passport with valid i-94 = legal presence, birth and ID. Bring your birth certificate if you want to.
California residency = utility bill, bank statement...

• Examples of acceptable documents include: U.S. Birth Certificate, U.S. Passport,
U.S. Armed Forces ID Cards, Certificate of Naturalization, Permanent Resident
Card, or a foreign passport with a valid I-94. The I-94 expiration date must be
more than 2 months from the DL/ID card application date.
• Examples of true full name verification documents include: adoption documents
containing your legal name as a result of the adoption, name change documents
containing your legal name both before and after, a marriage certificate, a certificate
or registration document verifying the formation of a domestic partnership,
or a dissolution of marriage document containing your legal name as a result of
the court order.
• Examples of acceptable residency documents include: home utility bill (including
cellular phone), insurance documents, California title or registration for a vehicle
or vessel, or record of a financial institution. A parent, legal guardian, or child
may use a birth certificate, and a spouse or domestic partner may use a marriage
license or domestic partner registration certificate to trace his/her relationship
to the individual to whom the acceptable residency documents were addressed.
A complete list of acceptable documents is available at www.dmv.ca.gov or in the
Documents Required to Apply for a Driver License (FFDL 5A) Fast Facts brochure

That last bit made me laugh... I looked at FFDL 5A for you and it said to look at FFDL 5A for a list of documents!

petitefrancaise

There seems to be a missing post...

anyway. Your legal presence test is summarised here . This is what I use for Texas licenses but the SAVE system is DHS and nationwide. You do not need to have your documents scanned. They just have to enter the numbers in the computer. Look on the tables to see what you need to produce to give them the right number.
http://www.dps.texas.gov/DriverLicen...ulPresence.pdf

Sounds like you got a numpty at that DMV. Go to another office.

Pulaski

It must have been squeezed out to make room for all of your posts.

petitefrancaise

be kind of cool if he got his car though wouldn't it?

You can go back to talking about archaic petrolhead cars now....

LA LA LA

Would it help if I said it’s an American car with a 6.4L V8? Just sitting there in the lot, waiting for me...

And yes, looks like some of my posts are gone. Either way, thanks for all the help!!

I’ll be spending all day tomorrow on the phone with the DMV. Apparently there are some magic hidden phone numbers with faster connection times.

petitefrancaise

Pulaski

With me, yes, with her, not so much.

Jeep Grand Cherokee?
Don't waste your time on the phone. Your situation is one in a thousand and they'll have no idea what you're talking about. Get yourself down to a DMV office, and be prepared to wait a while.

petitefrancaise

I'll ask next time...

You should check to see where you are in the SAVE system.
https://www.uscis.gov/save/casecheck

LA LA LA

Dodge Challenger! 485 American horses under the hood.

Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Last time I had to wait a few hours despite having an appointment. The queue went all the way around the building! Let’s see if I can get the time off again. So far they’ve been sympathetic to my DMV plight.

LA LA LA

The only case in that system is with the social security administration. I suppose that was for my SSN? Very cool system though, I’m learning so much from you! Thanks!

Thanks for all the help and suppprt in general, sometimes it can be a little though finding out everything by yourself!

I’m also dealing with a tax issue, as my employer is withholding a flat 35%. Anyways, that’s for a different day, need to get a car first so I can stop paying for this rental.

ottotheboar

Never underestimate the propensity of the DMV to give incorrect information, as Pulaski says there are some prize muffins working there. Last week in Richmond I was registering an imported car and was initially rejected as the French registration document was not a title and the translation was not done by the French embassy. Wrong on both counts I finally came out with a title and plates.
Oddly enough Land Rover in French translates to Land Rover in English.

petitefrancaise

yes.. yesterday morning I was preparing a list of documents that are needed to get an out of state car registered in TX. I wanted to check something so I made the foolish mistake of calling the state office dealing with this. Silly cow kept giving me information regarding drivers licenses and when I pointed out her mistake, she insisted that the state tax website and the local county tax website was wrong. I called the county office and it was all cleared up in 2 minutes with a nice guy who knew his stuff.

mrken30

My first experience of the DMV was them asking me to speak English.

DexterBerkeley

When I bought my last car I happened to be in California and waiting for the legal presence check to pass before I got my actual proper license. I had moved from MA and once I had taken the computerize test which was all I need I got a temp CA license for 90 days, it's a piece of paper. That was enough to buy the car and have the dealer handle the registration with the DMV.

Also, it took longer than 90 days for the presence check to pass so that was another trip to the DMV to get another 90 day temp license. Eventually I got a license!

LA LA LA

So, I’ve had to fax my I94, passport page and visa page to the Sacramento office. They told me I should receive my license in about 30 days. Basically a 2 month wait in total.